a place to meet, play & inspire

Unschoold.com is a social networking site for unschoolers everywhere, a place for to meet, play, inspire and be inspired. It's a site by unschoolers, for unschoolers, an attempt at creating a real virtual community. We offer the same functions of giant sites like Yahoo and Google but with the understanding that here, we're all unschoolers and we can just be without explanation or debates.

We hope that the site will enable unschoolers from all walks of life to meet, play and prosper. We're hoping to add free classified ads in the near future since many of us are business owners, work from home or want to work from home to lead more fulfilling lives. The site will be guided by its members, and we look forward to seeing how the site grows and what direction it takes. We don't know where that will be, but the journey should be fun.

1. The login box on the home page has an option to create a new account. You can click that link or click here.

2. On the registration page, enter the require information, marked by a red asterisk. You will have the option to join some of our public groups if you wish.

3. Agree to our Terms of Service by marking the relevant checkboxes.

4. Enter the CAPTCHA code (used to thwart spambots) and click Create new account.

5. You will receive an account validation link in your email. Click that link, login and you are good to go :-)

We thought site members would appreciate not seeing ads, so most Google ads are visible to anonymous visitors only.

Yes. All the Google ads are enabled for revenue sharing. We believe that websites that rely on members should give something back to the people who make the site what it is. Most social networking sites collect the ad revenue while the members build the sites - we disagree with that. Here's how to do it:

1) Get a Google Adsense account from www.google.com/adsense
2) You'll be assigned a publisher ID that looks something like pub-9999999999999
3) Go to your account, click the Edit tab, and then click *private information*.
4) Enter your publisher ID into the Google AdSense ID box and click Submit.

Voila - instant revenue sharing. Once this publisher ID is submitted, every blog entry, forum topic or group entry that member makes will result in ad money being split 50/50.

Go to www.unschoold.com/tracker.

1. Go to your account page. (If you see a login page, please login first :-))

2. Click the edit tab under your username.

3. Scroll down the page until you see the Blog Information section. Edit the Blog Title and Blog Description.

4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Submit

After logging in, you will see an arrow pointing down in the navigation bar next to blogs. If you hover over blogs without clicking, the menu will drop down and show the option to write a blog entry.

You can also go to your control panel and click the new blog entry icon.

You can add a topic to the suggestion box forum or use our feedback form.

It's a convenient collection of icons that link to everything you do on the site, including editing your profile, writing content, checking your group activity & private messages, inviting friends and logging out.

To change your subscription settings, you need to edit your profile: go to your account page and click the edit tab under your username. Scroll down the Subscription settings section. You can then select/deselect Autosubscribe to change autosubscribe settings.

To edit subscriptions to group entries, go to www.unschoold.com/groups/my and click the relevant my subscription link.

To see and edit the list of everything you're subscribed to, go to your control panel and click the my subsriptions icon.

In your profile settings are options for following stuff. To edit your profile, go to your account page and click the edit tab under your username. Scroll down the Subscription settings section. You can then select Autosubscribe to automatically subscribe to anything you post or comment on. You will then receives emails when something you subcribe to is commented on. The Include teaser option will add the teaser text to the email for some extra context.

To add/edit subscriptions to group entries, go to www.unschoold.com/groups/my and click the relevant my subscription link.

To see and edit the list of everything you're subscribed to, go to your control panel and click the my subsriptions icon.

You can add a topic to the suggestion box forum or use our feedback form.

You can write a forum topic one of four ways:

1. In the navigation bar, hover over forums and select add forum topic from the dropdown menu. You can select which of your groups the forum topic appears in by selecting them from the Audience menu. You can also select any if the sitewide forums from the same menu. You can select multiple groups by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking (Command key on Macs).

2. Go to your control panel and click the new forum topic icon. You can select which of your groups the entry appears in by selecting them from the Audience menu. You can also select any if the sitewide forums from the same menu. You can select multiple groups by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking (Command key on Macs).

3. Click forums in the navigation bar, click on the a forum name and click the Post new forum topic link at the top of the forum page.

4. To write a specific group's forum, go to the group home page and click the Create Forum topic link to the right. This will only allow you to post to that specific group's forum.

Go to www.unschoold.com/tracker.

Forums are connected to groups. To create a private forum, you must create a private group. On the group creation page, be sure to check the box labelled private group. You will not be able to check that box if list in groups directory is checked.

All public forums are listed at www.unschoold.com/forums. Each group has its' own forum. Private groups and forums are not listed.

Currently, it is only possible to rename the group forum. We hope to add the ability to add extra forum sections in the future. If you need an extra section or two, drop us a line at www.unschoold.com/feedback.

To rename a group forum, go to the group home page and click the Manage group forums link to the right. Then click the Edit forum link. You can then rename the forum and add a description. Click Submit when you are done editing.

We'll be happy to add sections to the main site forums. A forum has been setup for requests here.

Forums are contained inside Groups. To make a Forum, you must create a group.

1. Go to www.unschoold.com/groups/create to create a group.

2. Enter the group's title (aka group name) and description. You have the options of tagging the group with keywords and entering a mission statement as well.

3. Use the options in the Subscription requests section to create an Open, Moderated, invite only or closed group.

4. Below that there are several checkboxes. Select the options you prefer.

5. Click Submit at the bottom to finish.

To change your subscription settings, you need to edit your profile: go to your account page and click the edit tab under your username. Scroll down the Subscription settings section. You can then select/deselect Autosubscribe to change autosubscribe settings.

To edit subscriptions to group entries, go to www.unschoold.com/groups/my and click the relevant my subscription link.

To see and edit the list of everything you're subscribed to, go to your control panel and click the my subsriptions icon.

In your profile settings are options for following stuff. To edit your profile, go to your account page and click the edit tab under your username. Scroll down the Subscription settings section. You can then select Autosubscribe to automatically subscribe to anything you post or comment on. You will then receives emails when something you subcribe to is commented on. The Include teaser option will add the teaser text to the email for some extra context.

To add/edit subscriptions to group entries, go to www.unschoold.com/groups/my and click the relevant my subscription link.

To see and edit the list of everything you're subscribed to, go to your control panel and click the my subsriptions icon.

A group is similar to the concept behind groups at Yahoo or Google - a collection of people with a shared interest. You have a shared messages (like a group blog), a group forum and group polls. Groups can be totally open & public or completely private.

Yes - and it's easier than copying/pasting multiple group email addresses :-) There are two ways to do it:

1. In the navigation bar, hover over groups and select write a group entry from the dropdown menu. You can select which of your groups the entry appears in by selecting them from the Audience menu. You can select multiple groups by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking (Command key on Macs).

2. Go to your control panel and click the new group entry icon. You can select which of your groups the entry appears in by selecting them from the Audience menu. You can select multiple groups by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking (Command key on Macs).

You can write a group entry one of three ways:

1. In the navigation bar, hover over groups and select write a group entry from the dropdown menu. You can select which of your groups the entry appears in by selecting them from the Audience menu. You can select multiple groups by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking (Command key on Macs).

2. Go to your control panel and click the new group entry icon. You can select which of your groups the entry appears in by selecting them from the Audience menu. You can select multiple groups by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking (Command key on Macs).

3. Go to the group home page and click the Create Group entry link to the right. This will only allow you to post to that specific group.

Go to www.unschoold.com/tracker.

Go to www.unschoold.com/group/mytracker.

Go to www.unschoold.com/groups/my/unread.

Go to www.unschoold.com/groups/my. You can also click the group activity to get an overview of all activity in your groups.

1. Go to www.unschoold.com/groups/create to create a group.

2. Enter the group's title (aka group name) and description. You have the options of tagging the group with keywords and entering a mission statement as well.

3. In the Subscription requests section, select Moderated, invite only or closed.

4. Below that there are several checkboxes. Uncheck list in groups directory. This will prevent the group from being listed publically.

5. Check the box labelled private group. This will allow the group to only be seen by members (aka subscribers).

6. Click Submit at the bottom to finish.

1. Go to your control panel and click the invite a friend icon. Then click the your invitations tab.

2. Go to www.unschoold.com/invite/list.

Absolutely :-) There are 2 ways to do it:

1. Go to your control panel and click the invite a friend icon. Enter the email address(es), edit the subject and add a personal message if you want, and click Submit.

2. Go to www.unschoold.com/invite. Enter the email address(es), edit the subject and add a personal message if you want, and click Submit.

On the home page there is a User login area on the right. You can check the Remember me to stay logged in. You can also login at www.unschoold.com/member.

1. Go to your control panel and click the invite a friend icon. Then click the your invitations tab.

2. Go to www.unschoold.com/invite/list.

Absolutely :-) There are 2 ways to do it:

1. Go to your control panel and click the invite a friend icon. Enter the email address(es), edit the subject and add a personal message if you want, and click Submit.

2. Go to www.unschoold.com/invite. Enter the email address(es), edit the subject and add a personal message if you want, and click Submit.

On the home page there is a User login area on the right. You can check the Remember me to stay logged in. You can also login at www.unschoold.com/member.

We don't :-) Requiring people to prove that they're unschoolers opens up a big can of worms, especially trying to define unschooling. The elitism and exclusivity of requiring another human's approval to join just rubs us the wrong way as well. We'll put our trust in people and let the site grow organically. If a prospective member isn't sure of what unschooling is (or perhaps refers to it by a different name), there are some links on the registration page to the following unschooling websites that should help:

     Growing Without Schooling
     Joyfully Rejoycing
     Learn in Freedom!
     Sandra Dodd's website

1. The login box on the home page has an option to create a new account. You can click that link or click here.

2. On the registration page, enter the require information, marked by a red asterisk. You will have the option to join some of our public groups if you wish.

3. Agree to our Terms of Service by marking the relevant checkboxes.

4. Enter the CAPTCHA code (used to thwart spambots) and click Create new account.

5. You will receive an account validation link in your email. Click that link, login and you are good to go :-)

When you get a private message, you'll see a green message box at the top of the page letting you know. You can also check by doing one of the following:

1. Go to your control panel and click the my private messages icon. You will be taken to your private message inbox.

3. Go to www.unschoold.com/privatemsg/inbox.

Yes. There are 3 ways to do it:

1. Go to the member's profile page. At the bottom of their profile is a Private messages section. Click the Write a private message link to send a message to that member.

2. Go to your control panel and click the my private messages icon. You will be taken to your private message inbox. Click the Write a new message at the bottom. You can type in a member name or select someone you've previously messaged from the Contacts dropdown menu.

3. Go to www.unschoold.com/privatemsg/new. You can type in a member name or select someone you've previously messaged from the Contacts dropdown menu.

Yes. When creating content, you will see an upload a picture section. Click the Browse button to look for a picture on your computer to upload. Click Upload once you have found the picture you want. Currently we are limiting pictures to one per entry until we know how it affects our hosting. We hope to add the ability to create galleries in the future.

You can also add multiple pictures from Flickr.com. All you have to do is find a Flickr picture you want to use, click on the picture to make sure you are on it's unique page, then copy the address/url and paste it into the add a picture from Flickr field(s) when creating content.

Note: You're not limited to using your own Flickr pictures. If you use someone else's pictures, please be certain that they will not mind the usage. We do not accept any legal responsibility for the repercussions of using an image from Flickr and will cooperate with any copyright violation requests we receive.

1. Go to your account page. (If you see a login page, please login first :-))

2. Click the edit tab under your username.

3. Scroll down the page until you see the Picture section. Browse and find the picture you want to use on your computer.

4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Submit

Yes. When creating content, you will see an upload a picture section. Click the Browse button to look for a picture on your computer to upload. Click Upload once you have found the picture you want. Currently we are limiting pictures to one per entry until we know how it affects our hosting. We hope to add the ability to create galleries in the future.

You can also add multiple pictures from Flickr.com. All you have to do is find a Flickr picture you want to use, click on the picture to make sure you are on it's unique page, then copy the address/url and paste it into the add a picture from Flickr field(s) when creating content.

Note: You're not limited to using your own Flickr pictures. If you use someone else's pictures, please be certain that they will not mind the usage. We do not accept any legal responsibility for the repercussions of using an image from Flickr and will cooperate with any copyright violation requests we receive.

When you get a private message, you'll see a green message box at the top of the page letting you know. You can also check by doing one of the following:

1. Go to your control panel and click the my private messages icon. You will be taken to your private message inbox.

3. Go to www.unschoold.com/privatemsg/inbox.

Yes. There are 3 ways to do it:

1. Go to the member's profile page. At the bottom of their profile is a Private messages section. Click the Write a private message link to send a message to that member.

2. Go to your control panel and click the my private messages icon. You will be taken to your private message inbox. Click the Write a new message at the bottom. You can type in a member name or select someone you've previously messaged from the Contacts dropdown menu.

3. Go to www.unschoold.com/privatemsg/new. You can type in a member name or select someone you've previously messaged from the Contacts dropdown menu.

1. Go to www.unschoold.com/groups/create to create a group.

2. Enter the group's title (aka group name) and description. You have the options of tagging the group with keywords and entering a mission statement as well.

3. In the Subscription requests section, select Moderated, invite only or closed.

4. Below that there are several checkboxes. Uncheck list in groups directory. This will prevent the group from being listed publically.

5. Check the box labelled private group. This will allow the group to only be seen by members (aka subscribers).

6. Click Submit at the bottom to finish.

Forums are connected to groups. To create a private forum, you must create a private group. On the group creation page, be sure to check the box labelled private group. You will not be able to check that box if list in groups directory is checked.

1. Go to your account page. (If you see a login page, please login first :-))

2. Click the edit tab under your username.

3. Scroll down the page until you see the Picture section. Browse and find the picture you want to use on your computer.

4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Submit

Yes. Go to your control panel and click the new quote icon. The only part that is required is the quote itself - the title and author are optional. Note that there is limited space so really long quotes will not be completely visible.

Yes. All the Google ads are enabled for revenue sharing. We believe that websites that rely on members should give something back to the people who make the site what it is. Most social networking sites collect the ad revenue while the members build the sites - we disagree with that. Here's how to do it:

1) Get a Google Adsense account from www.google.com/adsense
2) You'll be assigned a publisher ID that looks something like pub-9999999999999
3) Go to your account, click the Edit tab, and then click *private information*.
4) Enter your publisher ID into the Google AdSense ID box and click Submit.

Voila - instant revenue sharing. Once this publisher ID is submitted, every blog entry, forum topic or group entry that member makes will result in ad money being split 50/50.

Go to www.unschoold.com/tracker.

Writing reviews is a 2 step process - adding the review item to the site and then writing your review in the form of a comment. Here's how:

1. Search at www.unschoold.com/search/amazon for the item you want to review. Note the ASIN number

2. Click the Write a review link under reviews in the navigation bar or in your control panel.

3. Right at the top is a Reviews menu where you must select Books, Movies or Music. The Tags section below can be left blank - you can always add more tags later.

4. Enter the ASIN number in the ASIN field.

5. Click Submit at the bottom.

6. After submitting, you will see the page for the review. The image and basic description will be pulled from Amazon.com. To write a review, add a comment. You can rate the item by selecting from the star widget.

Please note: you can only have one star rating - whether you set it at the top of the page or in a comment, only your latest star rating will be saved. You can change your star rating whenever you want.

Disclosure: the link from an item back to Amazon is an affiliate link for the site owner. While revenue sharing is enabled in other parts of the site, it is not for these links. Creating and running the site is very time intensive, and we expect the hosting demands to grow significantly.

To change your subscription settings, you need to edit your profile: go to your account page and click the edit tab under your username. Scroll down the Subscription settings section. You can then select/deselect Autosubscribe to change autosubscribe settings.

To edit subscriptions to group entries, go to www.unschoold.com/groups/my and click the relevant my subscription link.

To see and edit the list of everything you're subscribed to, go to your control panel and click the my subsriptions icon.

In your profile settings are options for following stuff. To edit your profile, go to your account page and click the edit tab under your username. Scroll down the Subscription settings section. You can then select Autosubscribe to automatically subscribe to anything you post or comment on. You will then receives emails when something you subcribe to is commented on. The Include teaser option will add the teaser text to the email for some extra context.

To add/edit subscriptions to group entries, go to www.unschoold.com/groups/my and click the relevant my subscription link.

To see and edit the list of everything you're subscribed to, go to your control panel and click the my subsriptions icon.

You can add a topic to the suggestion box forum or use our feedback form.

Tags help organize things and make them easy to find. This FAQ page is organized by tags. Questions appear multiple times depending on the tags used. For example, if you wanted to find out how to create a private forum, you might think the keyword should be forum, while someone else may think the keyword should be private. By tagging the question with both keywords, the answer can be found under both forum and private because both tags are relevant to the question.

Everything on this site can be tagged - groups, group entries, FAQs, blogs, quotes. When you write something, you can add tags at the same time.

Additionally, you can tag almost everything with your own tags as well. When you are on the page for a blog entry, group entry, etc., you should see a Tags tab above the title. Click it and add your own tags.

To change your subscription settings, you need to edit your profile: go to your account page and click the edit tab under your username. Scroll down the Subscription settings section. You can then select/deselect Autosubscribe to change autosubscribe settings.

To edit subscriptions to group entries, go to www.unschoold.com/groups/my and click the relevant my subscription link.

To see and edit the list of everything you're subscribed to, go to your control panel and click the my subsriptions icon.

In your profile settings are options for following stuff. To edit your profile, go to your account page and click the edit tab under your username. Scroll down the Subscription settings section. You can then select Autosubscribe to automatically subscribe to anything you post or comment on. You will then receives emails when something you subcribe to is commented on. The Include teaser option will add the teaser text to the email for some extra context.

To add/edit subscriptions to group entries, go to www.unschoold.com/groups/my and click the relevant my subscription link.

To see and edit the list of everything you're subscribed to, go to your control panel and click the my subsriptions icon.