In this episode, we’re chatting with Kerry McDonald, author of Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom, about different models of education around the world, the developmental bell curve of when children read, how Unschooling benefits teenagers and how the school system can harm children.
👉 Guest Details
Kerry McDonald is an education policy writer, self-directed learning expert and author of Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom. She is a board member at the Alliance of Self-Directed Education and mother of four never-been-schooled children.
👉 Kerry Shares
- What she has been up to
- Research coming out about how the pandemic affected opinions on homeschooling
- The difference between education and schooling
- The qualities we value in the ‘imagination age’ and how school stifles creativity
- How the industrial education system can make children’s lives worse
- That unschooling is treating children with basic human respect
- How the 19th century industrial model education system lacks the ability to build the skills required for the most in demand jobs
- That knowing yourself and what you want are largely neglected in conventional structured schooling
- About empowering parents
- The developmental bell curve for reading age in children
- Examples of different unschooling programs and self-directed learning models in the states
- Why bullying is nearly non-existent in these alternative models of education
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Free Downloadable
👉 Resources & References
Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom, Kerry McDonald
Foundation for Economic Education
BOOKS
Learning is Natural, School is Optional, Ken Danford
The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life, Grace Llewellyn
Fab: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop, Neil Gershenfeld
Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, Adam Grant
Outliers M,alcolm Gladwell
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand Audiobook Read by Scott Brick
ALTERNATIVE UNSCHOOLING PROGRAMS
North Star, founded by Ken Danford
Not Back To School Camp
NFP’s
Liberated Learners
Alliance of Self-Directed Education
Wildlings Forest School Contact Details
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