The Teenage Liberation Handbook
An estimated 700,000 American children are now taught at home. This book tells teens how to take control of their lives and get a "real life." Young people can reclaim their natural ability to teach themselves and design a personalized education program. Grace Llewellyn explains the entire process, from making the decision to quit school, to discovering the learning opportunities available.
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What Hacker News says
- I first came across unschooling in 1991 via "the Teenage Liberation Handbook (how to quit school and get a real life and education)" by Grace Llewellyn. The updated 30th anniversary edition came out a few years ago.
Wonderful book, I've given out many copies as gifts. Often it can be found online as PDF.
- Three non-fiction books that really changed my life, at different moments of my life:
1. Difficult Conversations by Douglas Stone
2. The Teenage Liberation Handbook
3. The Win Without Pitching Manifesto
I read a lot of fiction across many genres, but my long-time favourite is Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon.
- Compulsory school serves multiple purposes:
- Taxpayer subsidized day care so parents can go to work
- Keeping teens out of the labor pool
- Keeping kids and teens off the street causing trouble
- Social and political indoctrination
- Imparting some minimum level of basic education
Motivated students and their parents can get a lot out of the school system, mainly admission to good universities. Schools used to provide vocational “tracks” for students not focused on university, but that fell away in the ‘70s.
A lot of kids just do the time and get through it, or maybe drop out, possibly learning some useful information and skills, but too often just wasting a lot of time.
You might look into Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich, John Holt’s books How Children Fail and How Children Learn, and Grace Llewellyn’s The Teenage Liberation Handbook. John Taylor Gatto, a former Teacher of the Year, wrote this great essay The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher about school:
- I was both unschooled and unschooled my middle schooler through homeschooling.
There's something very powerful about developing "undirected learning."
Maria Montessori's fundamental insight was the way to develop a child's ability to learn was by providing a rich learning environment - books and projects. Montessori toys are a great place to start.
Youtube for Kids is actually a great resource in this regard - lots of easy projects where kids can experience various natural phenomenon.
We are headed towards a project-based, self-directed world when it comes to work. Your instincts are dead on. I founded a company to help college students develop these skills and you can see some of that at: https://useed.net/spotlight
I'd encourage you to check out a few other resources:
The Teenage Liberation Handbook (John Holt) Most Likely to Succeed (and anything by Tom Wagner)
There is a fear that if our children are not lockstep chasing the next learning objective, they will fall behind.
This is unfounded. Children who learn to take ownership over their learning experience rapidly surpass those who never do.
My favorite practical teacher on this is A.J. Juliani:
ajjuliani.com
There are schools that provide this experience and co-op groups if you homeschool.
Schools that emphasize self-directed, project-based learning are generally great choices. Waldorf is another model worth looking into.
Today's Montessori schools are much more structured than they were at their founding. They are a good balance, but unschooling provides a unique opportunity for your kids:
For them to see themselves as the agents of their own education.
Once a student sees themselves as the driver of their learning, they have a distinct advantage in any educational environment.
Feel free to connect with me directly about it if you'd like!
- Get the book "The Teenage Liberation Handbook." It's a bit facile, but it's all about unschooling and how kids like you (and me, at the time) can and do succeed. Dig up the statistics on unschooled/homeschooled kids going to college. My parents were assuaged by the idea that many homeschoolers get into excellent colleges (meanwhile I never had a moment's intention of going to college; I had exposure to too many older friends in allegedly high-end university programs to think it was worth my time).
Your parents just want what's best for you but because they probably haven't investigated it, they believe the hype and durm and strang about dropouts.
Since you're the one who wants to do something "weird," the burden of proof is on you. (That's the position to take whenever you want to persuade anybody of anything.)
- Those who enjoy reading John Taylor Gatto may also like to read a great little book called "The teenage liberation handbook" by grace Llewellyn. It's that book you read as an adult and wish you'd read as a teenager.
