Radical Unschooling
Focus on Whole Life, Happiness, and the Law of Attraction
Among the many forms of homeschooling is unschooling, among types of unschooling is radical unschooling, and within radical unschooling is an approach advocated by Dayna Martin of Unschooling America.com. For a general overview of unschooling philosophy, see the free online unschooling course, Un/Homeschooling.
Radical Unschooling
Unschooling is a term coined by former teacher and education reform advocate John Holt. In general, unschooling is a form of homeschooling in which children follow their own interests and direct their own learning. Holt asserted that it is a child's nature to learn and that children learn all the time. He further asserted that coerced learning, as in schooling, inhibits children's curiosity and natural desire to learn. Unschooling is also referred to as free learning, life learning, and child-directed learning.
Radical unschooling, or whole life unschooling, extends the philosophy of unschooling to all of life. Whole life unschoolers extend the freedom to follow one's own curiosity and desire in learning to the freedom to follow one's own lead in all of life. The parents in a radical unschooling family approach living and learning with children as a respectful partnership. In other words, radical unschooling philosophy holds that children are not left on their own, but rather are supported as they follow their interests and make choices in life.
Many parents who have practiced attachment parenting with their children consider radical unschooling to be a natural extension of Dr. William Sears' "attachment parenting" or Jean Liedloff's "continuum concept" approaches to living with children. Children continue living in close connection with their parents and parents continue supporting their children and respecting them as individuals. Another compatible philosophy is Alfie Kohn's "unconditional parenting."
The Law of Attraction
After the release of the movie The Secret and the book The Law of Attraction by Esther and Jerry Hicks [Hay House Inc., 2007], the Law of Attraction concept has rapidly gained in popularity. From abraham-hicks.com, Law of Attraction says, "That which is like unto itself is drawn." In other words, like attracts like. In general, the concept holds that a person attracts that upon which he or she focuses, both negative and positive.
Radical Unschooling with the Law of Attraction
Dayna Martin advocates combining the philosophies of radical unschooling and the Law of Attraction into a new philosophy of parenting.
In addition to her website, UnschoolingAmerica.com, Dayna Martin maintains an unschooling Yahoo! Group for discussion and support among people practicing this lifestyle and an unschooling YouTube channel with informational videos about her brand of radical unschooling.
Both homeschooling and parenting are approached in a wide variety of ways. Radical unschooling with the Law of Attraction is a new and unique combination of philosophies that is gaining in popularity. Dayna Martin's website, online support group, and YouTube videos are a good place to gain more information about this approach.
Radical Unschooling
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