These are some of our favourite unschooling resources.
Unschooling and Education Basics
There are posts about unschooling and education on my Unschooling Pinterest Board and Education Pinterest Board:
Unschooling / Homeschooling Blogs and Websites
These are some of the unschooling places I like to visit.
Stories of an Unschooling Family: My blog, of course! Unschooling, gentle parenting, and family life
Joyfully Rejoycing: Getting started with unschooling? Digging deeper into radical unschooling? Here is a collection of my answers to the most common questions asked about Radical Unschooling.
Sandra Dodd: Learning for fun is the best way to learn, and to live. I have gathered much and written some to inspire you to revel in your own learning, in your children’s learning, and in your friends’ curiosity and happiness in the face of a world of information!
The Educating Parent: Children learning and living naturally at home and in the community
Laura Grace Weldon: Free-range learning, creative living, gentle encouragement, big questions, poetry. occasional drollery
Unschooling Mom2Mom: Your children. Their learning. Your relationship with them. Things that really matter.
Navigating By Joy: Learning, laughing and loving together
Living Joyfully With Unschooling: … an online home for engaged parents choosing to live joyfully with their children through unschooling
Happiness is Here: … where I share about our life of living and learning together, and my passion for natural learning and respectful parenting
Racheous: Respectful learning and parenting
Unschooling the Kids: We are all pretty much crazy in a very good way. It all of course depends on your perspective…..
Ben Hewitt: Adventures in parenting off the beaten track, unschooling, and reconnecting with the natural world
Homeschooling without Training Wheels: Homeschool freedom and other free-wheelin’ fun.
Natural Medley: … an unschooling Mum of two boys 11 and 14. I adore creating anything from painting, to poetry, to singing, to sewing and decorating. I can be quiet until I know you, and then loud! I like to philosophise about life and shop secondhand and handmade wherever and whenever possible.
Ever Learning: Eclectic homeschooling and beyond
Angelic Scalliwags: Homeschooling to give our children roots to ground them and wings to help them fly
Clean: ... blogging about peaceful parenting, simplicity, homeschooling, food preservation, and crafting of all sorts.
Copasetic Flow: Ham radio, physics, programming, fun, adventure
Taking a Kinder Path: I want to take a kinder path for myself and for those I love and surely that’s got to be good for everyone.
Unschooling Podcasts
Stories of an Unschooling Family: Want to know more about unschooling? How about radical unschooling? (It’s not as scary or as wild as some people make out!) Join me as I share ideas, stories, homeschool record-keeping tips and resources for living an unschooling life of unconditional love.
Exploring Unschooling: Explore unschooling with Pam Laricchia, unschooling mom and author. Enjoy in-depth interviews with veteran unschooling parents sharing their family’s experience, dig into a wide range of unschooling topics with experienced guests, and get answers to listener questions in the Q&A episodes. Choosing to live and learn without school isn’t as intimidating as you might imagine. Children really do love learning when it’s driven by curiosity rather than curriculum, and the strong and trusting relationships that develop in unschooling families are priceless.
The Unschooling Life: What is unschooling? How does unschooling work? How can I be an unschooling parent – or a better unschooling parent? This podcast is for people who want to be peaceful and respectful parents. It is for people who think learning is a natural byproduct of being alive and being human. It is for people who want to play in the real world, and have more fun.
Fare of the Free Child: is a biweekly podcast that aims to centralize black and brown people’s voices and experiences in discussions about unconventional parenting. With a particular interest in the self-directed education (aka unschooling) movement, Akilah S. Richards and special guest co-hosts will discuss the fears and the fares (costs) of raising liberated children of color in a world that tends to diminish, dehumanize, and disappear them.
Off Trail Learning: Interviews with self-directed learners, innovative educators, and young people blazing their own paths through life. Formerly the Real Education Podcast.
There are more podcasts on my Unschool / Homeschool Podcasts Pinterest Board:
Unschooling Books
My unschooling books, Curious Unschoolers and Radical Unschool Love and The Unschool Challenge.
I haven’t read all the following books, but they look interesting so they might be worth taking a look at.
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John Holt
- How Children Learn
- How Children Fail
- Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling
- Learning All the Time
- Escape from Childhood: The Needs and Rights of Children
- Never Too Late: My Musical Life Story
- Growing without Schooling Volume 1
Suzie Andres
Sandra Dodd
Anthony and Lehla Eldridge-Rogers
Mary Griffith
Ben Hewitt
Peter Gray
Clark Aldrich
Grace Llewellyn
- The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education
- Guerrilla Learning: How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without School
Blake Boles
- The Art of Self-Directed Learning: 23 Tips for Giving Yourself an Unconventional Education
- College Without High School: A Teenager’s Guide to Skipping High School and Going to College
- Better Than College: How to Build a Successful Life Without a 4 Year Degree
Luminara King
Sara McGrath
- Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Learning
- Deschooling for Parents
- The Unschooling Happiness Project
- Unschooling 101: Top Ten Questions About Learning Without School
Pam Laricchia
- What is Unschooling?: Living and Learning Without School
- Free to Learn: Five Ideas for a Joyful Unschooling Life
- Free to Live: Creating a Thriving Unschooling Home
- Life Through the Lens of Unschooling: A Living Joyfully Companion
Laura Grace Weldon
Nanda Van Gestel and others
Lori McWilliam Pickert
Homeschool Record Keeping
Can we unschool if we have to fulfil homeschooling registration requirements? I have written blog posts, made videos and talked about this subject in my podcasts.
There are more ideas on my Homeschool Record Keeping and Registration Pinterest Board:
Key Learning Area Resources
Of course, unschooling isn’t divided into school subjects, but I have listed them in this way for record keeping purposes. Some of us have to prove our kids are learning the Key Learning Areas of the school syllabus in order to be legally registered as homeschoolers.
We have dipped into many of these resources, but not all of them. I have listed ones we like plus others that look like they could be interesting. Most of the descriptions were taken directly from the appropriate website.
Maths
Websites
Plus Magazine... living mathematics: Plus is an internet magazine which aims to introduce readers to the beauty and the practical applications of mathematics… Plus provides articles and podcasts on any aspect of mathematics, covering topics as diverse as art, medicine, cosmology and sport, a news section, showing how recent news stories were often based on some underlying piece of maths that never made it to the newspapers, reviews of popular maths books, and puzzles for you to sharpen your wits….
Wild Maths: Wild Maths is a collection of mathematical games, activities and stories, encouraging you to think creatively.
Nrich Maths: The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners.
Online Chart Tool: Charts are a great tool for communicating information visually. On Onlinecharttool.com you can design and share your own charts online and for free. We support a number of different chart types like: bar charts, pie charts, line charts, bubble charts and radar plots.
The Math Dude: Math can be confusing and scary. But it doesn’t have to be! I’ll decode the mystery (and fear) behind all aspects of math, helping you make sense of the math in your life.
Which One Doesn’t Belong? A website dedicated to providing thought-provoking puzzles for math teachers and students alike. There are no answers provided as there are many different, correct ways of choosing which one doesn’t belong.
Math Pickle: A free online resource of original mathematical puzzles, games and unsolved problems
Stand Up Maths: Youtube: mathematics and stand-up. Occasionally while being filmed.
Numberphile: Youtube: Videos about numbers – it’s that simple.
Code by Math: A place for people to explore mathematics in the context of writing simple computer programs
A Brief History of Mathematics – podcast: Professor of Mathematics Marcus du Sautoy reveals the personalities behind the calculations and argues that mathematics is the driving force behind modern science
More or Less: Behind the Stats – podcast: Tim Harford and the More or Less team try to make sense of the statistics which surround us.
Yummy Math: engaging real world math activities
XP Math: XP Math features fun and educational math games for Grades 2-9
Mathematics in Movies: A collection of movie clips in which Mathematics appears
Murderous Maths: The books, the extra bits, games, hints, puzzles… they’re all here!
Cool Math Games: This is our brain-training site, for everyone, where logic & thinking meet fun & games. These games have no violence, no empty action, just a lot of challenges that will make you forget you’re getting a mental workout!
Maths Puzzles: A range of puzzles on this page, all with a mathematical connection, that are just waiting to be solved
Bedtime Math: Our mission is to help kids love numbers so they can handle the math in real life.
Vi Hart – Youtube, blog: Vi Hart likes triangles! AND APPLES!
Alex’s Adventures in Numberland
Australian Bureau of Statistics: The ABS is Australia’s national statistical agency, providing trusted official statistics on a wide range of economic, social, population and environmental matters of importance to Australia.
Books
Sydney Padua
- The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer
Eugenia Cheng
- How to Bake Pie: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics
Arthur Benjamin
- The Magic of Mathematics: Solving for x and Figuring Out Why
- Secrets of Mental Math: The Mathemagician’s Guide to Lightning Calculation and Amazing Math Tricks
Anna Weltman
- This is Not a Maths Book: A Smart Art Activity Book
Joan D’Amico and Karen Eich Drummond
- The Math Chef: Over 60 Math Activities and Recipes for Kids
Johnny Ball
- Why Pi?: How Math Applies to Everyday Life
- Go Figure! A Totally Cook Book About Numbers
- Think of a Number
Alex Bellos
- Alex’s Adventures in Numberland (UK)
- Here’s Looking at Euclid (USA): From Counting Ants to Games of Chance – An Awe-Inspiring Journey Through the World of Numbers
- Alex Through the Looking-Glass (UK): How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life
- The Grapes of Maths (USA): How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life
- Snowflake Seashell Star (UK): Colouring Adventures in Numberland
- Patterns of the Universe (USA): A Coloring Adventure in Math and Beauty
- Visions of the Universe: A Coloring Journey Through Math’s Great Mysteries
- Can You Solve My Problems? Ingenious, Perplexing, and Totally Satisfying Math and Logic Puzzles
Steve Richards
- The Golden Ratio Coloring Book: And Other Mathematical Patterns Inspired by Nature and Art
Denise Gaskins
- Let’s Play Math: How Families Can Learn Math Together and Enjoy It
Mama Jenn’s Living Math Books List
There are more resources on my Unschool Maths Pinterest Board
English
Websites
Absolute Shakespeare: The essential resource for William Shakespeare’s plays, sonnets, poems, quotes, biography and the legendary Globe Theatre.
Grammarly blog
Oxford Dictionaries blog
Shmoop: Over 100,000 courses, test prep resources, and learning guides, armed with gallons of academic WD-40 to male learning easy and fun. Literature, Shakespeare, Poetry, Movies
Shakespeare on Film: Featuring resources on 13 of Shakespeare’s plays, from Romeo and Juliet to Titus Andronicus, the resources cover over 25 different filmed versions of his works.
NaNoWriMo: Write a novel in a month
NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers’ Program
Camp NaNoWriMo: Complete a writing project in a month
Audiobooks: Librivox
There are more resources on my Unschool English Pinterest Board and Shakespeare Pinterest Board
Science
National Parks and Wildlife: NSW, Australia. Perhaps your local area has a similar organisation.
NSW Environment and Heritage: Again, there might be a similar government website for your home area.
Periodic Videos: Youtube – Your ultimate channel for all things chemistry. A video about each element on the periodic table. And we upload new videos every week about science news, interesting molecules and other stuff from the world of chemistry.
Ted Ed lessons on the Periodic Videos.
Sixty Symbols: Youtube – Cool videos about physics and astronomy.
Veritasium: Youtube – An element of truth – videos about science, education, and anything else I find interesting.
Periodic Table: podcast
Science News for Students: Science News for Students is an award-winning online publication dedicated to providing age-appropriate, topical science news to learners, parents and educators.
Science News: Credible science journalism is more important than ever.
What If? – Serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions.
PhET interactive simulations: Fun, free, interactive, research-based science and mathematics simulations.
Australia’s Science Channel: If it happens in science … you’ll find it here!
Science and Technology documentaries
Questacon: The National Science and Technology Centre: Explore the exhibits online by reading ‘How it Works’ and other information.
My free PDF ebook: Unschooling Science – Stories and Resources
There are more resources on my Unschool Science Pinterest Board:
Geography and History
Local newspapers are good sources for local history information. They also have stories about local environmental issues.
National Parks and Wildlife: NSW, Australia. Perhaps your local area has a similar organisation.
NSW Environment and Heritage: Again, there might be a similar government website for your home area.
Google Earth: Go anywhere on any device for free.
VRROOM: Virtual Reading Room: Australia – National Archives of Australia
Nature and Environment documentaries
Travel and Adventure documentaries
Social Sciences documentaries
Australian Bureau of Statistics Lots of history and geography stories behind all the numbers.
My Geography and History Blog Posts
There are more resources on my Unschool Geography / History Pinterest Board:
Creative Arts
Art gallery and museum sites are wonderful sources of information.
Classics for Kids: Classical music’s great composers come to life through music and stories.
The Google Art Project: is a unique collaboration with some of the world’s most acclaimed art institutions to enable people to discover and view artworks online in extraordinary detail.
There are more resources on my Creative Arts Pinterest Board and Creative Stuff Pinterest Board:
Computers / Coding / Animation
Computerphile: Youtube – Videos all about computers and computer stuff. Sister channel of Numberphile.
Computer Science for Fun: Explore how computer science is also about people, solving puzzles, creativity, changing the future and, most of all, having fun.
Codecademy: Learn to code interactively, for free.
Khan Academy Computer Programming
Pixar in a Box: is a behind-the-scenes look at how Pixar artists do their jobs. You will be able to animate bouncing balls, build a swarm of robots, and make virtual fireworks explode.
Powtoon: Create animated videos and presentations.
Scratch: Create stories, games, and animations. Share with others around the world.
Gamestar Mechanic: Learn to design video games.
There are more resources on my Game Making / Coding / Animating Pinterest Board:
Current Affairs
Local newspapers are great sources of local history information.
Behind the News: Australia
All Subjects
ABC Splash: Find resources…
Infocobuild documentaries
SBS On Demand: Watch thousands of movies and TV shows all free.
Open Learn: The home of free learning from The Open University.
PBS: PBS and our member stations are America’s largest classroom, the nation’s largest stage for the arts and a trusted window to the world.
Kahn Academy: You can learn anything. For free. For everyone. Forever.
Open Culture: The best free cultural and educational media on the web.
Learn Out Loud: Audio and video learning.
Shmoop: Over 100,000 courses, prep resources, and learning guides. (Aimed at school kids but a good resource for dipping into and using in our own way.)
Other Resources I Like
These resources aren’t directly unschooling ones, but they match my interests and I often pass on ideas from these sites to my children
Goins Writer: Blog and podcast.
Michael Hyatt: Your virtual mentor. Win at work. Succeed at life. Blog and podcast.
Problogger: is all about inspiring, teaching and supporting bloggers from around the world to create blogs that not only serve their readers and make the world a better place – but which build income streams for the bloggers behind them.
Copyblogger: Content marketing mastery.
Laugh, Love, Learn: for children and parents with overexcitabilities
The Happiness Project: experiments in pursuit of happiness and good habits.
The Gentle Rebel: for introverts and highly sensitive people
Puttylike: for multipotentialites
I’ll be updating this page whenever I find something new to share.
This unschooling resources page is available as an easy-to-read PDF ebook. Please feel welcome to download a copy. I hope you find it useful!