Suki Wessling

The Academic Unschooler

Do you have a mathy kid who hates worksheets? A creative monster who can't sit still? Formal education not working out? Unschooling can be the perfect approach for academically inclined families. When Suki started homeschooling, there was a clear line down the center: non-academic, "child-led" unschoolers on one side; academically inclined, formal education learners on the other. But unschooling isn't just for families who aren't planning for college. It's also a perfect way to offer child-led education to children who want academics but don't thrive in formal learning environments. In this discussion, Suki will help you set up a framework for implementing academic unschooling in your household.

From this session, you will:

• Be able to determine whether unschooling is an option for your family

• Learn sample methods for implementing unschooling, as well as ideas for devising methods of your own

• Get ideas for implementing periodic assessments of your approach

Suki Wessling is a writer of widely published poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. She has worked as a college English teacher, small press publisher, graphic designer, and journalist. Suki writes about gifted children, education, and homeschooling, with an emphasis on serving the emotional and academic needs of unusual learners. Her books, From School to Homeschool (Great Potential Press) and Exploring Homeschooling for Your Gifted Learner (National Association for Gifted Children), introduce parents seeking alternative educational approaches for their gifted children to the basics of homeschooling. Suki is also the author of Hanna, Homeschooler, a chapter book, Homeschool with Confidence, a goal-setting guide for teens, and a forthcoming middle grade novel, The Fairy Cottage. Suki teaches writing, literature, and education classes for children and adults in person and online at Athena’s Advanced Academy.

Visit Suki’s LinkTree at linktr.ee/sukiwessling for links to The Babblery (podcast interviews and articles), KidsLearn Substack (articles for adults), and KidsLearn Blog & Podcast (bits about learning and life for kids).