Ep.44 Unschooling In Chicago ft. Alicia Wilson-Ahlstrom
Welcome back! This week I invited Michigan native, wife and unschooler Alicia Wilson-Ahlstrom to join the show for a magnificent chat about her family's journey with unschooling while living in Chicago. Alicia is the Co-Director of Research at the Children's Funding Project. Alicia shared a wealth of information regarding resources, curriculum, and creativity.
Alicia is an accomplished policy development specialist with over 20 years of experience in equitable policy investments in education and youth development. She's an expert in bridging the gap between education and policy research. She has supported local and state leaders and organizations in their efforts to advocate for funding in Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Minneapolis, and New Orleans.
(Note: This episode was prerecorded in December 2023.)
In This Episode
In this episode we conversed about how parents can appreciate their unschoolers growth and how they evolve as social beings in the world today. Alicia shares how parents can create a reasonably, well-sourced learning environment where unschoolers can learn based on their interests and passions. Alicia confimed how she utilizes real world application, deep conversations and gamification instead of testing to assess her unschoolers' comprehension, fluency and usage of academic and social skills.
What We Mentioned
• Illinois Homeschool Laws
• Michigan State Homeschool Laws
• Educational Philosophies
• Shakespeare in the Park
• Creative Learning
• Gameschooling
• Roadschooling
• Transcripts
Resources Mentioned
• Friends of Cabrini (Chicago, IL)
• SCMP Math Curriculum
• Living Science Books (Charlotte Mason)
• Museum of Science And Industry (Chicago, IL)
• Chicago Public Libraries (Chicago, IL)
• Chicago Park Districts (Chicago, IL)
• Math Circles of Chicago (Chicago, IL)
• Teacher's Pay Teachers
• Ready Player One Books
• Stonemaier WingSpan Game Pack
Alicia reminds us to care about what are unschoolers are learning. She empowers us to put things worthy of study in front of them to ensure they have a well-rounded, rich, and robust learning experience.
Connect with Alicia Wilson-Ahlstrom at aliciawilsonahlstrom@gmail.com. Subscribe to the Friends of Cabrini Podcast on Google, Spotify, Apple. Follow the Friends of Cabrini Podcast on social media.
