This is a collection of resources that pertain to homeschooling. They present some view on homeschooling or parenting that I thought might be useful to explore.

A Richer Life
By Dan Vilter

This is an article that was published in the unschooling magazine Live Free Learn Free in March, 2005. The editor was asking for personal accounts of incorporating technology, specifically television, computers and video games, in an unschooling lifestyle.

Principles of Unschooling
By Pam Sorooshian

An outline of the principles of learning that are at the heart of unschooling. I asked my good friend Pam Sooroshian to let me post it here after I heard them in one of her many talks about unschooling. This helps answer the what and why we do it. Pam is a tireless promoter of unschooling and homeschooling. She was a founder of the National Home Education Network and has been on the board of directors of the Homeschool Association of California.

Outlines of talks
This is a collection of my outlines used to give talks at the Live and Learn and Homeschooling Association of California conferences

Five Reasons to Stop Saying "Good Job!"
By Alfie Kohn

By the author of Punished by Rewards. Explores the motivation and outcomes of simple praise. How this simple manipulation and judgment undercuts the independence of the person receiving it. Includes help on expressing yourself when kids do impressive things. It's okay, you don’t have to evaluate in order to encourage.

Also:
The Case Against Gold Stars.
By Alfie Kohn

How this bribery teaches kids to ask only "What's in it for me?"

Random Notes on Alfie Kohn's talks

This is just a listing of a few scribbled notes I took while attending Alfie Kohn's talks at the Homeschool Association of California conference in August 2006

I Live Therefore I Learn:
Living an Unschooling Life
By Pam Sorooshian

Pam describes what it is to be an unschooling parent and family. Originally published April 2005 in California Homeschooler.

Doing with Symbols:
Communicating with Computers

Part 1 114 MB mp4 video
Part 2 130 MB mp4 video

A presentation by Alan Kay

Conceptual computer interface designer. Principal researcher at the Xerox Palo Alto research center when much of the computer interface we use today in the Macintosh and now Windows interface was being developed. Long before the personal computer existed.

I was lucky enough to have attended Kay giving this same presentation in 1987 when I was using the original Macintosh, and my son was yet to be born. I can now see how the seeds of Unschooling were planted.

He uses children extensively in his research. He speaks of learning in ways unschoolers do. Like being immersed in a concept. Computers as a media. Thinking of a persons visual field as an extension of short term memory. He also shows Tim Gallwey, author of The inner Game of Tennis, helping a clearly un-athletic person learn to play tennis in twenty minutes once her mind was relaxed and comfortable. A twenty two month old person mastering the use of a computer. The first computer mouse.

This presentation filmed in 1987, was directed at graduate students. The files are quite large and will take some time to download even on a hi speed connection.

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