Welcome to Santa Monica West Los Angeles Whole Life Learners ! (smwla)

We are progressive/liberal minded, unschoolers/ child led learners* or alternative oriented independent homeschoolers who are interested in following our child's interests. We are already living or moving towards living a life free of curriculum constraints. We're a secular group in the WLA area. The common thread is respect toward our children and each other. We hope to support each other in growing towards respectful, gentle parenting.

We recognize that learning is an outgrowth of living life. We respect our children and trust they will learn what they want and how they want through living their lives and following their passions. We are here to facilitate, strew new ideas and support them in their interests whether that's taking a class, finding a mentor or hanging out experiencing what's exciting at the moment. In other words: living and learning all the time.

We are a cooperative support group. The more you are involved the more the group will flourish.

We don't discuss curricula we think our kids should be doing or how to make them learn things we think they should learn. We trust our children will continue to explore and experience our world and that learning will be intrinsically motivated. We will be there along the way sharing their passions.

Here are some sites where you can read more:

http://sandradodd.com/

http://joyfullyrejoycing.com/

There is no one place everyone is expected to be along this journey but we are here to extend support to each other. in If this sounds like you, come on in! We're all moving forward w/ respect at our center. Our intention is to form a warm communty that benefits us all.

*There seems to be a belief that "child led" means hands off. Nothing could be further from the truth. We're dedicated to sharing what we know of the world to our kids and following their interests.

PARK DAY FRIDAYS for directions, go the links section.