Welcome to GA Unschoolers!

This group was created to support and connect unschoolers in Georgia. Please join us and use this list to make area unschooling connections. Share your families unschooling stories, discuss unschooling issues, share and read unschooling articles and quotes, plan and attend field trips and get-togethers, and check out our unschooling books/website recommendations. Let's grow and learn together.

Unschooling is not a school-at-home teaching method. We recognize that learning is a byproduct of living life. Unschooling refers to a philosophy of natural learning as well as a mindful lifestyle. This lifestyle encompasses, at its core, an atmosphere of trust, freedom, joy and deep respect for who the child is. We respect our children, and trust that they will learn everything they need to know through living their lives and following their passions. As parents we are here to facilitate and support them in their interests, whether that means taking a class, finding a mentor, or hanging out and living in the moment. We are not a school-at-home list. We are not here to discuss curriculum or other school-at-home issues, there are lots of other places to discuss these issues. We do acknowledge that there are families on varying locations of the unschooling spectrum, we are here to support each other on our unschooling paths.

To paraphrase the ending of John Holt's book, How Children Learn, "Birds fly, fish swim, man thinks and learns. Therefore, we do not need to motivate children into learning by wheedling, bribing, or bullying. We do not need to keep picking away at their minds to make sure they are learning. What we need to do, and all we need to do, is bring as much of the world as we can [into their lives], give children as much help and guidance as they ask for, listen respectfully when they feel like talking, and then get out of their way. We can trust them to do the rest.