Book

Preface

I was the mover and shaker in my family regarding unschooling. This is not a very common thing, as noted in the preceding Foreword by long-time unschooling mom Sandra Dodd. My own experience bouncing among support groups mirrors hers, “Thousands of moms, a dozen dads.”

I have brought together in this book nearly two dozen dads or future dads who have written their personal accounts on why and how they chose unschooling for their children. What’s remarkable is the type of men here represented. We have entrepreneurs and business professionals, but also college professors, artists, world travelers, and computer experts. These are intelligent and thoughtful men, a few of whom are heavily involved in academia. That’s very telling to me. Unschooling is not a backward or crazy idea, though it certainly seems that way at first. It has attracted and proven itself to incredibly smart individuals, both moms and dads. Sandra Dodd herself majored in English with minors in psychology and anthropology.

This book begins with an introduction to unschooling by senior unschooling dad Earl Stevens. After which it contains three chapters written by dads or future dads at different periods in their unschooling journey. It ends with a somewhat humorous epilogue written by junior unschooling dad (and my good friend) Phillip Eger.

If what you’ve read has intrigued you, then take some time to discover the hows of unschooling via the Further Reading page at the end. Those books, sites, and even a podcast archive do a fantastic job explaining unschooling through the experiences of real unschoolers. If at any point you have questions about unschooling, feel free to contact anyone in this book. Links to their Facebook profiles are included at the end of their testimonials.

Acknowledgements

I want to thank all of those who contributed to this book. Your efforts made this possible. I also want to thank Sandra Dodd for everything she has done for the unschooling community. Her website, SandraDodd.com, has been an invaluable resource to me over the last few years, and will no doubt continue to be invaluable in the future. Finally, I want to thank my beautiful and benevolent wife, Julieta, for bearing me three (so far) wonderful and wonder-filled children, and for being both skeptical and acquiescent as we headed into the unknown.

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About Skyler J. Collins (Editor)

Skyler Collins lives with his beautiful wife and three wonderful children in Salt Lake City, Utah. He enjoys reading, writing, and podcasting about anything on liberty, economics, philosophy, religion, science, health, and childhood development. He and his wife are committed to raising their children in peace and love, exploring the world with them, and showing them how to deal with others respectfully, and enjoy their freedom responsibly. He can be found online at Facebook.com/skylerjcollins.

 

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