Rigged: Uncovering Strengths, Friendships, and a Teen's Difficult Journey to Maturity

Rigged is a new young adult novel about Fisher Haskins and his search for friendship and direction that school in the Florida Keys doesn’t give him.

Book Review, ASDE, Parenting, UnschoolingPatrick FarengaJuly 12, 2023HoltGWS LLCRigged, self-directed education, Young Adult Fiction Comments

Teach Your Own: The Indispensable Guide to Living and Learning with Children at Home

This Fall marks Teach Your Own’s 40th anniversary in print and my 40th anniversary working in the homeschooling/alternative education movement. Read more about the latest edition of Teach Your Own: The Indispensable Guide to Living and Learning with Children at Home.

Book Review, Growing Without Schooling, Homeschooling Current Issues, ParentingPatrick FarengaAugust 19, 2021Teach Your Own: The Indispensable Guide to Living and Learning with Children at Home, Pat Farenga, John HoltComment

The Hidden Curriculum and Systemic Racism

I am humbled, again, by how many blind spots I discover in my education. Just as I didn’t connect structural racism to the hidden curriculum until recently, I also didn’t grasp how interconnected slavery, education, and policing are.

Public School Issues, Racism, ParentingPatrick FarengaSeptember 17, 2020Black Lives Matter, Hidden Curriculum, systemic racism, police brutality, Schooling Comments

Sudbury Valley School and Unschoolers: We Are Closer Than You Think

Dan Greenberg, a founder of the Subury Valley School, writes “Sudbury Valley Schools and unschooling have NOTHING in common.” I write why we have much more in common than Greenberg claims.

Alternative schooling, Homeschooling Current Issues, Learning and Teaching, Parenting, UnschoolingPatrick FarengaJanuary 29, 2019Dan Greenberg, Sudbury Valley School, Unschooling, Pat Farenga Comment

Bad Homeschooling Legislation in CA

“Hard cases make bad law” and tomorrow’s hearing of a homeschooling bill in the California legislature is a prime example.

Legal Issues, Parenting, Public School IssuesPatrick FarengaApril 24, 2018child abuse, homeschooling legislation, CaliforniaComment

Special Tips for Your Homeschool Journey

Montessori’s ideas are being adapted by some to meet the growth of the homeschooling movement and the organizer of the Montessori Homeschool Online Conference asked me to talk about some general principles I’ve learned as a homeschooling advocate . . .

Parenting, Learning and Teaching, Learner-centered curricula, Growing Without Schooling, UnschoolingPatrick FarengaJanuary 6, 2017Montessori, unschooling, homeschool conference Comment

Being and Becoming

The movie’s exploration of how children and adults learn and grow together without following conventional school and child-rearing practices is vivid. Indeed, its celebration of childbirth and parenthood at the start of the film sets a beautiful tone for why parents might want to continue this type of holistic family life as opposed to conventional, fractured work/school/family schedules.

Parenting, Unschooling, Learning and Teaching, Homeschooling FilmsPatrick FarengaOctober 8, 2016unschooling, Clara Bellar, Being and Becoming, Class dismissed Comments

Coercing Children Without Meaning To

"Many of us may coerce without meaning to.

"The question is, what kind of influence do we exercise over other people, what kind of open or hidden pressure do we put on them, what chance do we give them to say No, what do they risk if they do say it? . . ."

Parenting, Learning and Teaching, John HoltPatrick FarengaSeptember 7, 2016Freedom and Beyond, Coericion Comment

Homeschooling is a Social Movement

It is all too easy, particularly in election years, to forget that homeschooling is a wide-ranging social movement, not a party-specific political movement . . .

Alternative schooling, Community, Homeschooling Current Issues, Learning and Teaching, Parenting, School reformPatrick FarengaApril 22, 2016Homeschooling, Social Movement, FBI, Prevent Progam UK, WI Parents Association Comment

Unschooling Dads

Twenty-two personal accounts about why and how fathers decide to embrace and support unschooling. Peaceful parenting and thoughtful support for their children's mental, spiritual, and physical development are some of the important themes that get explored by the men in this new collection.

Book Review, Community, Learner-centered curricula, ParentingPatrick FarengaJanuary 21, 2016Unschooling Dads, Skyler J. Collins, unschooling Comments

Parents' Concerns about Their Children's Futures

The questions from parents that Blake responded to at his talk are the same ones myself and others in homeschooling for the past 30+ years also asked when we started—childrearing issues don't differ from previous generations as much as our external circumstances do—and I feel obligated to pass those answers forward . . .

Homeschooling Current Issues, Learning and Teaching, Parenting, Technology and Education, videogamesPatrick FarengaDecember 15, 2015Blake Boles, Parenting, homeschooling, unschooling Comments

Homeschooled Teens

This new book surveys 75 former and current teenage homeschoolers about their feelings, thoughts, and experiences about not going to high school. The range of responses and the variety of educational experiences outside of conventional school that they describe will give heart to any parent wondering if homeschooling during the teen years is a smart move.

Book Review, high school, Grown-up Homeschoolers, Homeschooling Current Issues, ParentingPatrick FarengaDecember 2, 2015Homeschooled Teens, Sue Patterson, Unschooling teenagers, High School, Opportunities after high school Comment

The Rights of Children Gets an Airing

Children's rights are not a conversation starter in most circles, but this recent interview I did goes there in-depth.

Children's Rights, Homeschooling Current Issues, Learner-centered curricula, Legal Issues, Public School Issues, Parenting, UnschoolingPatrick FarengaOctober 28, 2015Escape From Childhood, Children's rights, Pat Farenga, New books in education, Trevor MatteaComment

Choosing Home: 20 Mothers Celebrate Staying Home, Raising Children, and Changing the World

"Insisting that both women and men must work in equally high paying and prestigious jobs to attain gender equality explicitly assumes that high paying jobs reflect the pinnacle of success and importance. We disagree. When mothers (and increasingly fathers) stay home—whether they earn a paycheck never, now, or in the future—they change the world for the better by raising and prioritizing children, cultivating family and community, and investing in the future . . ."

Book Review, Parenting, Homeschooling Current IssuesPatrick FarengaJune 23, 2015Choosing Home, Kerry McDonald, Rachel Chaney, Parenting Comment

Starting to Homeschool and Chat with Pat

This photo shows our living room during a typical day of homeschooling. I'll talk about how moments like this add up to powerful learning and enhanced self-esteem for children in my next Starting to Homeschool webinar . . .

Unschooling, Parenting, Learner-centered curricula, Learning and Teaching, CommunityPatrick FarengaApril 28, 2015starting to homeschool, Elsa HaasComment

Escaping the Education Caste System

Some Indian parents help their children cheat on exams to get ahead, and treat children harshly to make them study, in what they perceive as a dog-eat-dog world of education. Is conventional schooling the only way to help people learn and grow into good citizens?

Homeschooling Current Issues, Learning and Teaching, Parenting, Public School Issues, School reformPatrick FarengaApril 2, 2015School cheating, Schooling the World, education caste, Standardized testingComment

Starting to Homeschool

This series of starting to homeschool webinars presents homeschooling as a flexible, vibrant, and social way to learn with children. Homeschooling is an option open to anyone willing to try it. Even if your children are happy in school and you are satisfied with how your home and school work together, it is good to know what your modern educational options are as your family grows up.

Homeschooling, Learner-centered curricula, Learning Resources, Media Appearances, Parenting, UnschoolingPatrick FarengaFebruary 16, 2015starting to homeschool, unschooling, homeschooling, Pat FarengaComment

Manifesto 15

"In a world consumed with uncertainty and a growing sense of the obsolescence of our education systems, how can we ensure the success of ourselves as individuals, our communities, and the planet? We need to evolve education."—From Manifesto 15.

School reform, Parenting, Learning and Teaching, Learner-centered curricula, Children's RightsPatrick FarengaJanuary 30, 2015Manifesto 15, Schooling, School reformComment

Treating Children As Less than Human

Trying to break the cycle of child abuse seems like a gargantuan task, not just because all sorts of experts, institutions, laws, and religious beliefs encourage and support corporal punishment but also because the majority of adults don’t think children are capable of having deep thoughts and feelings . . .

Parenting, Children's Rights, Community, Legal Issues, UnschoolingPatrick FarengaSeptember 20, 2014Children's rights, child abuse, Adrian Peterson, Jake ChapmanComment

Why Parents Can Be Successful Teachers at Home

Don't teach the way you were taught: Involve other adults, other kids, and other activities in your children's lives. But most of all, get involved in building an open relationship with your children to best understand what does and doesn't work for them and you . . .

John Holt, Learner-centered curricula, Learning and Teaching, ParentingPatrick FarengaSeptember 12, 2014Parents as teachers, Schooling, unschooling Comment

John Holt GWS