Product Description

A compelling story about one family's journey into the unknown territory of homeschooling, told with skill by Alison McKee, a gifted teacher with a wide experience in traditional education and a special sensitivity to the individual needs of children. Trusting her own children to "show me the way" was a difficult challenge - but one that gave unexpected and rich rewards. Anyone familiar with the writings of John Holt will be interested to learn how things worked out for a family that decided to test his belief that children are the best directors of their own education. McKee offers the reader insights on how children learn, plenty of illustrations and practical advice about how "unschooling" works, and thoughtful commentary on the state of education today. This book will reassure parents considering homeschooling that nurturing children's natural desire to learn can empower their children to become enthusiastic life-long learners.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #408802 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 168 pages

Review
...Important book!...Should be a staple, not just for homeschoolers, but...anyone who has interest in how children learn. -- Elena Reyes, Reference Librarian, Madison Public Library

Alison McKee writes with...authenticity about the...triumphs of child-directed learning...This book is nourishing bread for the homeschooling journey. -- Mothering Magazine, Melissa Chianta, managing editor

An honest and touching account of how homeschooling leads to new attitudes and possibilities for learning -- Patrick Farenga, editor, "Growing Without Schooling"

Many...tinker with "unschooling"...Only a few have taken this uncharted path...Alison's work is paramount in this field. -- Rose Sias, The Tutor Shop

This is a vivid, complex, powerful, triumphant, reassuring and moving account of a whole family's education. -- Grace Llewellyn, author of "The Teenage Liberation Handbook"

About the Author
Author Alison McKee, has written numerous articles on homeschooling which have appeared in "Growing Without Schooling," "Home Education Magazine," "Homefires: The Journal of Homeschooling," "The Relaxed Homeschooler," "F.U.N. News: Family Unschooling Network" and others. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband. For twenty three years she homeschooled her two children, Christian and Georgina. Subsequently they have entered and graduated from college. Today, as community liaison for H.O.M.E. (a support group she began in 1984), she continues to offer, on a local as well as national level, support to individuals who seek information about homeschooling. She is also an advisor at Homeschool.com. Ms. McKee has been interviewed for newspaper, radio and television. She has also made numerous homeschooling presentations in teacher education classes at the University of Wisconsin, parenting groups, and various homeschooling conferences across the country.

Customer Reviews

Superb book!
This is a wonderful inspirational story of one family's journey through unschooling beginning at their decision to homeschool. This book is not really about the hows of homeschooling, but more about the whys. Reading this book completely reaffirmed our decision to homeschool. It helped us see that a traditional mode of education isn't necessary to help our children become happy well-rounded educated people. This would be a great book to give to others who wonder why we homeschool.

Vignettes of Experiences Applaud Unschooling
This is the book that verbalizes what so many of us do but have a hard time explaining to questioning relatives, friends, and just the people in the world that wonder why our four children are out and about town in the middle of the school day.
As a former teacher for 7 years in public and private schools, I can relate to the agonizing experiences of having to encourage frustrated students to struggle through concepts for testing, while having to limit time children spend on activities that are meaningful to them.
I have facilitated an unschooling environment for 5 years now at home. This is the first written material I have read that successfully enlightens nonhomeschooling families as to what life learning can be. By drawing on her own traditional school experience, both as a student and a teacher, Alison McKee is able to engage the skeptic and appeal to his/her own realm of learning experiences.
For the families that are unschoolers already, the book refreshes our spirit, guides us to be confident in our beliefs, and informs us that there is a beginning movement of Life Learning within the homeschooling community.
I have recommended this book to other homeschooling families and have purchased a mini stockpile to give to relatives that critique our evolution as natural learners.
This book has also guided us from being an unschooling family to one that is passionate about the life learning movement. It is an easy read cover to cover and a valuable resource.

Very Instructive
The most convincing evangelist is a reformed sinner, and Alison McKee, herself a practicing teacher, comes across as a most credible proponent of homeschooling in this consistently insightful book. No vapid cheerleading here. Like many another anxious parent, McKee and her husband suffer from uncertainties while seeking that elusive balance between structure and free exploration as their two children progress through the elementary and high school years. Readers of this book will come to understand how great a gulf lies between the initial decision to school ones children at home - which for many parents simply replaces one set of rigidities with another - and the real leap off the precipice to unschooling. Whether or not one is prepared to go all the way, as McKee ultimately does (with successful results), the book will undoubtedly bring the reader face to face with one of the most fundamental, and generally unasked, questions of education: what (if anything) does what children learn have to do with what they become? This is a great pick-me-up for home-schooling parents, and a thought-provoking explanation for those who seek to understand homeschooling. But anybody who is interested in learning will find grist for her or his own mental mill here.