Unschooltopia 2023

From New Harmony to Twin Oaks, utopian communities have always been a part of the American experiment. So have secession movements—especially in California! We will follow these footsteps by attempting to establish a brand-new community in rural northern California.

We think the time is right for a new community, state, or perhaps even country. Brexit worked! While we don’t have the resources to dream that big, we’ll start with what we’ve got: a team of hard-working teenage unschoolers, adult trip leaders, and the power of romantic idealism.

First step: self-sufficiency. Second step: political independence!

We’ll carve our homestead from an unoccupied swath of pine forest in rural Sierra County, California, not far from the famous Pacific Crest Trail. No one lives here except the local animals and perhaps an irate weed farmer or two. Our first order of business will be giving those furry critters a reason to skidaddle—then we’ll get down to business!

On this Unschool Adventures trip you’ll gain all sorts of practical homesteading skills: tree-felling, root removal, attempting to grow vegetables on steep slopes in unfriendly soil conditions, log cabin building, and privy construction. You’ll sleep in tents, eat simple meals, and feel the warmth of community as we work toward heaven on earth.

Every community needs a method of self-governance, and we’ll experiment with a different approach each week: majority vote, supermajority, consensus, elected dictator, communism, anarchy, and more. Don’t be surprised if you get nominated as a temporary dictator, or if your snack food gets collectivized! It’s all part of the experience.

With our material needs addressed, we’ll finally turn to the real work of any utopia: creating an organizational system that perfectly matches human nature. As unschoolers, all of our belief and value systems are basically the same, so we feel confident that we can iron out a functional utopia by the late summer 2023.

What will this utopia look like? Well, it’s hard to predict (that’s the fun of this trip!), but we know one thing for sure: there won’t be any school, or anything that looks like school. Self-directed learning will be compulsory. Chores and bedtimes will be optional. Assuming we can get Starlink, we’ll have plenty of Fortnite tournaments. (Not sure about the electricity part yet.)

With these shared foundations, we’re know that utopia will be right around the corner. Soon, everyone will want to join us! Maybe we’ll become as popular as Rajneeshpuram in Oregon.