Show Overview
What does real school choice look like? Creating a school within a school for free learners. Heather MacTaggart has been working to change the education system in Canada for 23 years. She has attracted a team of educators with a combined experience of 229 years in education to expand the Unschooling School movement around the world. 

Join the Unschooling School movement as a parent, learner, or educator. 

The invitation is for learners to become Free Learners by creating an individual education plan (IEP) that declares they are a free learner. Free Learners utilize the resources and facilities of their local public school as it fits with their IEP and opt out of classes that they are not interested in. 

Unschooling School invites educators to become Responsible Subversives by supporting Free Learners. Wha
Connect with Heather and Join the Unschooling School Movement
Unschooling School website for creating real school choice within your community.

For families in the United States, connect with Carl Rust. 
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Books and Resources We Mentioned
Get Out of The Way and Let Kids Learn: How We Can Transform Schools and Reintroduce Natural Learning by Carl Rust

The Real Lord of the Flies in The Guardian

School Transformation by Wayne Jennings

Composing a Life by Mary Catherine Bateson

Rise Academy 
Episode Highlights
1:10 - Unschooling School is a movement and community hub to put the power back where it belongs - in the hands of the learners and their families. Why don't we use the resources found in schools to serve kids? We are in charge and we are going to insist that the public resources be used for the good of kids.

2:40 - We have bought a lot of beliefs that are just nonsense. 

3:10 - Schooling as a process of colonization of people and the mind. All of the structures are self-reinforcing and have been used by dominating cultures to colonize groups of people - dividing kids by age groups, you have to do the same thing at the same time, and there is a set of information that you need to know to thrive. 

5:10 - How Heather has tried everything to change the education system. 

6:15 - We need to educated kids, and include indigenous people, in a way that doesn't kill their creativity and ingenuity. 

7:00 - Most people don't know anything about self-directed education and the alternatives that are available. Trying to change the system using a network of independent schools is too slow, it will take over 100 years. 

8:38 - Unschooling School tells kids and parents, "This is your system. You pay for it." Educate yourself about self-directed education to learn that there is a better way. By becoming a Free Learner, you can educate yourself within the system. Heather invites all kids to create a Free Learner Plan (an I.E.P. for free learners). 

10:50 - With freedom comes tremendous responsibility. 

11:42 - Unschooling School provides resources and direct access to Heather and her team to walk you through the process of creating a Free Learning school within a school.

14:20 - Do you really need a high school diploma? Unschooling School offers a free learner diploma that is more rigorous than a standard high school diploma. It requires a young person to know what is next and what they need. Heather shares there are eleven different ways to get into college without a high school diploma. 

16:50 - Everyone blames everyone else in the school system. High schools blames universities. Universities blame high schools. 

17:10 - Education for the 6 Cs: creativity, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, compassion, community. 

19:20 - We are biologically born to educate ourselves and driven to succeed in the society we're born into. We just need the environment and tools to do this. We need schools to start serving kids. 

20:20 - For kids entering elementary schools now, 62% will be doing jobs that don't exist. So how can we use curriculum?