Democratic & Self Directed: Monica Truong

March 12, 2020

Monica Truong, unschooling mom and self directed learning advocate. In this episode Monica “schools” me on child-led democratic education, self directed learning and creating a culture of respect, trust and sovereignty.

Democratic and Self Directed

Monica Truong was born in Vietnam and came to Canada with her family as a refugee at the age of 6. She has a BSc in Chemistry and likes to joke that she works with the “chemistry” of people, as she has never worked in her field of study. Monica taught English in Asia for 12 years and travelled to as many countries. When her oldest started school, Monica also decided to go back to school and received her diploma in Architectural Technology. In another twist of fate, she never worked in that field either and started homeschooling instead. Monica is learning and living with her husband and two daughters. Two years ago, she and two other moms, Sheri Daley and Sarah Atkinson, started the Chinook Free Learners Community Coop. Chinook Free Learners is a child-led, democratic learning centre inspired by Sudbury School and Agile Learning Centres.

What To Listen For In This Episode

The three reasons that led Monica to unschooling
The beliefs that she had to let go of around what it means to be a good or “smart” student
Why she is an advocate for self directed learning and democratic schooling
What she tells her traditionally minded parents about unschooling and their democratic learning centre
Self directed learning and how it works
How a democratic, agile learning centre works
Will kids learn if you don’t teach them?
What about math and reading?
Won’t kids make bad choices if they are given freedom?
The biggest challenges for Chinook Free Learners and unschooling?
Letting go of mom guilt
Monica’s hope for education and children?
What advice would she give to a parent that’s interested in unschooling or a democratic learning centre?

Monica’s hope for children is that they know they are powerful, that they are free and sovereign people and that they can make a difference in the world. I think that she is well on her way to making this a reality.

Notable Quotes and Resources

“I read a book called ‘A Child Called It’….After reading it I came to the realization that our children will love us, no matter how awful we can be as parents and it made me want to do the best I can. Well actually, better than I can. Because I want to feel that I really deserve the love of my children.” Monica Truong

“I homeschool because the type of education that I think is best for my kids are not available in public school, not because schools are inherently evil. They, like any man-made innovation can be used for good or evil. Public schools serve a very practical, useful purpose-to take care of our children while we adults go about our work.” Monica Truong

“If unschooling was a religion, it would be Tao.

“Trust Your Children. Nothing could be more simple, or more difficult because to trust children we must first learn to trust ourselves, and most of us were taught as children that we could not be trusted.” John Holt

“We worry about what our children will become tomorrow. We forget that they are someone today.” Stacy Tauscher