My New Book: The Unschool Challenge

I have some big news: I’ve finished and published my third unschooling book, The Unschool Challenge, and it’s now available on Amazon!

My author copies of my new book arrived the day before my daughter, Charlotte, and I set off for the coast for a special mother-daughter holiday. I packed The Unschool Challenge, with its distinctive green cover, into my bag, with my beach towels, sunscreen and swimmers!

So what’s my unschooling book about? Who is it for?

Here’s the Amazon description:

The Unschool Challenge is crammed full of challenges or practical things to do that will help remove the challenges or concerns that often prevent parents from adopting an unschooling life.

These unschooling challenges are designed to overcome the challenges of unschooling!

Each challenge focuses on one aspect of unschooling and comes with step-by-step suggestions, loads of questions to ponder, ideas to put into action, and is illustrated by real-life stories.

Who are the challenges for?

• •  Anyone who has doubts about unschooling and is seeking a greater understanding of its principles.
  • Parents who are eager to unschool but don’t know how to put its principles into action.
  • Unschoolers who‘ve got stuck and need fresh enthusiasm and ideas to reignite their passion for this way of life.
  • Parents who need record-keeping tips that will allow them to unschool their kids while fulfilling homeschooling registration requirements.
  • Everyone who‘s not satisfied with their present way of educating and parenting – there must be a better way! – and is eager to set off with their families on a life-changing adventure!

This book of challenges will clear away any obstacles, so parents are free to love unconditionally, trust, and live a full unschooling life bursting with learning with their kids.

 So, are you ready to take up The Unschool Challenge?

There are 76 challenges in my book, and some of these have ideas for extra challenges. I’ve added many real-life family stories that illustrate the unschooling principles behind each challenge. And I’ve listed some related reading suggestions, which are stories you can find in my books Curious Unschoolers and Radical Unschool Love.

I’ve already had some positive feedback about my book: some of my friends who are unschooling or would like to unschool have given it a warm welcome. Maybe that’s because I’ve offered many suggestions for practical things to do. That was a problem when we were new unschoolers: I yearned to live an amazing unschooling life like the families I’d read about, but how could we do that? What do unschoolers actually do? How could I put the unschooling principles into action? I initially thought that unschooling was just about standing back and letting kids get on with learning, but I couldn’t see how that would work. What was I missing?

So, I’ve had some good feedback from people interested in unschooling. But I’ve also received some interesting comments about The Unschool Challenge from a classical homeschooling parent, who told me she’d enjoyed my book very much. She said it reassures her that her kids are constantly learning, even on the days when her plans fall apart.

Everyone has difficult days, regardless of learning style, don’t they? Life gets overwhelming. Kids get tired. So do parents. Unexpected things happen. Plans are put aside.

Years ago, when we tried structured homeschooling, I often abandoned my ‘perfect’ plans. And I felt terrible each time I failed to keep up with what I thought we should be doing. I thought I’d failed.

But what if I had changed my approach on those overloaded days? What if I’d accepted that those times weren’t structured homeschooling days? Instead of pushing on and fighting with my kids or abandoning everything and feeling like a failure, I could have said, “Today is an unschooling challenge day!”

Yes, what if I’d had a book of unschooling challenges to dip into: practical and enjoyable things I could have done that would have lightened the burden and reassured and encouraged me to put my kids first and soak up the joy of spending time with them? Perhaps I’d have enjoyed dipping my toes into unschooling. My understanding of its principles may have increased. I suppose I might not have wanted to return to my carefully prepared plans. Would we have become unschoolers via a different path than the one we took?

That could be a problem: what if structured homeschoolers read my book because they want some reassurance and ideas for those difficult days that every parent experiences at one time or another, and then they decide not to return to their former way of homeschooling? What if they want to wade out further and become unschoolers? Maybe that’s not a problem after all!

Photos

I snapped loads of photos of my daughter Charlotte, The Unschool Challenge, the golden sand, and the sparkling Pacific Ocean.

While Charlotte and I were at the beach, we enjoyed some lazy days, sniffing up the salty air, soaking in the late summer sunshine, chatting, observing, asking questions and pondering answers. We learnt all kinds of things while we were doing nothing much at all.

Do you ever wonder if kids are learning anything while doing such things as splashing in the ocean? Perhaps a beach day is a day ‘off’? Yes, kids have fun, but surely they don’t learn much while enjoying themselves? What could we possibly write in our homeschool records book at the end of the day? If you’d like some ideas, see Challenge 51: Do Nothing Much at All, in my new book!

So, will you check out The Unschool Challenge? I’d love you to take a look. If you like it, will you help me spread the word?

The Unschool Challenge is available on Amazon as a print book and a Kindle ebook.