Unschooling and Self-Directed Education

You may have heard of unschooling and Self-Directed Education. Are they the same thing? How are they different? 

We like this explanation from the Alliance for Self-Directed Education:

"Unschooling normally refers to a style of homeschooling in which young people are free to follow their own interests, with no obligation to choose 'educational' activities. Unschooling parents don’t impose the structures and agendas of conventional schools; rather, they trust their children’s natural self-educative drives and provide supportive conditions."

"When we chose the term Self-Directed Education to describe the movement we are championing, we meant for it to include unschooling families as well as people involved in schools and learning centers where the students have essentially the same freedom as unschoolers. In that sense we are all unschoolers."

At Saint Louis Sudbury School, you might hear us describing our organization as "unschooling in community." Sudbury students have the freedom to explore self-chosen activities and life experiences, regardless if they were chosen with the active intent of "education." And they get to do this within a self-governing democratic community where each person plays a role in running the school, co-existing, and growing together.