Allan Woodrow is back with another pitch-perfect middle-grade novel full of hilarious antics, epic arguments, and a fifth grade that just doesn't get along! This year's fifth graders are the worst Principal Klein has ever seen. But he's hoping that Spirit Week can teach them teamwork, with a top secret prize for the winning team as incentive.Best friends George and Lilly have been looking forward to Spirit Week all year. They might be complete opposites, but they can't wait to be on the winning team together. When their classes end up rivals, with Lilly leading Team Red and George leading Team Blue, the friends swear they can compete and remain best friends.But suddenly there are slimed lockers, sabotaged costumes, and class pets held hostage. As the mischief escalates, it threatens everything, including the prize. Because if Principal Klein finds out, Spirit Week will be canceled and the students will spend the rest of the year in detention.Can George and Lilly find a way to fix their friendship and get the entire fifth grade to play fair, or is the most awesome week of fifth grade about to make this the worst school year ever?

Education has become synonymous with schooling, but it doesn't have to be. As schooling becomes increasingly standardized and test driven, occupying more of childhood than ever before, parents and educators are questioning the role of schooling in society. Many are now exploring and creating alternatives. In a compelling narrative that introduces historical and contemporary research on self-directed education, Unschooled also spotlights how a diverse group of individuals and organizations are evolving an old schooling model of education. These innovators challenge the myth that children need to be taught in order to learn. They are parents who saw firsthand how schooling can dull children's natural curiosity and exuberance and others who decided early on to enable their children to learn without school. Educators who left public school classrooms discuss launching self-directed learning centers to allow young people's innate learning instincts to flourish, and entrepreneurs explore their disillusionment with the teach-and-test approach of traditional schooling.

School is one option for education; homeschooling is the second, and unschooling is the third. Many parents are frustrated by the school system, perhaps because of bullying, crowded classrooms, and outdated, dull, online courses. Disengaged learners that have no say in their coerced curriculum tend to act out, tune out, or drop out. Education must change and unschooling is the fastest-growing alternative method of learning. Two decades ago, students registered with their local school based on their house address. Now, with the internet, students are borderless. Learning can occur anywhere, anytime, anyway and from anyone-including self-taught. Self-directing their education, unschoolers learn through: - Play - Projects - Reading - Volunteering - Video games - Sports - Mentorship - Travel - Life This book explores the path of 30 unschooled children who self-directed all or part of their education and were accepted by universities, colleges, and other postsecondary schools. Most have already graduated. What children need most are close relationships-parents, teachers, siblings, relatives, coaches, and mentors within a wider community, not just within an institutional school. Educational content is everywhere. Caring relationships are not. Families that embrace unschooling, do not have to choose between a quality education and a relaxed, connected family lifestyle. They can have both.

This book explores the history of the unschooling movement and the forces shaping the trajectory of the movement in current times. As an increasing number of families choose to unschool, it becomes important to further study this philosophical and educational movement. It is also essential to ascribe theory to the movement, to gain greater understanding of its workings as well as to increase the legitimacy of unschooling itself. In this book, Riley provides a useful overview of the unschooling movement, grounding her study in the choices and challenges facing families as they consider different paths towards educating their children outside of traditional school systems.

Sandra Dodd's Big Book of Unschooling is an insightful summary of her website, with hundreds of practical ideas about how to move from schoolish thinking to living a life of natural learning and joy. Its more clearly landmarked journey flows beautifully and feels deeper; more connected and personal.

Ippie's a barefooted, band-aid covered, free-spirited eight-year old. She's a lot like all the other kids in her neighborhood, except for one thing...Ippie doesn't go to school. She has no teacher and follows no curriculum. So just what is Ippie doing all day? And how can she possibly be learning? Come spend some time with Ippie and find out. Written by former educator and current unschooling mom of four Nicole Olson, this ground-breaking story gives us a sneak peek into the world of unschooling through a child's eyes.

Sage Homeschooling: Wild and Free offers a natural learning path, for gentle parents who dream of living fully in joy and connection with their children while giving them all they need to be successful, with eight secrets to living a fulfilling unschooling life. In this inspirational and secular guide, you will learn how to: deschool, shaking off all the educational programming that weighs you down maintain your relationship focus on connection beyond the early years trust in your children and their natural learning journey embrace the freedom that fosters meaningful productivity and independence utilize collaboration in respectful partnership to achieve self-directed growth fully realize the environment as a valuable tool for playful learning live a fun lifestyle of learning through rich, adventurous experiences set your compass for growth and success in all the ways that matter most If you are ready to take the leap into a lifestyle of passionate learning with clarity and confidence, then read this book! "Our job as parents is not to educate our children but to provide environmental contexts that optimize their ability to educate themselves. In this upbeat, fun-to-read book about her family's unschooling practices, Rachel Rainbolt provides a multitude of great ideas about how to do just that." Peter Gray, Research Professor of Psychology at Boston College and author of Free to Learn.

No one is immune to the byproducts of compulsory schooling and standardized testing. And while reform may be a worthy cause for some, it is not enough for countless others still trying to navigate the tyranny of what schooling has always been. Raising Free People argues that we need to build and work within systems truly designed for any human to learn, grow, socialize, and thrive, regardless of age, ability, background, or access to money. Families and conscious organizations across the world are healing generations of school wounds by pivoting into self-directed, intentional community-building, and Raising Free People shows you exactly how unschooling can help facilitate this process. Individual experiences influence our approach to parenting and education, so we need more than the rules, tools, and “bad adult” guilt trips found in so many parenting and education books. We need to reach behind our behaviors to seek and find our triggers; to examine and interrupt the ways that social issues such as colonization still wreak havoc on our ability to trust ourselves, let alone children. Raising Free People explores examples of the transition from school or homeschooling to unschooling, how single parents and people facing financial challenges unschool successfully, and the ways unschooling allows us to address generational trauma and unlearn the habits we mindlessly pass on to children. In these detailed and unabashed stories and insights, Richards examines the ways that her relationships to blackness, decolonization, and healing work all combine to form relationships and enable community-healing strategies rooted in an unschooling practice. This is how millions of families center human connection, practice clear and honest communication, and raise children who do not grow up to feel that they narrowly survived their childhoods.

To Unschoolers, Learning Is As Natural As Breathing Did you know that a growing percentage of home schoolers are becoming unschoolers? The unschooling movement is founded on the principle that children learn best when they pursue their own natural curiosities and interests. Without bells, schedules, and rules about what to do and when, the knowledge they gain through mindful living and exploration is absorbed more easily and enthusiastically. Learning is a natural, inborn impulse, and the world is rich with lessons to be learned and puzzles to be solved. Successful unschooling parents know how to stimulate and direct their children's learning impulse. Once you read this book, so will you!