Sylvia Woodman joins me on the podcast this week, sharing some of her wonderful unschooling stories. Her children, ages thirteen and eleven, have never been to school. We chat about how she discovered unschooling, ways to create an environment in which natural learning thrives, how unschooling has been healing and liberating, technology, and lots more.

Quote of the Week

“What I also didn’t understand is that what they were able to read was not connected to what they were able to understand. They had very big vocabularies, they could understand very sophisticated content, but they weren’t necessarily going to go to a reference book to learn more. They had other resources available to them. They had podcasts, they had YouTube, they had voice-to-text if they wanted to communicate with people; they had lots of other ways of getting to the same place.” ~ Sylvia Woodman

Questions for Sylvia

Can you share with us a bit about you and your family?

How did you discover unschooling and how did your family’s choice to move to unschooling come about?

One of the cornerstones of deschooling is learning how to create an environment in which natural learning flourishes. That’s definitely a process, not a single, giant step. Can you share an idea or an action that you found really helpful along the way?

One of the things that can trip us up as we shift away from the idea of curriculum to natural learning and following our children’s interests, is thinking of learning as “child-led.” How can that concept get in the way of understanding what unschooling looks like in practice?

Moving to unschooling can also be a catalyst for healing from our own childhood. Has that been your experience?

I know you have lots of stories around how technology has enhanced your unschooling. I was hoping you could share a couple of them with us.

Eventually, what we learn through unschooling expands far beyond how children learn, doesn’t it?

Right now, what’s your favourite thing about your unschooling lifestyle?

Links to things mentioned in the show

My talk for the 2018 Canadian Online Homeschooling Conference is out February 7th and free for 48 hours

Grace Llewellyn’s book, The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education

Sylvia attended La Leche League meetings

Sylvia’s on Facebook, is an admin with the Unschooling Q&A FB group, and helps with the Radical Unschooling Info FB group

Episode Transcript

Read the episode transcript