Unschooling Resources
The Living Joyfully Network
The Living Joyfully Network is an online community for parents worldwide to explore unschooling with other like-hearted parents who are also choosing to embrace lifelong learning and develop strong and connected relationships with their children.
We invite you to join our candid and wide-ranging conversations about living and learning through the lens of unschooling!
I cannot overstate the positive effect that being in the Network has had on myself and my family! It’s been invaluable in terms of learning about and discussing unschooling, but it’s SO much more than that. The focus on how we can best show up in relationships and the emotional support around that has changed the way I approach all of the relationships in my life.
Nora McDonald, Network Member
Being part of a supportive group of people with a similar outlook on life has been so affirming and nurturing. And the rich conversations that we have are fascinating, intellectually exciting, and truly enrich my life. I’ve formed deep friendships with people who understand my choices (even when they differ from their own) and experience a strong sense of community support. I love that there is a strong sense within the Network that there are no set rules about how things ‘should’ be done – as the focus is on understanding the basic principles, I have been able to use those to chart a course that fits our family specifically. And those basic principles have enabled me to reassess how I live my own life – to get rid of stories and thought patterns that don’t serve me, to learn about myself in new ways, and create a life that works for me.
The Network has been so important in our unschooling journey. It has provided me with a safe haven of support and understanding, which I can then radiate out in to my family. It grounds me, calms me, and always helps me to see any problems in a different light. It’s the only space where I don’t feel judged and I feel like I’m surrounded by people who genuinely care and want to celebrate our way of life. It helps me to be the kind of Mama I want to be for my children.
Alicia STanton, Network Member
The Exploring Unschooling Podcast
Hosted by Pam Laricchia, Anna Brown, and Erika Ellis
Join us as we bring big-picture unschooling ideas into our everyday lives, celebrate a-ha moments with unschooling families, and answer your pressing unschooling questions. The Exploring Unschooling podcast began in 2016 and with over 300 episodes in its archive, it is a treasure trove of information and inspiration!
Subscribe in your favorite podcast player. Or watch us on YouTube.
I discovered this podcast about a month after I decided to finally pull my son from public school. Not only did I have ten thousand questions about what to expect, but I also needed to hear from other people who had done this to tell myself that what I was doing was okay. I have found this to be the best podcast on unschooling as it answers these immediate questions I had as a parent. I have become so much more confident in our decision to learn this way. I am beyond grateful for this podcast!!!!
exploring unschooling podcast review
Books about Unschooling
What is Unschooling? is a FREE introduction to unschooling ebook, answering some common questions about unschooling to help you explore whether unschooling might be a great fit for you and your family.
Free to Learn and Free to Live explore unschooling principles from the perspectives of learning and living, respectively. These books are short and meaty, and will help you understand the roots of unschooling.
Life through the Lens of Unschooling explores how those principles play out day-to-day. Longer and wider in scope, it will help you better understand the challenges and joys of unschooling as a lifestyle.
The Living Joyfully with Unschooling Box Set brings you all three books bundled together at a discount!
Inspired by Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey framework, The Unschooling Journey: A Field Guide is a weave of myths, contemporary stories, and tales from Pam’s journey.
The Childhood Redefined Unschooling Summit
The Childhood Redefined Unschooling Summit is an online workshop that focuses on the deep, personal work needed to peel away the layers of conventional ideas about learning and parenting that can get in the way of cultivating a thriving unschooling spirit in your family.
We’re not sharing a map, we’re holding the lantern for you.
Our children are not your children. Our life experiences are not yours either. We get that! We’re not simply sharing a map and expecting you to follow in our footsteps because our journey is not your journey. Instead, we are holding up a lantern and walking alongside you. Sharing our stories and insights. Helping to light your path as you to do the deep, personal (and sometimes hard!) work of peeling away the layers of conventional ideas and expectations we absorbed growing up.
What a wonderful journey this Summit has been and will continue to be, because I can keep going back to learn more as my understanding of myself and of each of my family members deepens. I am now more capable of honoring who my children truly and wholly are, connecting with them where they are and without expectations, blocking out ‘outside noise’ such as societal pressures, and keeping my focus where it belongs—on my children. This was so much more than a ‘How to Unschool Well’ training. There is still much work to be done, and I have the tools to do it. Thank you for pouring yourselves into this!
Kinsey, summit participant
Personal Relationships
The Living Joyfully Podcast
Hosted by Anna Brown and Pam Laricchia
Navigating relationships can be challenging, because people are all so different! On the Living Joyfully Podcast, we dive into tools, strategies, and paradigm shifts to help you decrease conflict and increase connection and understanding in your most important relationships. We talk about concepts like self-awareness, compassion, context, consent, and so many more.
The podcast starts with a 14-episode series which lays a foundation of new ideas and strategies. And every episode comes with thought-provoking questions to explore and share with the people in your life.
Let’s dig deep, challenge paradigms, choose connection, and live joyfully!
Subscribe in your favorite podcast player. Or watch us on YouTube.
Pam and Anna’s thought-provoking conversations offer meaningful perspectives of parenting and relationships. They suggest a path paved in connection, in which individuals are celebrated for who they are and families work together to support each other’s needs. This podcast inspires our family to stay the course. Step by step, we choose to navigate the path with JOY as our guide.
Living Joyfully podcast review
Relationship Coaching
When relationships feel challenging, it can help to talk to someone. We can give you new strategies and tools to deepen your relationships, lessen conflicts in your home, and move toward more joyful and satisfying relationships.
Understanding consent and letting go of power struggles opens up new ways to be in relationship with our children and partners and brings a blossoming sense of joy, safety, and connection to our days.
Visit our Coaching page to learn more about us. We look forward to meeting you!
Anna brings an amazing listening that is gentle, open and compassionate-which has allowed me to feel truly seen and heard! After many hours of listening and learning from the Exploring Unschooling and the Living Joyfully podcasts, I felt it was time to dig deeper. Diving into this rich new view of living life, I found that my learning and working with a new frame work had become very overwhelming.
Relationship Coaching Client
I was feeling stuck and in need of some assistance identifying the blind spots that were impacting my relationship with my husband and daughter. Anna’s open-hearted, fun-loving presence has made all the difference! Through her listening, wisdom, insights, and sharing a few new tools, I have been able to better understand myself (priceless!) and in turn my husband and daughter. I have been able to have more moments of truly connecting with each of them and feeling like we are all on the same team learning and growing together. Thank you, Anna!
Unschooling Consultations
There is no playbook for unschooling! It’s going to look different in every home. That said, sometimes it helps to talk to someone who’s been there and understands the unique joy and challenges that come from being an unschooling family. With over 50 years of unschooling experience between us, we love sharing the insights we’ve found helpful and the framework that helps you set your family up for connection and growth.
The Exploring Unschooling Podcast and Pam’s books are a great place to start, but if you’d like to have a one-on-one conversation, we’d love to meet you!
Who is the Living Joyfully Team?
Pam Laricchia is passionate about the gifts of connected relationships in parenting, unschooling, and beyond. She has written five books and dozens of articles highlighting the importance of cultivating connected relationships in our families.
Anna Brown has applied the principles of effective communication and connection in positions ranging from corporate re-engineering to couples counseling. She loves sharing ways to improve all the relationships and interactions in our lives.
Erika Ellis brings a creative eye to everything she touches. She dives deep into self-discovery and how understanding more about ourselves and our differences improves all of our relationships.
