EU232: The Unschooling Journey: A Field Guide, Part One

This week, I’m sharing part one of the audiobook edition of my book, The Unschooling Journey: A Field Guide.

Published in 2018, here’s a bit of the description:

Inspired by Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey framework, The Unschooling Journey is a weave of myths, contemporary stories, and tales from Pam’s journey. It’s not a “how to” book—no two paths through the world of unschooling have the same twists and turns—yet having a general sense of where you are on your journey can bring valuable insight as you navigate the challenges that will inevitably appear. She shares this book as a field guide to the stages and characters you are likely to encounter in some form on your unschooling journey.

Characters such as the heralds and guides who call us forward and help us choose our next step. The tricksters and monsters who are determined to confuse and scare us at every turn. And the gods and goddesses who shake us to the core and inspire our inner journey until, at last, we capture the holy grail of our quest: unschooling with confidence and grace.

I am so excited to share these ideas with you!

And I think it could be fun to discuss the book as we work our way through it, so please feel welcome to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments.

The Unschooling Journey: A Field Guide also includes ten beautiful illustrations by Hema Bharadwaj—an unschooling parent herself—created specifically to visually reflect the inner journey we are taking as we embrace unschooling.

You can buy the ebook direct from me or from your favourite online retailer.

And the print edition is also a journal! In the print edition, you’ll also find plenty of room to document your journey along the way. Hema’s illustrations are printed full page for you to colour as you contemplate your journey, there are journal pages for writing down your experiences and clarifying your thoughts, and even blank pages for doodling and sketching.

You can purchase the print edition on Amazon, or find it on most other online print book retailers.

For listeners who prefer interview-style episodes, I don’t want to leave you feeling neglected! So I’ve curated a wonderful collection of amazing back list episodes for you to listen to.

This week, I’ve selected episode 90, Growing Up Unschooling with Phoebe Wahl, first released in September 2017.

Phoebe is an artist whose beautiful work focuses on the themes of comfort, nostalgia, and intimacy. She left school entirely after first grade and dove into unschooling. Eventually she chose to go to college, graduating from Rhode Island School of Design in 2013 with a BFA in Illustration. We have a lot of fun talking about her passion for drawing, the idea of “knowledge gaps,” what she found valuable in her college experience, how unschooling has influenced her art, and lots more!

Links to things mentioned in the episode

Check out the Homeschooling Global Summit 2020

My session, The Value of Strong and Connected Parent-Child Relationships When It Comes to Learning

And Anna Brown’s session, interviewed by me, Choice as an Empowering Element in Unschooling