Comments on: Home/Unschooling Intentional Communities

By: michele james-parham

michele james-parham — Tue, 17 May 2011 01:47:57 +0000

I’m going to track you down on Facebook.

By: laura

laura — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 00:37:56 +0000

We seem to be unschooling out here in the boondocks of Pittsburgh. Is there any group that meets?

By: michele james-parham

michele james-parham — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 01:53:14 +0000

@kelly thanks for the information. I’ll be sure to check out your blog and pass along the information.

By: Kelly Simpson

Kelly Simpson — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 01:32:38 +0000

I’m with a group that is working toward founding an unschooling-friendly intentional community (mini-cohousing) in a multi-unit building in San Francisco in the first half of 2011, with the vision of adding adjoining properties later by trading easements with neighbors and taking down fences. Some of the residents will be unschoolers, and we intend to let some non-resident unschoolers use our common area frequently. You can read more about us at our website:

San Francisco Backyard Neighborhood and Learning Center
sfbackyard.wordpress.com

By: Marianne

Marianne — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 01:29:09 +0000

Hi, I have a dream for a long time living with other people whom unschool/homeschool, outdoors, gardening, nonsecular, open minded, natural healing/nature, arts, pot lucks, freedom, all ages, etc. We all are student and teachers, the greatest of masters know this. Set the buffet and take what you need. A give and take relationship to grow from, we all are always growing and learning in life’s journey and on many different paths in the adventure of life and there for each other in times of ups and downs a support network to all, the world, the universe and beyond… Marianne

By: Natalya

Natalya — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 21:02:34 +0000

I dream of finding a community such as you describe and would love to hear more on this topic! One caveat, no snow. I am not a snow person. Will check out the resources listed so far and hope this line of commentary continues.

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:28:34 +0000

Hello from White Hawk. The critical mass creates the atmosphere in which freedom becomes a very normal thing. I love that there’s no talk of community work hours these days. We do what we want to do, communicate as it occurs to us to do so, and so far it all works out.

We have 25 homesites left here out of thirty.

By: Matthew C

Matthew C — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 14:14:18 +0000

That sounds so cool.

By: Sarah Southerland

Sarah Southerland — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:23:26 +0000

Hey All:)

I have LOTS of land down here in western North Carolina (1 1/2 hours west of Asheville, 2 1/2 hours north of Atlanta, 2 1/2 hours southeast of Knoxville)…the challenges would be that folks would have to “purchase” the land from my in-laws, the positives are that there is farm land available for share (smaller gardens) or lease (bigger gardens), the land is surrounded by hundreds of acres of undeveloped mountain forest and a mile of pristine riverfront on the Nantahala River, so someone who could only purchase a small parcel of land could still feel/live like a king! The property is also located along a small highway, so there are opportunities for small businesses…
Sarah in WNC

By: Jean

Jean — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:22:09 +0000

The trial period is a great idea. Make sure everyone meshes.

And yes, both seem HUGE!

By: michele james-parham

michele james-parham — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:02:42 +0000

@Jean Also, most communities have a visiting period and then a trial/probational period to make sure that you are making the right choice for yourself/your family AND that the community is making the right choice in having you join.

It’s a HUGE thing to join an established community, but equally as huge to start one!

By: michele james-parham

michele james-parham — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:59:36 +0000

“The stumbling block always seems to be who gets to decide who can live there?

I have met people who call themselves unschoolers who are clearly on a different path than us. This is fine, of course, but I would hate to move to a community and find the “unschoolers” are yelling and controlling parents, kwim?”

That’s a great point and obviously one that the core group of families would have to decide on as part of the ‘by-laws’ of the community, if you will. I’d imagine the process to be quite similar to communities that have a shared religion/non-religion and require members to testify their convictions and commitment to their particular faith/non-faith. That sounds kind of scary, but makes sense if that’s the focus of the community.

I don’t know of many communities where members aren’t basically democratically voted on or decided on by consensus by all members (unless there is a particular committee in place for such a process). It would take some major discussions in the start up to get everyone on the same page about such matters.

I’m glad to brought this point to light, Jean!

By: Jean

Jean — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:29:28 +0000

Hi Michele,
We have talked about this so much. The stumbling block always seems to be who gets to decide who can live there?

Ideally, I would LOVE to live in a small community (In my imagination it looks something like Sturbridge Village, but with some modern conveniences:) Where the families live together, garden together, play together. Where you can be free to run and play with each other, knowing that all the parents are looking out for the good of the kids. Where the adults encourage the kids and each other…It sounds heavenly.

Let us know if you find such a place!

By: michele james-parham

michele james-parham — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:26:10 +0000

I greatly appreciated this ( http://communities.ic.org/articles/1346/Nudging_at_Boundaries ) article in the magazine.