Inside: Here’s my annual unschooling ideas, resources and “plans” post for 2025-2026. If you’re wondering what unschoolers do all day and what their interests are, this will give you a snapshot of unschooling life, from teens to kids.
“Mom, I can’t wait to show you my list of things I learned in May! It’s huge!”
My high schooler said this to me last week, and the joy – and pride – in her learning, in following her own curiosity and interests is such confirmation that we are on the right track.
We meet once a month to go over her studies and activities for the month, so I can eventually create a unique and accurate transcript that meets Pennsylvania’s high school diploma requirements.
I’ll be honest: this year shook me to my core. I’d say it was the hardest year for our family since 2019, when I was battling postpartum depression (find my story HERE).
Some things are better left unshared on the internet, a lot of things, actually, but suffice it to say, I questioned everything – especially the unschooling.
When you live an unconventional lifestyle and things go sideways, it’s only natural to wonder whether or not an unconventional lifestyle choice is the source of your woes.
But after lots of counseling, plus finally getting on anxiety medication myself, which was a long time coming, I can say with 100% certainty that nope, it wasn’t the unschooling.
It was just LIFE. Because shocker: life is hard sometimes, no matter what educational option you choose for your kids.
And thank goodness for unschooling, which carved out a safe space for all of us to recover.
I really appreciated THIS podcast episode this week about how unschooling is not always “joy on a stick”. It’s most definitely not.
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Unschooling Ideas for 2025-2026: 10th, 8th, 6th, 4th, and 1st
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Now summer is here, and my kids are thriving, for the most part, each in their own unique ways.
From planning which Crash Course playlist we’ll watch next, to being deeply invested in learning how to play Civilization on the Nintendo Switch, to stealthily watching Native American History and learning bone names just because, it’s truly a joy to watch.
Here are some loose plans for the year.
I’ll warn you: every year, I get more and more “loose as an unschooled goose” as my friend Marla Taviano once said.
I enter my kids’ worlds. I find the answers to their questions on Youtube, which sometimes involves unlearning the myths I learned as a kid.
I read aloud. I assist in the kitchen. I play games – video games, board games, word games.
I take courses alongside them and learn things I never learned myself, and we have such fantastic discussions afterwards.
It’s a blast. And now that I’m not worrying quite so much, I’m (mostly) enjoying our beautifully messy, unschooling life.
Related: 7 Tips for Unschooling WITH Anxiety (When Deschooling Doesn’t Cut It)
1. Inclusive Secular Co-op
The one thing I really did right last year was join a co-op. Our secular inclusive co-op was such a joy to be a part of, and it’s given friendships and community we desperately needed.
I even got looped into teaching not one, but two classes next year! Meet your LEGO club creativity coordinator.
The kids are taking a range of classes, including…
- Media Studies
- Social Movements
- Intro to World Religions
- D&D Club
- Messy Art Lab
- Gym Class, and more.
Is it a pain to get up “early” one day a week? Yeah. Are we all exhausted after eight hours away from the house? Yeah.
But it’s so worth it.
Not all co-ops are worth your time, but especially if you are a secular or inclusive religious family struggling to find community in a world dominated by fundamentalist Christians, a secular co-op can be a lifeline.
If you are in Pennsylvania and want more info, feel free to reach out!
Related: How Much Does Unschooling Cost? Typical Expenses & How to Save
2. Youtube
If you unschool, I am certain you already know about how invaluable a resource Youtube is.
We visit the following channels regularly:
- SciShow Kids
- Sci Show
- Crash Course (see next point)
- Veritasium
- Mark Rober
- Nyle Red & Nyle Blue
- Complexly
- Oversimplified
There are channels I’m forgetting and ones I didn’t list, including the ones my kids love mostly for the entertainment value (they’re always learning, though!).
Some of my kids love both Youtube shorts and long-form content. Others hate shorts and intentionally avoid them.
They use Youtube to learn crochet patterns, how to beat video games, how rainbows form and so much more.
Do your unschooled kids have a favorite Youtube channel? Share in the comments!
3. Crash Course
Yes, I already mentioned Youtube, but Crash Course deserves its own heading.
If you unschool – or homeschool – and don’t know about Crash Course, you need to know about Crash Course! And I rarely use exclamation marks.
Created by Hank and John Green, Crash Course “transforms the traditional textbook model by presenting information in a fast-paced format”. It’s genius, and my ADHD kiddos love it.
Every video is around 10-12 minutes long. It highlights the top level information from college and AP courses by the same names – the important people, places and ideas.
So far, we’ve completed Philosophy (47 videos), but this year, we also plan to cover with different combinations of kids:
- Political Theory
- Psychology
- Sex Ed
- Native American History
We’re also excited about Politics & Government, American History, Anatomy & Physiology, and so much more.
We love love love Crash Course.
4. Reading Aloud
Over the past year, our reading aloud has shifted, but it’s still going strong in a lot of ways.
I still read aloud occasionally with my oldest. This year, we read Sunrise on the Reaping, the latest Hunger Games prequel by Suzanne Collins, together (it was fantastic!).
This summer, we will finally get around to reading The Wrath of the Triple Goddess by Rick Riordan with my two hardcore Percy Jackson fans.
I’m on book eight of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series with my soon-to-be fourth grader. We have four more books to go, and I’m crossing my fingers that when we finish, he’ll say yes to starting Percy Jackson.
And finally, my youngest and I are reading through the Ivy & Bean series. It reminds us so much of Ramona and Beezus! I’m looking at THIS series next.
We also read the entire American Girl Felicity series, and we might read more American Girl series this year. I loved the light introduction to American history.
5. Baking & Cooking
Lately, there is A LOT of baking and cooking going on in our house, especially my oldest two boys.
One prefers experimental baking – no recipes, that’s cheating (he’s serious).
He started off with cakes and has moved onto baked donuts. Who knows what else this year has in store?
Another kid wants to, and I quote, “Learn how to make food for myself that actually tastes good.” What an admirable goal for a 13-year-old boy, right?!
Possibly inspired by last year’s co-op baking class, he’s so far made THIS fajita chicken and THIS blueberry pie and THIS cheesecake, and he’s toying with the idea of a 30-Day baking/cooking challenge.
Other kids love to make THIS chocolate chip cookie recipe – minus the cornstarch and the chill time. And everyone adores THIS cupcake recipe.
We’ll see what the year holds, but I know it will include a lot of time in the kitchen.
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6. Weekly Library Visits
My youngest has grown out of library story hour, so we are still trying to find a weekly library visit time that works for us. Her older brother might start coming again weekly as well to work on his short stories.
We love the library! Honestly, can you even homeschool without it?
It’s one of the few free third spaces left in the world. And we need to fight to keep them open, which means taking the time to physically visit them.
We might make it a local restaurant followed by a library visit with friends? Who knows.
7. Hands-On Activities
I’ve been toying with the idea of getting back into subscription boxes, but haven’t quite pulled the trigger on it yet.
(If you have a subscription box you love, let me know in the comments!)
My younger two kids never really experienced Little Passports, which had so many fun hands-on activities. But they might fight over it, soooo, yeah.
My middle kiddo loves building with LEGO technics and cardboard (if you don’t have THIS cardboard screw kit, it’s genius!). Hopefully, he’ll also explore the Arduino starter kit we got last year.
My oldest is really into crochet lately. Then there’s the cooking and baking mentioned above.
Note: We are playing board games less of late, but they are starting to slowly make a comeback. You can find our favorite educational board games HERE.
Individual Interests by Grade Level
Here are more examples of individual interests by grade level.
This list is by no means exhaustive OR prescriptive. It’s mostly here to give you examples of what unschooled kids love to learn about – of their own accord.
Every kid is different, and having just a couple interests or even no specific intense interests at the moment is perfectly fine!
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10th Grade
My oldest is currently very into crocheting – from blankets to table runners to coasters. She still adores art and occasionally dabbles in learning human anatomy, for art’s sake, of course.
She also adores Disney and Pixar history (Not Just a Goof, a documentary about The Goofy Movie, was fantastic!), LGBTQ history and culture, and doing extremely difficult Sudokus and logic puzzles.
She cares deeply about marginalized populations, minority representation in film and learning, in her words, “any history except the white-washed kind”.
Every unschooled high school experience will inevitably be unique (that’s kind of the point), but I am working on a post about how I plan to approach meeting our “high regulation” state’s high school requirements.
8th Grade
My second is itching to turn fourteen, so he can get his first job (the complete opposite of my oldest who is happy to wait). Hopefully that will take up part of his weeks in 2026.
Currently, his interests range from astronomy to politics to religion to math, and he’s looking forward to his co-op classes next year.
We also have a list of Crash Courses we plan to watch together next year, including political theory, psychology and more. He also hopes to finish Khan Academy’s Algebra I (he’s already finished two lessons!).
Our co-op’s theater program was an unexpected highlight last year, and he is planning to audition for a bigger role in next year’s The Wizard of Oz.
6th Grade
My middle kiddo still loves experimental baking. He tries out a new recipe a couple times a week.
He recently discovered the game Civilization on the Nintendo Switch, and he has loved learning how to play! The game is so rich in learning about religion, history and culture, along with strategy of course.
He plans to join his brother and I taking Crash Course psychology this year, and he continues to play soccer competitively on travel and local teams.
He also continues to enjoy building with LEGO technics and cardboard, and he dabbles in learning Dutch with Babbel.
4th Grade
My 9-year-old still loves making animations using Flip-a-Clip and in my opinion, has a real talent for it. He also enjoys writing short stories on and off, with me as typer.
We read Keeper of the Lost Cities daily, but it’s not the same reading aloud experience of his older siblings. I’ve had to make my peace with the difference.
He hates stopping to define vocabulary words he doesn’t know or go on learning rabbit trails mid-paragraph. Book only, start to finish, please and thank you.
We have yet to interest him in extracurricular activities beyond co-op, which includes theater, but we’ll see. We continue to offer activities to see if anything sparks his interest.
1st Grade
My youngest’s current passion is Roblox (with chat turned off for safety), and I am trying to lean into this interest. I’ll be honest: it’s seriously stretching my unschooling and parenting muscles!
She is still flirting off and on with learning to read.
She hated THIS curriculum I used with a couple of kids – “It’s so boring, mom!”. We tried the first several lessons in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with a lot of apparent success.
But she asked to stop for now after Lesson 10, which is perfectly fine. She’ll learn to read in her own time.
Her primary passions are fashion, make-up and cutting hair.
We’re still trying to figure out how to explore this interest at such a young age, but last year, we did purchase THIS hair stylist practice bust that we fondly named “Elizabeth”. Then we let her cut hair to her heart’s content (RIP Elizabeth).
Related: But Does Unschooling Reading Really Work? Conclusions from an Unschooling Mom of 5
My Interests
I thought this time I’d end with my own interests as an unschooling parent. It’s so important to model lifelong learning for your unschooled kids!
It’s been a difficult season for focusing on reading, but I finally managed to finish Farenheit 451 (dystopian is my favorite genre…or it used to be before we started living it).
I want to read/finish the following books this year:
- Money, Lies and God by Katherine Stewart
- Uncultured: A Memoir by Daniela Young
- The Culting of America by Daniela Young (Not Yet Released)
- The Woman They Wanted by Shannon Harris
- Einstein Never Used Flashcards by Kathy Hirsch-Pasek
I also love decorating! I recently created a “second living room” downstairs, and it’s now my favorite room. I want to paint our front door and redo our TV room this year.
I’m freshly inspired in this online space to try new things, including our family’s favorite recipes. And I want to add to my Substack this year, where I make space for more old school style blogging.
Do you have any plans for unschooling this year? I’d love to hear – share in the comments!
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