New Member Survey

Fill out the survey below to join one of our private support groups.

If you only need help with the website, or want to ask our admin team a question privately, fill out the contact page instead.

Survey

Use this form to access our Loomio and/or Discord–our private support groups off facebook. We ask for this survey to filter out spammers, scammers, and bots.

Our discord server and Loomio group are discussion spaces similar to the space we created on facebook over the past 13 years, with additions like member chats and book clubs. Group members can post support questions, provide advice in the comments, connect to local families, or just get to know each other.

Discussion in Discord and Loomio is private–not paywalled. Financial contributions are voluntary but needed! They allow us to sustain this space. It’s also okay to join and just read along.

Once you we review this survey, we’ll send you a links for Discord and Loomio. You can join either or both. There you’ll be able to post questions and participate in discussions to help other families.

The facebook group has it’s own entry questions, you can join by answering the questions there–you don’t need to fill this out if you only want to read/comment on facebook. We are fading out the facebook group and pausing it more often because of the broken admin tools, data exploitation, and the amount of labor and rules required to maintain a supportive space on facebook.

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Your message has been sent. Enter the same name in the Band app join request so we can confirm.

Name

name

Discord Username

How long have you been unschooling?

What is your connection to disability or neurodivergence? (can check multiple)

What is neurodivergent? Why not "on the spectrum" or "differently abled"? My kids might be neurodivergent and/or disabled I know my kids are neurodivergent and/or disabled and have done research and connected with other parents I am exploring my own neurodivergence and/or disability I consider myself an anti-ableism advocate

Are you a parent or caregiver? If not how are you connected to unschooling, neurodivergent, and/or disabled communities?

Tell us more about your family’s story. You may request privacy instead, but we need enough information to know you aren’t a bot or spammer. Maybe it’s your journey to unschooling, struggles with school, experiences with ableism, or–if you’d like privacy–what you like or don’t like about trees (or cake…or boardgames…).

Please check off the group rules* to let us know you agree:

I agree to the following group rules (please read!):

Aim for Unschooling

This is not a “school at home” homeschool group. Suggestions for curriculum and requiring academic topics are generally deleted.

Connection Parenting

This is a connection parenting group. Authoritarian Parenting (broadly defined, anything “because I said so”) advice is deleted from comments, and we’ll work with posters to focus on aiming for connection and collaboration instead of control. “My house my rules” comments are deleted.

Center Lived Experience

This is an anti-racist, anti-ableist, anti-ABA, LGBTQ+ affirming, HAES inclusive space. No hate. No racism. No classism. No homophobia. No transphobia. No weight loss suggestions. Mistakes will be “called in,” meaning when someone points out a mistake that’s a chance to learn and say thank you! We remove/ban after repeated mistakes AND refusal to collaborate privately OR after any instance of targeting group members or admins personally.

Aim for inclusion and respect. Center lived experience. Do not generalize about groups of people, including children. No speaking negatively about children (no calling kids lazy, manipulative, narcissistic, etc).

Collaborative Approach to Screens

Tech / screen limits are generally moved to a focused discussion space. Our goal is to avoid unproductive debates about addiction and dig deeper to help with tech/screens as nuanced self-regulation tools. In general the group aims for a collaborative approach to screens or no screen limits, while recognizing this will be different for each family.

No Promotions

If you are a coach, therapist, or professional, you’ll be expected to contribute substantial tips, tools, and advice specific to the post question before mentioning your services. Absolutely no ABA or behaviorism.** It’s okay to add your services to a specific “self-promotions here” thread.

Communication

By completing this form you are consenting being contacted by email or message/DM about membership, pending posts, and interactions in the group. If you do not respond or no longer wish to receive emails or messages, you will be removed from the private group. You are welcome to rejoin. We understand that executive functioning challenges make people miss emails, please let us know if you need multiple contact attempts or an alternate mode of communication. If you prefer being called out in comments rather than messaged add that to your member bio after you join.

Reasons for Removal

We may remove any member at any time. This is a private, volunteer-run space. Generally it’s not a problem to make mistakes or need a reminder about rules, but if there are safety concerns–physical or emotional–people will be immediately removed. Pause and self-reflect before responding in comments or to group admins. Share if you have RSD and need time or affirmation in discussions, or if you have PDA and prefer neutral, non-directive language answer the questions in #Channels and Roles after joining to let us know or add that to your member bio.

Is there anything else you would like to share? Contact preferences, confusion about the rules above, questions you need help with, etc.

Email or phone: This email will be used to send you the discord and Loomio invites. Or phone if you prefer text

* Our groups are narrowly focused and have some detailed guidelines. This is because we believe that unschooling is successful if families practice connection-parenting and neurodiversity acceptance. Getting the hang of all that can take six months, especially if a parent is afraid to go against the status quo and needs lots of reassurance. There are many other barriers to overcome which we discuss in the group as well. Detailed Group Guidelines

**More details about why we do not discuss ABA in this group.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQ8AGvHr5-3b9lT-pC62jFC9iyXebE1exVK4RR9lLSCGiUaRlsi0BBHn32p4ORumIXIdM5yXWYunWWq/pub

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