101 Reasons Why I'm an Unschooler

We were at odds from an early age, school and I. Even as a child I felt there was too much ranking and sorting, too much measurement, too many hours spent doing forgettable things, and, most especially, too little time left over to dream and wonder and play.

From privacy issues to trivia-filled curriculum to homework and permanent records, school seemed to have far too much power over me, and far too much control over the hours of my day and the contents of my mind.

By the time I became a parent, the things I found most troubling about school seemed to have only gotten worse. When we found no suitable alternative to conventional K-12 schooling in my community, we became homeschoolers. And over time, we shifted into an unschooling life.

Unschooling suits us. This little book offers 101 reasons why.

Not every reason will resonate with you. That's why it's called "101 Reasons Why I'm an Unschooler," and not "101 Reasons Why You Should Be An Unschooler."

The first half of the book focuses on the conventional world of compulsory K-12 schooling as practiced throughout the U.S. It's a critique of common practices and overarching ideologies and underlying agendas, and it wanders the territory somewhat at random, offering observations and analogies and stirring the pot of assumptions about the purpose of school in a free society.

The second half explores the alternative universe of unschooling.

Conventional compulsory K-12 schooling seems to be okay for most people. This little manifesto was written in support of those for whom it's not so okay. It was written to unpack a troublesome paradigm and explore an adventurous alternative, all supported by the crazy notion that each of us is born with a passion to learn, that we all crave knowledge of the world and our place in it, that learning is natural, and that it's impossible to live in the world and not learn. And then along comes school to mess up a beautiful thing.