Learning becomes a joyful experience when driven by curiosity and personal interest. Independent, meaningful learning allows young people to explore subjects they are passionate about, fostering a deeper connection to the material. This intrinsic motivation leads to more fulfilling learning experiences, as learners enjoy the freedom to follow their natural curiosity and grow at their own pace. Encouraging discovery and creativity, it transforms education into an exciting and lifelong adventure.

Joys of Learning

As independence grows, tweens and teens benefit from self-directed learning by engaging with subjects that spark their interest. This autonomy promotes critical thinking, emotional resilience, and self-motivation, preparing them for life's complexities.

Tweens and Teens

Young children thrive when given the freedom to explore through play and curiosity. Early learning in self-directed environments fosters creativity, emotional development, and foundational skills without the constraints of traditional schooling. By allowing kids to lead their own educational journeys, they gain confidence and a love for learning.

Early Learning

Self-directed learning helps young people build practical, transferable skills through hands-on experiences, fostering adaptability and problem-solving. This approach prepares them for real-world challenges, equipping them with the confidence to pursue diverse career paths.

Job Preparation

Whether you're at home, playing a game, on the road, or grocery shopping, math, science, and other core subjects are everywhere. By incorporating independent meaningful learning practices into your young person's learning journey, it offers unique approaches to gaining these essential building blocks of knowledge.

What about math and reading?

Core Subjects

The elders in our lives hold a wealth of knowledge and experience. From sharing life skills to providing emotional support, grandparents and older caretakers can help create enriching learning environments for young people. 

How can grandparents support our young learners?

Multi-Generational Learning

When our young people have the freedom to explore what interests them, they are more likely to feel fulfilled gaining new skills and knowledge. Meaningful learning experiences begin with curiosity—and a leap of faith that our young ones have what it takes to lead their own growth as individuals.

What steps can I take to get started with independent meaningful learning?

Getting Started

Parents have unique needs when it comes to raising our young ones. By adopting intentional practices, such as consent and clear communication, parents are able to develop healthy and loving relationships with their children and themselves.

How can independent meaningful learning support my parenting?

Parenting

Independent meaningful learning goes beyond just choosing what and how we learn. It provides families the tools for navigating life with a sense of purpose, coping with stress, developing greater confidence, and taking care of our collective well-being.

How do I take care of the mental well-being of everyone in my family?

Mental Health

Learning environments that value individuality and agency are essential for young learners with unique learning abilities and social needs. Self-directed education allows neurodivergent learners to grow at their own pace.

What are best practices for supporting neurodivergent young learners?

Unique Learning

Grades do not determine how much a young person has learned. Redefining what success looks like for each of our families allows us to recognize the unique strengths and learning journey of our young ones.

How will independent meaningful learning support my child’s academic achievement?

Academic Achievement

Some of the best opportunities to connect with others and gain the essential life skills needed to navigate the ebb and flow of daily life happen well beyond the walls of conventional schooling.

How will my child develop the building blocks to live a meaningful life?

Life Skills

In March of 2020, the world experienced a shift that turned life as we knew it upside-down and inside-out. The primary way young people gain access to their education has shifted profoundly due to the pandemic and domino effect of increased racial and social tensions. For families with school-attending young people forced to “school-at-home,” the scramble for tools, resources, and equipment to provide and receive instruction and support has been a roller coaster, to say the least. The impact of this shift resulted in a deeper exploration into how and where learning takes place, and I believe museums are beautifully positioned to be the “Schools of Tomorrow.” 

Learning Through Museums

No matter what your interests are, you’ll find a way to explore your passions, which is one of the many advantages of self-directed learning. I have always been interested in STEM from a young age, and over the years, I’ve joined many programs, and done a lot of cool things as part of my self-directed learning journey.

Exploring STEM As A Self-Directed Learner

What are the myriad of alternatives to college? Find out here!

Vocational Creativity for Outdoor Jobs

A significant portion of chilrden entering elementary school will work in jobs that have not been invented yet. In order to set our young people up for success, learning environments much change.

A young man holding a drone controller speaks to his brother and sister. 

What is Lost When Schools Assume the Role of Preparing Children for the Future

So you want to unschool? Here are four tips to help you get started on your journey.

A close-up of sneakers going down a flight of stairs.

How To Get Started With Self-Directed Education

Stories of IML families further along, think: asynchronous mentoring!

Allowing Our Children to Be Who They Are

The inevitable conflict that ebbs and flow across all relationships is ripe with endless layers of heaviness. From the earliest moments of our childhood through adulthood, the understandings, and perceptions we hold are naturally embedded with biases and trauma of systematic and systemic proportion.

A young boy hearing a hat hands his father a rock. 

Partnership Is Our Practice

Unschooling parent Daniel Moeller on what a typical days looks like with his son Kai.

A Day in the Life of an Unschooling Father

Here are some of the most common doubts, questions, and concerns we hear often about independent meaningful learning, self-directed education, and unschooling.

Questions Parents Ask About Independent Meaningful Learning

Choosing a self-directed, unschooling path as a family can feel scary. The doubts can feel overwhelming and the obstacles insurmountable.

Getting Beyond the “But”

Typical day in the life of an unschooler? No such thing. The beauty of self-directed education is that it looks different for every person. Maybe you're an early bird who loves to head out to the garden first thing; maybe you love doing late-night oil paintings or watching YouTube tutorials when everyone else is asleep; or maybe you enjoy spending a few hours meandering around the library in the afternoon with your neighbor. Your days are up to you when you're unschooled. Here's a peek at what that looks like for some families.  

A young woman bathes a duck in a small swimming pool. 

Untypical Days in the Life of an Unschooler

It’s October, and the back-to-school magic has worn off. Reality is setting in. High school is slowly sucking the life from you — and you’re going to spend the next seven months here. Maybe you go to a “good” school. Maybe you have caring teachers, empathetic administrators, or a project-based curriculum. None of this makes up for the fact that, essentially, you’re stuck in a trap of someone else’s design.

A young boy peers through the mesh of his trampoline. 

Don’t Like High School? Then Quit. 

Doing something different is never easy. It’s especially difficult when that “something different” has to do with your child’s schooling or education. The choice to unschool may come with criticisms from family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers who are not accustomed to unconventional forms of education. 

3 Ways to Deal with Criticism and Stigma 

A parenting advocate and intersectional unschooler discusses resisting cultural pressures, fighting stereotypes, and resisting the colonization of our education. 

Unschooling As A Chinese American

This is about me learning to work different, not harder. This is NOT about what I wasn’t doing enough of, but more so what I wasn’t attuned to because I was busy, not focused, not fully in my savvy, but entrenched in my survival. May more of us move steadily out of survival mode and into the practice of being and raising free people.

My Big Shift in Perspective on Unschooling and Money

For many of us, unschooling is a lifestyle, touching every part of our lives from hobbies to careers. However, not all parents have the privilege of flexible jobs, the ability to stay at home, or SDE centers nearby. If you're not able to make the leap to unschooling full time, here are some ways to integrate unschooling into your life.

Unschool After School: How to Start Self Directed Learning While in Traditional School

When you meet families who unschool, you hear over and over again stories about the joy of learning together. Siblings engaging in stock market competitions. Family trips to the grocery store become learning field trips. Brothers and sisters starting bands. Daughters and dads learning spending hours together in the garden. Moms and sons learning science at the family fish tank. And just a general sense of peace and joy across the house (for the most part). For so many of us, homework and grades can lead to tense and contentious encounters within the family. But it doesn't have to be that way! Learning can be something that brings us closer together and creates joy for our families. 

A family sits together on the steps of their porch. 

How Self-Directed Learning Brings Families Together

Connecting with strangers is an important way for discovering the power of mentors and relationships. Here’s some tips for how you can connect with people you don’t know but want to learn from. 

A young person with glasses and bracelets draws on a piece of paper. 

Meet Interesting Strangers

As a whole I think our society shies away from allowing access to video games because of the stigma they bear. They are seen as a “waste of time,” a “detriment to the mind,” and as “utter recreation” at best. The common judgment is that video games will squander precious time that a child could otherwise focus on their education.

Learning from Truly Educational Games

Here are some ideas for how families, parents or young people can “try” the principles of self-directed education and dip their toes in the water.

A young boy wearing a hat examines a rock. 

Four Things You Can Do to Try Self-Directed Education

Ask any homeschooler, unschooling family, or self-directed learner and they’ll tell you community is essential. But what I’ve discovered is that it’s less about finding the ready-made community we’re used to in schools, and more intentionally crafting and building what we’re looking for. In fact, as a family who practices this learning style, this method of community building is a self-directed practice itself.

Community Makes A World of A Difference

Self-directed education communities come in many forms—and many families love the experience of unschooling together. Co-ops and self-directed education centers can also be great solutions for working parents or single parents. Read on to learn more.

Communities In Action

I used to think that finding your purpose in life was like finding this amazing gift granted from the cosmos—perfectly wrapped and made just for you. From that point on, and for the rest of your life, you have that gift and so you just know you’re doing what you were made to do, because you found the gift! You made it! You are going to be okay!

The Gift of Purpose

Playing video games as much as I did throughout my years has influenced my learning in countless ways. The first thing that comes to mind is how the desire to play a video game was the spark that led to me learning to read.

Experience with Video Games and Learning

Unschooling will more than likely be one of the hardest choices we will make for our children because we want to make sure we are making the best possible decisions for their future. Hear from two parents and their unschooled child on what they wish they'd known before starting their self-directed education journey.

A young man with glasses poses next to a tire. 

A young man with glasses puts his arm around his mother. 

A Teen Shares 3 Tips For Your Learning Journey

The understandings, experiences, and perceptions we carry from childhood through adulthood inevitably become the blueprint for navigating relationships in all their forms – creating seeds of bias that impact everything we do.

Deschooling is Decolonization Work

Homeschooling is often the first step that many families take to self-directed education—a philosophy that empowers learners to lead their own learning journeys. By nurturing self-directed exploration and encouraging a passion-driven pursuit of knowledge, homeschooling sets the stage for a dynamic, lifelong learning experience that transcends the constraints of conventional schooling. Here you’ll find some helpful insights and observations to begin your journey.

Homeschooling Starter Kit

So many people have asked me if I feel anything — Vindication? Relief? — about the reality that way more are now interested in unschooling. The root of the question, I gather, is whether I and the rest of the unschooling communities that I’m in touch with feel excited (or at least encouraged) by this pandemic-inspired change from school-focused to Self-Directed Education-curious.

A young man looks into a drone controller. 

How Some Black Folks’ Relationship to School is Changing 

Young people with disabilities often have a more difficult time in traditional school because some may need special education or an individualized education program. Unfortunately, not all schools are equipped with handling these needs. Unschooling has been the perfect choice for my son with a disability and is a great option for other parents to look into if their children have disabilities as well.

Why Unschooling is a Great Choice for Young People with Disabilities 

If you are the parent of a disabled child, you’ve already spent hours worrying about how to provide the best care and support for them. Homeschooling may feel like a huge step away from the structures and support systems that you’ve depended on: IEPs, occupational or physical therapy, respite care, etc. Many parents have made the leap and found that the freedom of unschooling is a perfect fit for their children and the family as a whole. 

Making the Leap to Unschooling for a Disabled Child 

If you're looking for a helpful guide about the flavors of unschooling, you've come to the right place. Remember, there's no one-size-fits-all approach, so keep an open mind and be flexible to mix and match these approaches.

The Ultimate Playbook For Child-Centered Learning

Parents, we don’t have to make every decision alone. And honestly, that will be better for everyone in our family, especially our young ones. Involving young people in planning activities and decision-making within the home not only fosters their sense of responsibility and autonomy but also honors their personhood and strengthens family bonds.

Better Together: Making Decisions with Our Young People

In self-directed education, learning core subjects from math to science might look a bit different from what we’re used to in conventional school settings

Learning core subjects outside of conventional schooling

Creating a space that caters to the unique needs of young people is important. It can be challenging for children to grow and thrive when their surroundings do not align with their personalities, interests, or developmental needs. However, building spaces tailored to them sends a message of love and understanding. It reflects: “I see you, and I want to support you in being the best version of yourself.” A thoughtfully-crafted environment can provide comfort, security, and belonging, helping children feel empowered as they navigate their formative years. Whether in the playground or the home, read on for practical ways to support your young person’s development and growth.

Tips from deschooling parent Crystal Farmer

Helping young people find their agency

Grandparents, or other caretakers and elders in our lives, can play an important role in creating supportive learning environments for children. Check out a few of the many ways families can take meaningful learning multigenerational, including: sharing life skills, providing emotional support, teaching a specific skill or hobby, fostering a love for learning, and practicing consent.

Meaningful learning with the support of grandparents

Independent meaningful learning looks unique to every family. For young learner Analê, it looked like an 8-year-long journey of homeschooling, unschooling, and now, taking community college courses—at her own pace. 

Exploring Transitions to Unschooling

Spend your next family movie night watching one of these films (or tv shows!) that explore themes that come up often in independent meaningful learning.

Recommended Viewing To Learn Unschooling Principles

We’d love to say long gone are the days of old parenting styles that utilize shame, control, and punishment to push our young people to do what we want them to do and be who we want them to be. But the reality is that that is the type of parenting a lot of us were raised with, what’s considered the norm in our society, and often all we know. While it can be difficult to imagine a different kind of parenting style that centers empathy, understanding, and trust—and even more challenging to actually practice —you’re already well on your way to this new dynamic by exploring independent meaningful learning.

Old Parenting vs New Parenting Styles

Raising emotionally intelligent, resilient, and compassionate individuals starts with caring for our children’s mental well-being. Doing well as parents looks like: showing up for our young people in the ways that they need and in the ways that we know how—and are willing to learn. It’s doing our best to understand and center their emotional and mental well-being. Here are some practices that we’re exploring within our families that we hope you find helpful.

Nurturing the Brilliance Within: Caring for our Children’s Mental Health

Facilitating a child's learning is not always sunshine and rainbows. In this candid dialogue, Maleka and Dan explore the unique hurdles they experienced and solutions families can try at home. From conscious parenting and developing self-confidence to providing constructive feedback, gain insight from two people navigating independent meaningful learning as parents of young learners.

Exploring challenges in parenting and learning - A conversation with unschooling parents Maleka and Dan

A father puts his arm around his son at the kitchen table as they chat. 

Exploring Challenges in Parenting and Learning

Deschooling is a life-long journey of unlearning and re-learning how the impact our schooling and childhood experiences shape how we engage in learning and relationships. Whether you’re a parent or young person; there is an extra-level of heaviness that comes with those of us who have already spent many years or generations in traditional schooling. However, when you’re ready, it can also be a liberating and empowering experience that opens up an onion-peeling world of new possibilities for personal growth.

Teaching Ourselves to See Learning in Creative New Ways

Whether your family is seasoned practitioners or just starting out, these recommended reads will enrich your journey in independent meaningful learning. These books offer personal insights, practical advice, valuable perspectives, and research to help you navigate this self-directed educational path with confidence.

A Different Approach to the Core Four

Whether you’re currently homeschooling or attending public school, we invite you to dip your toes in the water of self-directed learning. Read about observation, consent, invisible learning, and following your young people.

Four Ways To Dip Your Toes into Independent Meaningful Learning

Independent Meaningful Learning (IML) offers tools to empower neurodiverse young people through personalized learning, reduced stress, self-determination, and community support.

5 Tips to Help Neurodiverse Learners Thrive

Alston's firsthand experience with Independent Meaningful Learning helped him tap into his innate curiosity for the world. Inquiry is important to a young learner because it fosters agency and confidence to navigate our complex world.

Preparing Young Learners for the Future

Daniel T. Moeller and his son Kai discuss the power of exploration. When we’re curious, we explore new and different things and ask probing questions to better understand and unpack everything we’re learning. 

Be Curious and See Where the Learning Takes You

Some of us jump head-first while some of us prefer to dip our toes into new journeys. Every family is different. Collaborate with your young person to unpack and understand the pacing that works best for your family. 

Are You A “Jumper” Or A “Dipper”?

How do we foster a learning environment that goes beyond measuring and valuing learning as good/bad, pass/fail? Hear from unschooler Sarah on how to take a flexible and fluid approach to your child’s learning to encourage agency and ownership of their learning experience. 

Disrupting the pass/fail, good/bad mindset

Self-directed learner Yusef reflects, in a letter to his mother, what his learning journey has meant to him, including how, as a family, they prioritize open communication, empathy, and quality time together.

Practical tips for parents to build strong and lasting relationships with their young people by prioritizing open communication, empathy, and quality time together.

Resources