It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. This is an apt description of what conventional educational systems have been doing for decades. Conventional educational systems undermine wholeness and drain agency from the people they are purported to serve and our children are paying the price. Young people are experiencing anxiety and depression in record numbers and adults who have graduated from these systems are not doing much better. Children, parents, educators and young adults are yearning for a different way to be and learn together. Unschooling shows us the way.

Unschooling is a whole-life approach to being and learning. It is an empowering and transformative journey that goes way beyond conventional education. It centers relationship, healing and liberation. By supporting us to become aware of and step away from oppressive systems, unschooling frees us to consider other ways of creating our lives that have been occluded under the dominant paradigm that places systems over people, competition over cooperation and Gross National Product over Gross National Happiness.

Unschoolers prioritize having sovereignty over their time, body, thoughts, learning and agency to create the lives they desire for themselves, their families and their communities. They value healthy relationships as the ground for all meaningful learning and living. Society needs better alternatives that honor the whole person and mental, emotional and structural support for leaving the harmful systems behind. The quickest way to shift the trajectory of our species is to change how we are engaging children and to support families and young adults in reclaiming agency over their own lives. Healthy children and families are required for a thriving society. Unschooling will help us get there.