Links
Please note that the inclusion of a link on this page does not necessarily mean that I agree with everything that is said and thought on that website - any more than it means that the writers of the websites linked to would agree with everything I say and think either.
Read and ponder - and draw your own conclusions...
Read and ponder - and draw your own conclusions...
Key Thinkers in Unschooling Philosophy
John Holt & Growing without Schooling
A website about educator John Holt, his philosophy and his legacy. It includes information about unschooling, books by and about Holt, and limited archives from the magazine 'Growing Without Schooling'
Patrick Farenga
Patrick Farenga enjoys helping people succeed at learning outside of school by applying John Holt's ideas, often referred to as unschooling, to their situations.
Can a Christian be an Unschooler?
Pat addresses Mary Hood's article of a similar title, debating whether or not Holt's philosophy is compatible with Christian homeschooling.
Pat Farenga's YouTube Channel
Wonderful video clips of John Holt, courtesy of Pat Farenga.
Skylark Sings
David Albert writes wonderful, inspiring books about his daughters and their learning experiences.
Sandra Dodd
Sandra Dodd is a prominent unschooling advocate. Her website will keep you thinking for a very long time indeed.
Sandra Dodd - Some Video Clips
Sandra Dodd shares unschooling insights in these wonderful video clips.
Certificate of Empowerment
March 23, 2010 will be the fourteenth anniversary of the first use of this wonderful certificate.
Joyce Fetteroll & Joyfully Rejoicing
A site about unschooling, peaceful parenting, and joy.
A.S. Neill & Summerhill School (UK)
The first democratic school in the UK, founded by A.S.Neill, and now run by his daughter, Zoe Readhead.
The Real School (USA)
A democratic school in Houston, Texas, based on ideas introduced by John Holt and other alternative educationalists with the intention of empowering and respecting young people. Quoting from the website: " Unschooling is funadmentally about process, not about content. It is about learning through self-discovery, about being open and confident, about thinking critically and independantly, and about making your own choices and taking responsibility for those choices. The process requires community, not isolation. Many unschoolers are also home-schoolers, but the unschooling process is nver insular. Unschooling is also referred to as community based learning, natural learning and self-directed learning.
A website about educator John Holt, his philosophy and his legacy. It includes information about unschooling, books by and about Holt, and limited archives from the magazine 'Growing Without Schooling'
Patrick Farenga
Patrick Farenga enjoys helping people succeed at learning outside of school by applying John Holt's ideas, often referred to as unschooling, to their situations.
Can a Christian be an Unschooler?
Pat addresses Mary Hood's article of a similar title, debating whether or not Holt's philosophy is compatible with Christian homeschooling.
Pat Farenga's YouTube Channel
Wonderful video clips of John Holt, courtesy of Pat Farenga.
Skylark Sings
David Albert writes wonderful, inspiring books about his daughters and their learning experiences.
Sandra Dodd
Sandra Dodd is a prominent unschooling advocate. Her website will keep you thinking for a very long time indeed.
Sandra Dodd - Some Video Clips
Sandra Dodd shares unschooling insights in these wonderful video clips.
Certificate of Empowerment
March 23, 2010 will be the fourteenth anniversary of the first use of this wonderful certificate.
Joyce Fetteroll & Joyfully Rejoicing
A site about unschooling, peaceful parenting, and joy.
A.S. Neill & Summerhill School (UK)
The first democratic school in the UK, founded by A.S.Neill, and now run by his daughter, Zoe Readhead.
The Real School (USA)
A democratic school in Houston, Texas, based on ideas introduced by John Holt and other alternative educationalists with the intention of empowering and respecting young people. Quoting from the website: " Unschooling is funadmentally about process, not about content. It is about learning through self-discovery, about being open and confident, about thinking critically and independantly, and about making your own choices and taking responsibility for those choices. The process requires community, not isolation. Many unschoolers are also home-schoolers, but the unschooling process is nver insular. Unschooling is also referred to as community based learning, natural learning and self-directed learning.
Ideas about Education, Learning and Life
Sugata Mitra - How Kids teach Themselves
In 1999 Sugata Mitra carried out "Hole in the Wall" experiments which showed that children can teach themselves and each other. As a result, some of the key assumptions of formal education were challenged.Quoting from TED: "The "Hole in the Wall" project demonstrates that, even in the absence of any direct input from a teacher, an environment that stimulates curiosity can cause learning through self-instruction and peer-shared knowledge. Mitra, who's now a professor of educational technology at Newcastle University (UK), calls it "minimally invasive education."
"Education-as-usual assumes that kids are empty vessels who need to be sat down in a room and filled with curricular content. Dr. Mitra's experiments prove that wrong."
~ Linux Journal
Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education
A wonderful TED Talk video demonstrating child led learning, a follow up from Mr Mitra's first TED Talk in 2007.
Tom Chaplin's 'Not on the Test'
The song, "Not on the Test," that Tom Chapin wrote with John Forster. The two wrote the song to express their disappointment in the lack of arts education in public schools.
Sir Ken Robinson: Schools Kill Creativity
Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.
Alfie Kohn
Alfie Kohn writes and speaks widely on human behavior, education, and parenting. Kohn's criticisms of competition and rewards have been widely discussed and debated, and he has been described in Time magazine as "perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of education's fixation on grades and test scores."
AERO
The goal of the Alternative Education Resource Organisation (AERO) is to advance student-driven, learner-centered approaches to education.
Khan Academy
Salman Khan began uploading maths tutorials on YouTube in 2004. Today he has a website with a library of more than 2500 tutorials on various subjects. The website says: "We're on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace."
Teaching Kids to Work Hard
Matthew Jacobson's well expressed article on the value of work.
Unschooling
Wikipaedia's page on Unschooling
In 1999 Sugata Mitra carried out "Hole in the Wall" experiments which showed that children can teach themselves and each other. As a result, some of the key assumptions of formal education were challenged.Quoting from TED: "The "Hole in the Wall" project demonstrates that, even in the absence of any direct input from a teacher, an environment that stimulates curiosity can cause learning through self-instruction and peer-shared knowledge. Mitra, who's now a professor of educational technology at Newcastle University (UK), calls it "minimally invasive education."
"Education-as-usual assumes that kids are empty vessels who need to be sat down in a room and filled with curricular content. Dr. Mitra's experiments prove that wrong."
~ Linux Journal
Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education
A wonderful TED Talk video demonstrating child led learning, a follow up from Mr Mitra's first TED Talk in 2007.
Tom Chaplin's 'Not on the Test'
The song, "Not on the Test," that Tom Chapin wrote with John Forster. The two wrote the song to express their disappointment in the lack of arts education in public schools.
Sir Ken Robinson: Schools Kill Creativity
Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.
Alfie Kohn
Alfie Kohn writes and speaks widely on human behavior, education, and parenting. Kohn's criticisms of competition and rewards have been widely discussed and debated, and he has been described in Time magazine as "perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of education's fixation on grades and test scores."
AERO
The goal of the Alternative Education Resource Organisation (AERO) is to advance student-driven, learner-centered approaches to education.
Khan Academy
Salman Khan began uploading maths tutorials on YouTube in 2004. Today he has a website with a library of more than 2500 tutorials on various subjects. The website says: "We're on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace."
Teaching Kids to Work Hard
Matthew Jacobson's well expressed article on the value of work.
Unschooling
Wikipaedia's page on Unschooling
More Pages by or about Cathy Koetsier
A Vehicle for Healthy Family Life
A 2001 article by Cathy Koetsier for Joy Magazine
Home Education Review - Memorandum
A 2009 response to the UK Government Review of Home Education
Home Education
A 2011 response to a TES article on Home Education in my capacity as HEAS Media Officer
Setting Their Own Limits
A 2012 article by Grace Howard on Christians and Unschooling
Learn Free
Conference delegate's comment on my talk at the 2013 Learn Free conference for Christian Home Educators
Learning Paths
Conference delegate's comment on my talk at the 2013 LiTTLe Unschooling Conference
Navigating By Joy
Conference delegate's comment on my talk at the 2013 LiTTLe Unschooling Conference
Uffington White Horse with Sandra Dodd
A nice write up by Sandra Dodd about our trip to see my favourite White Horse
A Vehicle for Healthy Family Life
A 2001 article by Cathy Koetsier for Joy Magazine
Home Education Review - Memorandum
A 2009 response to the UK Government Review of Home Education
Home Education
A 2011 response to a TES article on Home Education in my capacity as HEAS Media Officer
Setting Their Own Limits
A 2012 article by Grace Howard on Christians and Unschooling
Learn Free
Conference delegate's comment on my talk at the 2013 Learn Free conference for Christian Home Educators
Learning Paths
Conference delegate's comment on my talk at the 2013 LiTTLe Unschooling Conference
Navigating By Joy
Conference delegate's comment on my talk at the 2013 LiTTLe Unschooling Conference
Uffington White Horse with Sandra Dodd
A nice write up by Sandra Dodd about our trip to see my favourite White Horse
Blogs
Cathy Koetsier's Unschooling Blog
Yes, I do have a Blog. But it is not updated regularly; just when I have a bit of time to record my musings.....
Extreme Operations
My blog about short-term missions in Thailand, Cambodia & Brazil. While this is not specific to unschooling, it is about children. I have been very concerned to hear about child trafficking and sexual exploitation in these countries, and over the last 3 years have tried to see what I could do to help. I dream of a world that actively safeguards the innocence and freedom of its children. It is heartbreaking to find, in many cases, that this is too much to ask. It MUST change. So while my first concern and responsibility remains the upbringing of my own children, increasingly I find myself with time and energy to look further afield, at the needs of vulnerable, unwanted and uncared for children.
Elissa Wahl's Blog
Elissa Wahl wrote the book 'Christian Unschooling' with Teri J Brown
Navigating by Joy
A really nice UK blog with lots of great educational ideas
Yes, I do have a Blog. But it is not updated regularly; just when I have a bit of time to record my musings.....
Extreme Operations
My blog about short-term missions in Thailand, Cambodia & Brazil. While this is not specific to unschooling, it is about children. I have been very concerned to hear about child trafficking and sexual exploitation in these countries, and over the last 3 years have tried to see what I could do to help. I dream of a world that actively safeguards the innocence and freedom of its children. It is heartbreaking to find, in many cases, that this is too much to ask. It MUST change. So while my first concern and responsibility remains the upbringing of my own children, increasingly I find myself with time and energy to look further afield, at the needs of vulnerable, unwanted and uncared for children.
Elissa Wahl's Blog
Elissa Wahl wrote the book 'Christian Unschooling' with Teri J Brown
Navigating by Joy
A really nice UK blog with lots of great educational ideas
Horsemanship
Parelli Natural Horsemanship
I have learned so much from the Parelli Natural Horsemanship program - and not just about horses. I have learned about human growth and discovery, self-awareness and development, love, language, leadership, learning, and many other things. Because I talk about it so much, I have included a link here.
Horses 4 Orphans & The H-Factor
My friend Ingela Larsson Smith has developed a unique approach in interacting with horses. She calls it 'True Connection', and it is predominantly this approach that we use in partnering with our horses. We have learned an enormous amount about ourselves, relationship with horses, people and God through this approach.
Lynn Henry and Think Like A Pony
These are the sites for Lynn Henry's excellent Natural Horsemanship training for children. There is also a Think Like A Pony Club.
My 4th daughter Julie Anne and I are trainee Think Like A Pony instructors. Currently 2/3 of the way through our training, we are looking forward to setting up a centre in Norfolk where people will be able to interact with ponies.
There is a short video clip that includes me here: Think Like A Pony Instructor Training
Kerrin Koetsier's Horsemanship Blog
My daughter Kerrin shares her learning experiences with Parelli Natural Horsemanship.
I have learned so much from the Parelli Natural Horsemanship program - and not just about horses. I have learned about human growth and discovery, self-awareness and development, love, language, leadership, learning, and many other things. Because I talk about it so much, I have included a link here.
Horses 4 Orphans & The H-Factor
My friend Ingela Larsson Smith has developed a unique approach in interacting with horses. She calls it 'True Connection', and it is predominantly this approach that we use in partnering with our horses. We have learned an enormous amount about ourselves, relationship with horses, people and God through this approach.
Lynn Henry and Think Like A Pony
These are the sites for Lynn Henry's excellent Natural Horsemanship training for children. There is also a Think Like A Pony Club.
My 4th daughter Julie Anne and I are trainee Think Like A Pony instructors. Currently 2/3 of the way through our training, we are looking forward to setting up a centre in Norfolk where people will be able to interact with ponies.
There is a short video clip that includes me here: Think Like A Pony Instructor Training
Kerrin Koetsier's Horsemanship Blog
My daughter Kerrin shares her learning experiences with Parelli Natural Horsemanship.