This group is for child-initiated learning with peers (although parents can participate in learning too) in the Ann Arbor area. The group should be up and going in the next few months, but if you're interested in joining, please join now.

The idea is that peers decide together what they want to learn and how they want to go about it. So there should be no adult teachers (although adults can be part of learning groups and can answer questions and offer suggestions for reading material, etc.).

The YahooGroup will act as a matchmaking service. The way it works is that parents post what their kids are interested in learning (or older kids can post for themselves), and anyone interested in learning with them responds. From there, they work things out on their own. Learning groups can be anywhere from two people to a large group and "subjects" could range anywhere from a book club, to learning Algebra, to having a readers' theater, to getting together and playing sports, to playing music together, to going on hikes, to sewing.....

Again, the idea is not to have classes or tutoring sessions together, but for the learners themselves to choose the topic and the direction, educating themselves and each other. The group is mainly geared towards unschoolers, but schooled kids who want to pursue self-directed learning on a topic of their choosing in this way are welcome as well.

Search Words: homeschool, unschool, homeschooling, unschooling, homeschooers, Washtenaw, home