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Podcast

Episode 5: How to make Unschooling more affordable

I'm Adrienne.

I’m a former teacher turned unschooling mom of three. I teach parents how to break away from the status quo and be more present, so they can create an authentic life alongside their kids outside of school without overwhelm and burnout. 

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Summary

Worried about the cost of unschooling? In this episode, we break down 10 practical and affordable strategies to help you embrace unschooling without breaking the bank. You’ll learn how to save money while fostering a rich, hands-on learning experience for your children. Here’s a sneak peek of what we cover:

  1. Utilize Free Online Resources – Discover top websites, apps, and digital platforms for free educational content, including Khan AcademyCourseraBBC Bitesize, and National Geographic Kids.
  2. Leverage Local Libraries – Access books, learning programs, and online tools at no cost. Libraries often provide free access to digital resources like LibbyHoopla, and OverDrive.
  3. Participate in Community Swaps – Exchange materials, books, and supplies with fellow unschoolers through platforms like Facebook Groups and Buy Nothing Project.
  4. Incorporate Life Skills as Learning – Use everyday tasks like cooking, gardening, and budgeting as learning experiences, applying resources from YouTubePinterest, and Skillshare.
  5. Visit Free or Low-Cost Local Attractions – Explore parks, museums, and historical sites for hands-on education. Use apps like Eventbrite or Google Events to find free or discounted events.
  6. Thrift and DIY Educational Materials – Get creative with thrift store finds and homemade learning tools. Check out ThriftbooksGoodwill, and Pinterest for ideas.
  7. Form a Learning Co-op – Share resources and activities with other families to minimize costs. Look for co-op communities on Meetup or local homeschooling Facebook groups.
  8. Focus on Minimalist Education – Simplify with fewer materials and more experiential learning. Blogs like The Minimalist Homeschooler offer ideas for a minimalist approach.
  9. Explore Nature and Outdoor Education – Take advantage of free learning opportunities in nature. Use resources like the National Park Service app, iNaturalist, and Audubon.
  10. Use Online Communities for Support – Join unschooling forums, blogs, and social media groups for free advice and ideas. Engage with communities on platforms like Reddit (r/Unschooling)Facebook Unschooling Groups, and Simple Homeschool.

By the end of the episode, you’ll be equipped with actionable tips and resources to provide a fulfilling unschooling experience on a budget. Tune in and take control of your unschooling journey!

FREE Unschooling Resources:
👉 Take the Quiz: What’s Your Homeschooling Superpower? https://thesereveries.com/quiz
👉 10 Simple Ways to Connect With Your Child https://thesereveries.com/10-simple-ways-to-connect-with-your-child
👉 Is Unschooling Right For Me? https://thesereveries.com/is-unschooling-right-for-me-guide

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Read the Transcript:

0:01 : Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the show today. I’m going to be talking about how to make unschooling more affordable.  I think that’s one of the top concerns for a lot of parents for homeschooling in general, but also unschooling is how are we going to make this work financially? And this particular episode isn’t going to be about going through your budgeting and your finances or what you do for work. 

1:06: I will absolutely do another podcast episode about that, but this is going to be ways in which we can be creative and resourceful in the unschooling lifestyle and mindset and how we do things. So, one of the common things I think people in how they envision homeschooling is that you one often are not working, which isn’t necessarily the case. 

1:33: I work multiple jobs and still manage to unschool. But I think there’s this idea that then with homeschooling, we have to buy all of these things, we have to then fund all the field trips.  We have to buy tons of curriculum. We have to buy lots of math manipulatives and board games and books and the list just goes on and on. And with the addition of social media, Pinterest and Instagram, this is even more exasperated. 

 2:04: We see these picture perfect homes and homeschool classrooms and we see desks and tables and chalkboards and we have all of these, you know, learning resources that have now been created all over Etsy, all over Amazon, all over Instagram of, you know, wooden Montessori clocks. There’s also just to note that whole Montessori world of here are proper toys that kids should have. There’s also the well intentioned but sometimes greenwashing of the toy industry and that we don’t shy away from overconsumption. 

 2:44: Now we’re just pushing wooden toys or we’re just pushing ecofriendly toys and now instead of using the stuff we already have, it’s, oh, buy new silicone items or new glass items or new steel items. And I’m, I’m generalizing here even beyond children’s things. But I think the child toy industry is multi billions of dollars, right? 

3:11: And people good and bad have both started to capitalize on that or exploit on that and get parents. But especially since my podcast is about unschooling homeschooling parents that you can’t just live life at home.  You also have to have a homeschool life that looks this certain way, right? And everything’s white in beige. 

3:33: And I just like there’s so many good satirical posts about your homeschooling like influencer start Up guide and how we all have the same nature books like the Julia Rothman books come to mind which again, no shade to her. They’re great books.  But that and certain wooden toys and certain leather goods by a company that will go unnamed. 

4:01: Everyone thinks they have to have these things to be the ideal homeschool. I’m gonna share with you a list of 10 ways that I think we can make unschooling less expensive and more affordable. So here we go. 

4:17: Oh, and I always, always start with the disclaimer that this is not a, don’t worry, everyone can homeschool podcasts. Don’t worry, everyone can unschool message of it doesn’t matter what your circumstances are, it doesn’t matter what your income is, just make the choice. It’s so easy. Like it is a privilege to be able to homeschool. 

4:38: It also requires immense sacrifice and efforts and discipline. But, and so while I’m trying to help in this area, I always, always want to make it clear that I’m not standing here on this pedestal saying it’s just a matter of choice.  If you just pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you can do it. 

5:01: Everyone has the same access to be able to homeschool, that’s simply untrue. And so I always, always, always try and interject that into each episode. You’re going to get sick of hearing it, but it’s important to me because people will come on here and they will be new listeners and you need to know from the bottom of my heart that while I believe so passionately in child liberation and while I believe that traditional school systems and traditional homes, school environments can often be oppressive and abusive and detrimental to healthy childhood development.

5:36: I would never ever ever say so the answer is to pull your kids out of school and everyone can do it. And let’s just have our entire society get on board with this because it’s simply at this moment, unaccessible to everyone and inaccessible to everyone and it shouldn’t be ok. Sorry.  Here we go. 

5:56: Area number one, we can leverage free and low cost learning and educational resources. This isn’t the seventies anymore. We don’t have, you know, five curriculum options online and that’s it. And we have social media, we have the internet, we have youtube, we have so many wonderful places that offer free or very inexpensive online resources. Khan Academy, Ted X PBS Kids, National Geographic Kids code dot org, Smithsonian learning lab, scratch and BBC bite size are just a few examples of places that offer free quizzes, videos, resources for kids. So definitely look those up. This episode will also be a blog post. And so all of those resources will be listed there for you. 

6:47: And often if you sign up for email newsletters from those resources, they are generally a gold mine of sending free links and access to different educational resources as well. So keep an eye out for those. 

7:02: Second strategy, thrift and swap for learning materials. So this is a very, very common one. Facebook marketplace is a gold mine for people often giving away free books, free learning materials, free toys, a plethora of different things. 

7:19: We have a homeschool group where we do do a swap all the time. There’s also mom and parenting groups in our community that do these kinds of swaps. Lots of homeschoolers are often looking to donate their old materials that they’ve used. 

7:36: So we live in a society of overconsumption with this ingrained idea that we have to buy everything new and that we just have to buy everything in general. So vintage stores have so many good books and old games and toys and play sets. Not that you need any of those, but that is a resource that you can use. Buying second hand, getting hand me downs becoming part of a community or group that trades is. So, so helpful in this scenario. 

8:11: So we honestly, we don’t need new, we don’t need more. We don’t need now it is so, so important to start with this mindset and to start from a place of conscious and mindful and intentional acquisition. And I say acquisition, not buying because there’s so many other ways to acquire things without physically buying them starting from that place and studying instead of starting from a place of fear and anxiety and rush and worry that we’re we don’t have enough in our homes. 

8:45: Step number three, the library, the library both physically at the brick and mortar locations or online offers so much free education. They obviously have books, they have audible books, they often have free workshops and programs and classes for kids to adults use it. It is such a valuable resource and we need to keep our libraries alive. They are crucial for a social society and one that and a place that just offers such a wonderful community. So definitely attend your local library. 

9:21: Step number four, embrace nature and the outdoors. One thing that I love about unschooling in particular is that it really perpetuates the idea not having to learn in a classroom or within the confines of the home. So part of real life living is getting outside nature is free to low cost, it is so beneficial, not that we need the science to show how beneficial it is. 

9:50: Because I think anyone that has spent any amount of time in nature, knows how good it is for your soul and your brain and your nervous system and for kids, but it provides this environment of risky play and we literally come from nature and it should be our home, our cities should not be our home where we are then taking breaks and going out into nature. 

10:13: Like nature is where we belong as humans. That is my personal belief. And I love the whole philosophy behind getting kids outside more, getting them out in the fresh air, more being active, more letting them move their bodies. And part of nature is biology. 

10:32: It’s physics, it’s math, it’s beauty, it’s art, it’s all of that. So it is truly one of the best classroom. I don’t know, I will say the best classroom on earth in my opinion, so definitely utilize that as a resource investing in proper outdoor gear. I live in the Pacific Northwest and it is such a common narrative that we, oh, well, it’s raining. We can’t play outside. Oh, well, it’s cold. We can’t play outside. Investing in proper gear has been such a an impactful parenting decision that I’ve made with my kids because we can go out any time of day in any kind of weather and still very much hard, enjoy ourselves. 

11:17: And I can count on one hand how many times I’ve regretted going outside with my kids. And again, I will never ever say that going outside is easy or that it’s just a simple matter of being accessible to everyone or completely ignore, you know, kids who have high sensory issues and find it really difficult to go outside. So please know that I see you and I feel you and I hear you on this and if this particular strategy doesn’t apply to you, that’s OK. Keep listening. There might be others that apply to you as well. 

11:53: But all in all nature is a wonderful resource. I think it’s highly undervalued and underutilized. I think people see kids playing outside and think that that is a break from the learning and that it’s frivolous and that it’s not something that you’re supposed to do past the age of like toddlerhood, but it is so important to spend time outside. 

12:14: We have an entire generation of us who are now reconnecting with the outdoors whenever you, if you think of the idea of like freedom and wanderlust people and people who have like luxury and free time, I picture people camping and like climbing mountains and swimming naked in the ocean and chasing waterfalls and sunsets. Like that is how I imagine just that freedom and people exhaling and people unwinding and people relaxing. And so if that is the source that we’re all going to, to refuel our soul, it makes total sense to me that we would actually try and make that a daily thing and a much bigger part of our lives than just. 

13:03: Oh, that’s a lucky thing that we get to do in the summer or on a weekend. Sometimes I know a lot of people suggest keeping nature journals, which I love. I’ve never forced my kids to do that, but I will often bring one out or we will paint outside. We’ll sketch outside. We’ll write about what we see. We’ll bring a book about foraging or mushrooms. 

13:23: We’re often using my phone to identify plants and mushrooms and birds and wildlife and trees and all of that, which Hello. So educational but also just like practical, useful skills to have. 

13:39: Ok, tip number five, create a bartering system. We all have skills. We, some of us can tutor, some of us can do hair, some of us can do photography, some of us can teach essay writing tips. Some of us can help with college applications. Some of us can help with teaching music. 

14:04: So create this network both in person and online because while there are tons of parents locally and not just parents, but people with local businesses or local trades or farms or you know, local teachers and tutors and coaches, there’s also an entire global community of people bartering trades. That is such a great way to make unschooling more affordable and also teaches kids from a variety of resources and really diversifies that education, it teaches them the value of real world knowledge. And trading those skills and building that collaborative community, which I think is so often missing from our society as a whole and just showing our kids that skills can be exchanged without money. I think that is such a valuable life lesson. 

15:04: And part of unschooling that I try and work so hard to perpetuate is this idea of community and collaboration and mutual aid. And as Akila Richards has taught us so well about that collective liberation. So this isn’t about families pulling their kids gutting the system and then living in our own little privileged bubble. 

15:25: It’s very much about then going out into the community and fostering those relationships and building those grassroots organizations divesting from the bigger systems.But then building those alternative systems and communities outside of traditional school strategy. 

15:45: Number six, we are going to get creative with field trips. So I know a lot of people think about field trips as things that we’re paying for museums, art galleries, whatever, often times there are coupons available, there are discounts available for homeschooling families. 

16:02: There are free options, public parks and nature preserves are often free city halls, fire stations, public works offices, those are often free as well. Farmers markets, universities, community events. The list is really endless if you get creative and if you get looking and if you start asking, Facebook is such a wealth of information, reddit, same thing, but we have so many resources accessible at our fingertips. I think a lot of people just don’t think of visiting the S PC A was one of them for us. So I put together a field trip for our homeschooling group. So our homeschooling group, every family pays $20 for the year. And this is what funds these types of field trips and activities for the whole year. 

16:52: When we visited the S PC A, I think it was $5 for every family. And we learned to take care of animals. We learned why they were there. We learned about pet adoption. And one of the things that came up was actually to do with consent. So the trainer started talking to us about interacting with animals and how they don’t speak human. So what are the things we can look for? 

17:17: We look for their tail, we look for their ears, we look for if they’re backing up, we look for signs to see whether they are enjoying that. We also, they taught the kids to ask before petting or all these details that had to do with consent. And on the way home, my kids and I had a really good discussion about how this applies to humans because the narrative is so often. Oh, well, my sister, like she didn’t say no. So I kept going or well, she didn’t say stop, right. 

17:48: But we tied this in because we were able to say well, babies also can’t speak yet, but they’re still communicating with us as to whether they like something or not. And just like all humans, we can look for clues, we can look for body language, we can look for facial expressions, we can look for different things that aren’t necessarily saying no or saying stop. 

18:09: And so that field trip while it was not about that, that was not what I was imagining when we would go to the S PC A. But it fostered this very organic discussion about something that I value so highly, which is consent, especially with Children. So you can really get creative and putting yourself out there and getting into these different scenarios. I feel like always lead to something else. And it’s usually so amazing. Definitely don’t get caught in this mindset that you have to pay for field trips and that it has to be a budgetary expense.Definitely look, get creative and start doing research to see what else is out there that’s free or low cost. And two don’t underestimate the value of just everyday life experiences in your community. 

19:01: So it might not be an official field trip, but visiting a farmer’s market, visiting local businesses asking how the bakery runs, asking you know, go visit a bee farm and or a local hobby farm and ask if your homeschool group can come learn about taking care of animals or about your business. So many business owners are thrilled to do that. It’s often during work and school hours. And so they’re often less busy and you know, you never know. So just ask. 

19:33: And tip number seven segues right into that is using everyday life as a learning experience. So even just things like if you, you do any kind of building or construction, if you teach finances and budgeting, if you are planning meals, managing a household, cooking, sewing, knitting, playing music, basic home maintenance and car maintenance, any real life experience is absolutely a learning opportunity. 

20:07: And I know a lot of people will say like, oh, it’s free, just make your own Halloween costume or, you know, just pick up this hobby or learn this new skill as if materials don’t cost anything. So I’ll never ever say that this is just something that’s free and accessible to all. 

20:24: But again, you can pick stuff up from friends, you can borrow stuff, I think instruments at our local musical store, like $8 a month. So it doesn’t need to be expensive and with free learning resources on youtube for things like piano guitar music, you also don’t necessarily need to pay for lessons. 

20:47: But picking up those hobbies and those skills and just doing regular life things like it is valuable to teach your kids how to do chores. It is valuable to teach your kids how to budget for a family. It is valuable to teach your kids to go grocery shopping and to know how to meal plan and budget for the week and for the month, it is so valuable to teach your kids all the things that you do every day to manage your life. So don’t underestimate that as learning. And I will also throw in there. 

21:23: We don’t need to make everything a learning experience. I think that that is such a common pitfall of homeschooling and unschooling is we feel like, oh, well, we’re not using a curriculum or we’re not doing this in school. So we then need to make sure that we’re doing it at home, which means we need to make sure that kids are performing and proving to us that they are learning. So I’m going to turn every single thing into a learning opportunity, which one becomes so overwhelming to you. I promise. 

21:51: And two actually becomes so overwhelming to your kids. It often takes the joy out of what they’re doing if we turn everything into a lesson. And it also can, you know, interrupt that focus that they have while they’re doing a project, while they’re exploring, while they’re just being curious and wondering or while they’re resting. So let’s also keep a balance there to make sure that we’re not being overbearing on the learning side. 

22:18: Sometimes it’s ok to just let your kids bake with you without forcing them to do fractions. Even though that is an amazing way to learn math and chemistry and biology. We don’t have to do it every second of every day. 

22:32: Strategy number eight, prioritizing experiences over material things. It’s so easy to get caught up in this idea of what the perfect homeschool needs to look like or how it needs to operate. But we don’t actually need everything that is advertised to us in the homeschooling world. We don’t need all the expensive materials. 

22:55: We don’t need the mega bundles filled with thousands of pages of principles that you will spend your time collating and hole punching and laminating and cutting. It’s actually just OK to focus on living with our kids and learning by experience one. I think it’s so important to teach our kids about overconsumption just as a general issue with our society today. 

23:21: And by practicing this with your kids and by looking at ways that we can have experiences like being out in nature or like swimming with our kids or cooking with our kids or resting with our kids or going on hikes or learning a new skill together or learning a new language together or cooking meals from a different culture. All of those things are so valuable and can actually create often more meaningful and deeper core memories than material things will. And we often get stuck on getting the material things because one it is heavily marketed to us constantly. 

24:06: And we get a flooding of messages and images and narratives of what good home school parents and homes look like. But two. It’s so easy. It’s so easy to buy something on Amazon and have it there and be like here kids play with this or here kids learn with this. 

24:26: Here you go. You’re going to learn time because you now have this tangible wooden montage, sorry clock that looks really nice or same with those wooden calendars that I admittedly absolutely used to have. And again, when I say these things, I think everyone thinks I’m just like throwing shade at every product out there and every company out there, which is, I am so sorry if this is how it comes across, that is not what I’m trying to do. 

24:54: I’m trying to help erase the narrative that we need those things, which is often the marketing. It’s not, hey, these are great additional tools or hey, if you want, but it’s often like this is what is necessary for your kid to learn how to tell time or you know, and, and it is so easy, it’s so easy to get caught up in that newest shiny thing because admittedly, so many of those resources are not only beautiful but super functional and sustainable and eco friendly and you’re supporting a local business and all of that is just so so great. 

25:33: However, if you’re getting caught up in the idea that you feel like what your home school looks like or the resources that you have are somehow tied to your worth as a homeschool parent or tied to the success that your Children are going to have in life or the happiness that they’re going to have in life. 

25:53: This messaging from me is for you because I don’t ever want a homeschooling a person considering homeschooling to shy away from it because they feel like it has to be a certain way or that they have to spend a certain amount of money or to any struggling homeschool parent now to feel like they’re failing because they don’t have all the things or to be putting themselves in a chronically stressful situation because they’re having to keep up with buying all the things. 

26:24: So prioritizing those experiences, stepping outside of that consumerist culture, you know, trying to embrace minimalism, trying to embrace the living, slow and mindful living, trying to go more zero waste while being aware of the greenwashing that takes place I think is such a valuable thing to do for yourself and with your kids because you’re setting them up to then have these valuable life lessons and principles that they are living by to not over consume. 

26:58: Strategy number nine Diy projects, I highly encourage due to keep junk, we keep recycled materials, we keep bottle caps, nuts and bolts and all sorts of things. And my kids create the most amazing things. They create marble runs out of toilet paper rolls, they create junk robots out of hot glue and random screws and nails and metal pieces. Keep yarn, keep popsicle sticks, all of those things that again, so often people are giving away or getting rid of or donating or you can, you know, get from garage sales and yard sales and second hand and vintage stores. But don’t underestimate the power of ugly creations because they’re amazing. And kids will learn to then be resourceful. They will learn to recycle more, they will learn to reuse more to turn, turn garbage into art, to turn, you know, trash into treasure. I love the strategy so much. 

28:13: And I think it’s again, so underutilized and underappreciated because in our society and our culture, we want new, we want pretty, we want aesthetic, we want beige, we want wood, we want you know, a little box kit that we buy on Amazon on how to create this thing instead of creating it from scratch and being resourceful and finding the materials. There’s so many valuable life lessons in just that alone and allow your kid to really take the lead on those. I try so hard to not have these preplanned agendas for what I think we should be doing for projects. 

28:48: But allowing them to just come up with stuff on their own is so freeing for them. It builds so much artistic ability and thinking outside the box mindsets and just being more creative and collaborate, reading with each other and being resourceful. And again, the list of skills I feel come from this strategy are just endless. 

29:08: And the last one is to join or create a co op. So we talked a little bit about bartering skills before and we talked about trading learning materials before I didn’t have a community of homeschoolers that aligned with my values where I live is very right wing and traditional and Christian. And so I created my own and with other parents in this community that I’ve created, we’ve traded knowledge, we’ve traded classes, we’ve traded teaching kids different skills. 

29:38: My good friend, my good friend Elise created a art co op where once a month we get together and the kids are reading poetry. We are playing, you know, various games. We’re painting, we’re collag, we’re past selling. We are sharing stories. It’s all creation based and art based and the kids love it so much and it’s not difficult to create these things, especially when you’re collaborating as a community and people are bringing resources or sharing food or bringing skills, bringing knowledge. All of that is just so important and we learn from the kids as well. 

30:19: The kids, it’s not just this hierarchical top down parents teaching kids thing. It is bartering and trading that knowledge and skills with other Children or other youth. And getting to see that, getting to see kids of different ages and peers teaching each other and learning together and collaborating with each other is just it just fills my heart so much Ok. 

30:46: So those are some ideas to get you going to hopefully make unschooling a more affordable option for you. And I want you to understand that with an unschooling philosophy, we embrace the idea that we are not replicating school at home. We’re not taking traditional and conventional ideas of what schooling needs to look like or feel like or be like to give our Children a perfectly lovely and educational and supportive environment and upbringing in childhood. 

31:28: We don’t need to have it filled with all the things, with all the toys, with all the nature posters. We don’t have to buy a million books and have a treasure trove of things that the home school influencer world will tell you you need to have. So start looking at your priorities. 

31:48: I will absolutely do another podcast episode about budgeting and finances and getting creative with our work and different options that people can explore to be able to homeschool or unschool. But for now, I hope this list was helpful. Please let me know if you have any more ideas to share. I’m always, always welcoming suggestions and recommendations for my followers. You guys are such a great community and I’ll see you next time. 

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I’m a former teacher turned unschooling mom of three. I teach parents how to break away from the status quo and be more present, so they can create an authentic life alongside their kids outside of school without overwhelm and burnout. 

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