The pandemic has forced change in schools. Parents, teachers, administrators and school boards have had to rethink old practices to make school safer.One problem that may get misunderstood during this time of change is a problem that has been around for a long time. What about kids who don’t do well in school? Are they better or worse off with the changes that have occurred? If a child struggles with school we tend to assume there is something wrong with the child or that there is something wrong with a particular school. But what if the problem isn’t a particular student or a specific school? Could the problem be the very structure of the education system itself?  The current factory model compulsory school system was invented in the 1850’s to produce workers for Industrial Revolution era jobs and many have questioned whether it has kept up with changes in society and the job market.This is why noted educator Heather MacTaggart founded Unschooling School. She has been joined by educators from all over the world including Carl Rust (Indiana USA), Sidney Morris (Massachusetts USA) Elizabeth Campbell (Canada) and more. The goal is to help kids and their parents “create an alternative to school within your school.” The Unschooling School movement isn’t about abandoning schools. It’s about repurposing schools to suit the people who use them. It is about learners and their families taking control and responsibility for their own learning using public facilities paid for by taxes.Says MacTaggart: “Unschooling School is about stepping outside the dominant narrative around education and into a new one. It’s a narrative where schools become places filled with resources, facilities, materials and experts to be used by kids to help them in the process of educating themselves.”Unschooling school cites the research of psychologist Peter Gray and others that contend that children are born, programmed by nature, to be natural learners and that schools often interfere in the natural learning process.Attached is Heather’s bio, Carl’s information and below are links to videos on Unschooling School that can assist parents in taking the first steps in unschooling and how to begin working within the school system.

For interviews with Heather MacTaggart, Carl Rust, or others, please call Carl Rust at 574-607-1757.Unschooling School – what is it and Q&A https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8vCF9vVRhNGghpyMMYs5lR-EbF-NoAuO

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Carl RustAuthor, Get Out of the Way and Let Kids Learn
Educational Facilitator at Woodlawn Nature CenterPresident of Woodlawn Nature CouncilElkhart, Indiana, USA