Book
Free to Learn
Peter Gray
The research behind self-directed learning, from an evolutionary psychologist who came to it as a parent.
Resources
Where our ideas come from.
A short list to start with, and more if you want to go deeper. None of it is required; it’s what shaped how we think about kids, learning and community.
Start here
Book
Summerhill
A.S. Neill
A frank account of the democratic school, open since the 1920s, that inspired many free schools and ALCs.
Book
Raising Free People
Akilah S. Richards
Unschooling as liberation and healing work, for kids and for the adults raising them.
Book
Unconditional Parenting
Alfie Kohn
How adults can treat children with real respect, and the work on ourselves that takes. Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves by Naomi Aldort makes the same case.
Book
Hold On to Your Kids
Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté
Why kids need close bonds with the adults raising them, and how to keep those bonds as they grow.
Essay
A Thousand Rivers
Carol Black
One of our favorite essays on what the modern world has forgotten about children and learning.
Learning to read
Families ask how kids learn to read here. In the play yard, facilitators run regular reading offerings, and these explain the thinking behind them.
- Dyslexic kids wrote this article in a school that forces no one to read or write By ALC Mosaic kids with dyslexia, with Lacy: what learning to read was like for them, in their own words. Tipping Points
- Resources on learning to read in a self-directed setting Unschooling Mom2Mom
- Stories from unschoolers on how their children learned to read Sandra Dodd
- A review of Rethinking Learning to Read by Harriet Pattison Tipping Points
The wider movement
Self-directed education is bigger than one school.
- self-directed.org a primer, videos and resources from the Alliance for Self-Directed Education
- Tipping Points the Alliance’s magazine of first-hand stories
- What is Self-Directed Education? a short video by Peter Gray
- What if We Trusted You? a short video by Jerry Michalski
Freedom, fairness and belonging
Self-directed education is about freedom: for kids to lead their own learning, and for everyone here to be treated fairly and to belong. These are some of the books behind how we think about that, and how we practice it with kids every day.
- Escape from Childhood John Holt
- The Teenage Liberation Handbook Grace Llewellyn
- Raising Free People Akilah S. Richards
- The Little Book of Restorative Justice Howard Zehr
- Pedagogy of the Oppressed Paulo Freire
- Teaching to Transgress bell hooks
- Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer
- The Sum of Us Heather McGhee
Going further
More of the books and writing that shaped self-directed education.
Books on self-directed learning 9
- Guerrilla Learning Grace Llewellyn and Amy Silver
- The Art of Self-Directed Learning Blake Boles
- Better Than College Blake Boles
- College Without High School Blake Boles
- Don’t Go Back to School Kio Stark
- Flow Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
- On Dialogue David Bohm
- The Art of Loving Erich Fromm
- Finite and Infinite Games James P. Carse
Classics of free and democratic education 9
- Education and the Significance of Life J. Krishnamurti
- Dumbing Us Down John Taylor Gatto
- Weapons of Mass Instruction John Taylor Gatto
- The Underground History of American Education John Taylor Gatto
- Beyond Discipline Alfie Kohn
- Punished by Rewards Alfie Kohn
- Record of a Friendship Wilhelm Reich and A.S. Neill
- Democratic Education Yaacov Hecht
- Free at Last Daniel Greenberg
Articles 3
- A Playful Path Peter Gray
- Survey of Grown Unschoolers: Pursuing Careers Peter Gray
- The Danger of Back to School Peter Gray
Books our kids love
Reviews from ALC kids, in their own words.
Fantasy
Amari and the Night Brothers (series)
B.B. Alston
“It’s completely magic.”
age 7
Nic Blake and the Remarkables
Angie Thomas
“It’s good and it’s magic. How they dealt with the villain was… a surprise ending!”
age 7
The Last Mapmaker
Christina Soontornvat
“It’s shorter, just the right length, if you need a shorter book for some reason.”
age 9
Wings of Fire (series)
Tui T. Sutherland
“They should read Wings of Fire because it’s fantasy. There are dragons.”
age 10
“It has so many books in this series, 17 books! Well there are 15 books in the series, but there are two extra books. I like long series.”
age 9
Harry Potter (series)
“It is also a pretty long series. I like the story. It’s fantasy.”
age 9
The Land of Stories
Chris Colfer
“It is a pretty long series, fantasy. I like the story of it. Fantasy!”
age 9
Wizards of Once (series)
Cressida Cowell
“Fantasy! The story is good. It’s a bigger series, not just one book.”
age 9
Science Fiction
Jurassic Park
Michael Crichton
“It’s exciting. It’s kinda cuckoo. It’s a good book!”
age 9
The Wild Robot (series)
Peter Brown
“It’s interesting to me. I like those because of the journey.”
age 11
“It’s a good book. I like the story. A lot of people at our school have read it and all like it. It’s not a long series, but each book is pretty long. There is more exploration in each book.”
age 9
Realistic Fiction
The Islanders
Mary Alice Monroe
“This book is about friendship, the meaning of home/living on an island.”
age 14
The Islanders Search for Treasure
Mary Alice Monroe
“This is the second book of The Islanders, where they are searching for treasure.”
age 14
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott
“It’s a good book. I like it because it’s a long book.”
age 9
Babysitters Club (series)
Ann M. Martin
“I like the Babysitters Club because they care for people.”
age 10
Graphic Novel
Go With the Flow
Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann
“I think people may read this book because it is teaching girl stuff.”
age 11
Graphic Novel
Frizzy
Claribel A. Ortega
“I like this book because it inspires me to do my hair.”
age 11
Realistic Fiction: Inclusive Fiction
Graphic novel
Ghosts
Raina Telgemeier
“I like this book because it talks about spirits, and the holiday called, Day of the Dead, and what is special about Day of the Dead.”
age 11
Out of My Mind
Sharon Draper
“[This book] is similar to Wonder. There is also a movie.”
age 12
Out of My Heart
Sharon Draper
“This is the second book of Out of My Mind, where Melody goes to summer camp.”
age 14
Wonder
R.J. Palacio
“This book is about a boy with facial differences. It’s about friendships, fitting in, especially in school.”
age 14
“The kid [in this book] has differences. Maybe if someone else is going through [something like] that, they would like it.”
age 12
“It’s just good.”
age 9
Auggie and Me
R.J. Palacio
“Read Wonder first. This book has more Julian, and I like Julian.”
age 12
Graphic Novels
Dog Man (series)
Dav Pilkey
“It’s a really good book. It has a lot of things kids might like… dogs heads sewn onto a man’s body! That’s funny!”
age 7
“It’s very funny and entertaining.”
age 13
“I like Dog Man because it’s funny.”
age 10
“It’s a very good book. The characters are very good.”
age 13
Lumberjanes
ND Stevenson, Shannon Watters, Brooklyn A. Allen and Grace Ellis
“It’s funny and has a lot of adventure.”
age 14
Spider Man Comics
“If you like super heroes, you will like this book.”
age 13
Manga
Mao
Rumiko Takahashi
“It’s an entertaining book and very fun.”
age 14
Solo Leveling series
Chugong
“It’s about a guy who levels up and gains money.”
age 14
Frieren Beyond Journey’s End series
Kanehito Yamada
“It’s about an elf who goes on a quest.”
age 14
Cat Gamer series
Wataru Nadatani
“It’s so good.”
age 14
Non-fiction
Diary
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
“If you like things from the first person perspective. If you’re interested in books from the holocaust.”
age 12
Memoir
Becoming Odyssa
Jennifer Pharr Davis
“This book is more for older kids and adults. It’s a memoir about a woman who walked the Appalachian Trail.”
age 14
Memoir
Mexikid
Pedro Martin
“I like Mexikid because they’re on a road trip.”
age 10
Informational
Sprawlball: A Visual Tour of the New Era of the NBA
Kirk Goldsberry
“Very detailed basketball book. If you like to deep dive into stats this is good.”
age 14
Young Reader
Bunnicula and friends “ready to read”
James Howe
“The little bunny is a vampire. The dog that saved it.”
age 7
Picture Books
Green Eggs and Ham
Dr. Seuss
“Because it teaches a lesson.”
age 13