Explore an archive of Growing Without Schooling, the influential homeschooling newsletter published by 'unschooling' advocate John Holt.

'Unschooling' advocates believe education should be student-directed, with adults acting as facilitators.

Homeschooling's 1970s advocates came from both the left and the right of the political spectrum.

After expanding significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, homeschooling has continued to grow since.

Homeschooling was illegal in some US states until 1993.

The Whole Earth Catalog offered readers tools for healthy eating

The publication promised hippies "access to tools"—listings for "high quality or low cost" books, devices, and instructions for alternative living, including cultivating natural and organic foods. This archive comprises high-definition scans of nearly all materials published between 1968 and 2002.

A 1972 Supreme Court decision about Amish children and education helped pave the way for homeschooling in the US.

Some parents who began homeschooling their children during the COVID-19 pandemic said the experience convinced them it was more beneficial than traditional school.

A 1922 Oregon initiative that sought to ban private education inadvertently strengthened parents' ability to pursue options outside the public school system, building the legal case for homeschooling.

Most states don't require homeschool students to take standardized tests.

The Whole Earth Catalog provided an early blueprint for the social internet

The Whole Earth Catalog, a counterculture guide to alternative living, was a repository for hippie ideas. In 1985, its founder decided to bring Whole Earth to the nascent internet with the Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link, or WELL, an early web forum.

Private schools are free to experiment with teaching styles

Because they’re not beholden to national curricula, private school teachers can use different pedagogical approaches, like Harkness, which was developed at New Hampshire’s Phillips Exeter Academy. The method brings students to a large round oval table and encourages them to lead the lesson through inquiry.

Retracing the 1960s history of dropping out

A core element of the 1960s counterculture was the idea of dropping out of school and the broader technocratic institutions at the time. This push coincided with paranoia over mind control during the Cold War, and as some rogue psychologists advocated for the liberating use of psychedelics.

Horace Mann was America's leading champion for free, standardized public schooling in the 19th century and helped build the template for the modern public school system.

Montessori is an educational style that's grown popular in private education

Montessori, which was developed in Italy and became popular in the US in the 1950s, emphasizes child-centered learning. Though it’s often associated with younger students, the Montessori philosophy can also be found in middle schools and high schools.

Read the original curriculum for the Bauhaus school, which was founded as a breeding ground for artistic collaboration across disciplines.

Diving into the life of Henry David Thoreau

Before he went to live in the woods by Walden Pond, Thoreau (who originally went by David Henry) lived a fascinating life, opening a school with his brother, working for his father's pencil-making business, and becoming close to Ralph Waldo Emerson, who'd become a mentor figure for the aspiring writer. This deep profile explores all that and more.

Browse the original 'Walden' manuscripts

Henry David Thoreau began writing the book about his time living at Walden Pond in 1846, but it went through seven iterations before being published in 1854. You can look through scans of early proofs, including some of Thoreau's handwritten corrections, through the Huntington Digital Library.

Visually explore the federal government's evolving role in education.

Kurt Vonnegut's letter to the school board that banned his book

In 1973, a high school English teacher in North Dakota taught Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five," the classic time-hopping novel about World War II and the bombing of Dresden. The head of the school board was outraged by what he considered to be obscene material in Vonnegut's novel and ordered all of the students' copies of the book burned. When Vonnegut caught wind of those plans, he wrote this letter to the school board, protesting the decision.

How the NSF Public Understanding of Science program fueled science interest and literacy

To support STEM education at all levels and in all settings, the NSF has invested in public-facing science projects since 1957. These investments produced science education storytelling and entertainment programming, including "Bill Nye the Science Guy," "The Magic School Bus," and the "Flight of the Butterflies" and "Blue Whales" IMAX films.

Many private schools follow Dewey's experiential learning model

John Dewey is perhaps the biggest figure in American education. He is known for emphasizing active, experiential learning and founding one of the country’s most renowned private schools: the Experimental School, which would later become the Laboratory Schools in Chicago.

Hughes once taught creative writing to junior high and high school students

In 1949, Hughes accepted an eight-week contract at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools to teach creative work, along with seminars on jazz and the “negro theme” in American poetry. He enjoyed his time at the school, but never returned to the classroom, noting that the early mornings and teaching load left little time for his writing.

How the Discovery Channel was originally built for lifetime learners

Founder John Hendricks envisioned Discovery as a launchpad for educational content that was both informative and engaging. Since, the channel has spawned dozens of other channels, merged with major studios, and launched its own streaming platforms.

The history of American summer camps

The modern summer camp was created in 1861 by a boarding school educator who wanted to teach his students military-grade self-sufficiency and discipline. Over the next century, the camp evolved, providing a solution for parents anxious about their kids' thin connections with nature and simplicity. This Atlas Obscura article traces the history from modest, independent operations to a sprawling seasonal industry.

The Industrial Revolution changed childhood—including education

Industrialization transformed childhood—from free-range, mixed-age play long embedded in human culture to the regimented, adult-controlled environments of today's schools.

Natural food stores began sprouting up in the US in the 1960s and 1970s

Health food stores began opening in the ‘50s, though they were primarily focused on vitamins and holistic supplements. Natural food stores, however, provided pesticide-free produce and often relied on local farmers for their products. One of the first was New Age Natural Foods, in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, which opened in 1965.

Science-fiction legend Ray Bradbury couldn't afford college, but he spent several days a week in his local library, teaching himself how to become a writer.

Explore the annotated cover of the inaugural issue of Ms., the feminist magazine cofounded by Gloria Steinem.

Hippies explored the possibilities of organic food

The 1960s counterculture sought to buck traditions, including culinary ones. Hippies believed that healthier food was integral to dismantling the status quo and, in turn, started health food stores, espoused vegetarian diets, and cultivated organic food, which they found to be a welcome alternative to the over-commercialized farming industry. In the decades since the movement’s decline, many of its practices have been absorbed by the mainstream.

A free archive of firsthand historical documents from explorers of America

Maintained by the Wisconsin Historical Society, the American Journeys collection contains more than 18,000 pages of primary source documents—journals, letters, maps, and accounts written between roughly 1000 CE and the early 1800s. These include eyewitness records of the Norse arrival in North America, Spanish conquistador expeditions, and the Lewis and Clark journey. Browse this list of highlights where pages from the original texts are specified (clicking a link opens a PDF).

Joan Didion's 1967 'Slouching Towards Bethlehem' laid the hippie counterculture bare

Didion wrote a detailed account of living alongside hippies in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury area in the 1960s. Beyond their style and politics, Didion uncovered chaos, with one particularly shocking interview of a 5-year-old on LSD. Her stories challenged the movement's message of freedom and utopia in California.

In the 1970s, a former NASA engineer pitched remote work as a solution to an energy crisis

His name was Jack Nilles, and he wrote a book that is considered the "founding document of telecommuting" in 1973 called "The Telecommunications-Transportation Tradeoff," coining the terms "telecommuting and telework." Nilles argued that telecommuting could serve as an "alternative to transportation," helping cut down on gridlocked traffic and reduce society's reliance on nonrenewable resources like oil. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

The National Archives history resources for teachers

This free (with registration) resource provides a range of historical and primary source documents and tools for history teachers, compiled by the National Archives.

’Buy Nothing’ is a growing movement of hyperlocal gift economies with over 5 million global members

In anticonsumerist "Buy Nothing" groups, members can offer up or receive gifts, from plants to toys and more. Similar to Freecycle, the group emphasizes connection beyond just the material swapping as a means of creating community.

Why school boards ban dystopian books

Journalist Ali Velshi analyzes the lasting appeal of Lois Lowry's "The Giver" and George Orwell's "1984," two dystopian novels that have courted controversy since their publications. Beyond his interpretations, though, Velshi wants to understand why school boards perennially ban these books—and what makes them so fascinating for adolescent readers. In his search, he talks to Lowry about the lasting influence of her novel and to Orwell expert James McCallister about the prescient political portrait in "1984."

The origins of public education in the US stem from Puritan religious views

The 1647 Old Deluder Satan law reflects Puritan belief that illiteracy allowed Satan’s influence. The law—the first of its kind in the colonies—mandated towns of over 50 households hire a teacher and over 100 support a grammar school.

Sears used to sell entire DIY houses in its catalog

From 1908 through the 1940s, Sears sold DIY house kits starting at $600. An estimated 100,000 homes were built, but fewer than 5,000 have been identified today.

J.I. Rodale helped pioneer organic farming in the US

Rodale began using the term “organic” in the 1940s to describe farming practices that avoided the use of pesticides and chemicals, which he believed were dangerous. Rodale used a 63-acre farm in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, to cultivate organic food and established a magazine, Organic Farming and Gardening, as well as a foundation based on a simple motto: “Healthy Soil = Healthy Food = Healthy People.”

Busting the myths about Thoreau's 'Walden'

This resource from The Walden Woods Project dispels some of the common myths about Thoreau's time in the woods, including that he was a hermit (he actually regularly visited friends), that he was freeloading (he paid off his debts), that "Walden" was a misrepresentation (he was forthcoming about editing his experiences), and that he was opposed to progress (he believed in practical technology).

Hear from both sides of the attempt to ban books across the country, which spiked by more than 1,100% between 2020 and 2022

During that period, more than 2,500 titles were challenged across 37 states, with activists targeting books on race, slavery, and gender identity. This CBS report hears from the founders of Moms for Liberty, a teacher removed for giving students access to banned books, and "Maus" cartoonist Art Spiegelman.

Explore an archive of scholarly writing about Homer and 'The Odyssey,' with archaeologists, historians, and literary critics unpacking the author and his masterwork.

'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' Harriet Beecher Stowe's influential antislavery novel, was originally released as 41 weekly newspaper installments.

The earliest colonial schools were often religious

The earliest American schools were far from our notions of “public” or “private”—they were neighborhood institutions, often founded by religious groups, that sought to educate children academically and spiritually.

The Teacher in Space program was launched in 1984 to highlight spaceflight in US classrooms

Announced by President Ronald Reagan, the program drew more than 11,000 teacher applicants nationwide. Christa McAuliffe was selected to fly on STS-51L, with plans to teach live lessons from orbit before the Challenger disaster ended the mission.

A 19th-century Protestant minister in Germany encouraged 'natural eating,' creating a precursor to the natural food movement.

The long-tail influence of Thoreau's 'Civil Disobedience'

His essay "Civil Disobedience" laid out both a practical and a moral plan for resisting unjust governments, inspiring civil rights leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as anti-war anarchists like Emma Goldman and literary figures like Leo Tolstoy.

The 'Howl' obscenity trial changed American publishing

The "Howl" obscenity trial is one of the most significant in American publishing, affirming that material with the "slightest redeeming social importance" cannot be considered "obscene." In the process, it permits artists, like Allen Ginsberg, to use the language they see fit to express themselves.

Experience games that explore Nobel Prize-winning work

Inspired by the educators who set laureates on their path, the Nobel Foundation has created a library of interactive activities for the general public. These allow users to make groundbreaking discoveries, showing that such work is accessible to all.

Child labor was widespread until the formation of the National Child Labor Committee in 1904.

There's a group of people hunting down the remaining Sears and Roebuck homes, the DIY houses built from kits Sears once sold in its famous catalog.