Please note: we will be closed from June 18 through July 24, 2008. Sorry for the inconvenience!  

As of December 2007 we are phasing out our T shirts -- 
we do still have quite a few in stock, and in the future will probably occasionally print batches here and there, but you won't, alas, be able to count on particular sizes or particular styles. Sorry for any disappointment or inconvenience...

We started selling unschooling shirts in 1996 and they were very popular--but when we discontinued our Genius Tribe mail order book catalog, we also discontinued our shirts. People hounded us, though, so we've finally brought them back, better than ever. We're excited that this time around, our original designs are printed exclusively on high quality 100% cotton sweatshop-free shirts made by American Apparel. 

Photo of Kim by Vanessa Davidson, Quo Vadis 2004

We have 4 formats available:  
#1--black short sleeved (and a special batch of long sleeved)
#2--white/black raglan long-sleeved
#3--"kinder & gentler" on organic T 
#4--"kinder & gentler" white/red raglan long-sleeved 

"My 13-year-old son loves his unschooling T-shirt and always wears it to his once-a-week public school class."

Prices 

Sizes

How to order

Are you are ordering items to be shipped to Canada or another country outside the U.S.? 

#1-- The Original Unschooling T-Shirt-- $17. On the front: "unschooler, n : one who learns from life and love and great books and late morning conversations and big projects and eccentric uncles and eyes-wide-open and mountains and mistakes and volunteering and starry nights—instead of from classrooms and exceedingly dull textbooks and sedative lectures and interfering homework. Synonyms: homeschooler, self-schooler, autodidact, rise-out." On the back, this quote from the Teenage Liberation Handbook: “The most overwhelming reality of school is control. School controls the way you spend your time (what is life made of it not time?), how you behave, what you read, and to a large extent what you think. In school you can’t control your own life. Outside of school you can, at least to the extent that your parents trust you to. ‘Comparing me to those who are conventionally schooled,’ writes a 12-year-old unschooler, ‘Is like comparing the freedoms of a wild stallion to those of cattle in a feedlot.’”

White ink on a black short sleeved 100% cotton shirt. Modeled by Maya--assistant director of Not Back to School Camp, former office manager of Lowry House Publishers, grown-up unschooler, phenomenal cook, co-counseling practitioner and teacher, salsa dancer, and much more.

In stock: Short sleeves: adult extra-large.  Also, same shirt but with long sleeves: adult medium. 

"I have become a walking billboard with my unschooling shirt! It's wonderful! Makes me feel well read! But most importantly, it tends to put people in the frame of mind that is excited and curious about what one would do if not spending all their time at school. I end up having more enthusiastic philosophical conversations, rather than upsetting, one-sided, floods of invasive, accusatory questions."

#2-- raglan long-sleeved variation on The Original Unschooling T-Shirt-- $20. Printed on the front only, same as Shirt #1: "unschooler, n : one who learns from life and love and great books and late morning conversations and big projects and eccentric uncles and eyes-wide-open and mountains and mistakes and volunteering and starry nights--instead of from classrooms and exceedingly dull textbooks and sedative lectures and interfering homework. Synonyms: homeschooler, self-schooler, autodidact, rise-out." Black ink on a long-sleeved raglan baseball-style shirt, white with black sleeves, 100% cotton. Modeled by Gabriel--Not Back to School Camp dish queen, guitarist and singer for Abandon Ship, circulation manager for All Round Magazine, snowboarder and all-around athletic and sweet guy. 

In stock: Adult medium and large. 

"The unschooler T-shirt was fabulous! It has started many interesting conversations!"

Kinder and Gentler T-shirts 

"Please consider making a version of the unschooler T-shirt that does not contain the quote comparing schooled children to cattle in a feedlot. Though I agreed with every word and loved the book it came from, I'm afraid that some of the people around here might react with anger and even violence…."  

Customers are so cool. That was a great idea! So, we designed a "kinder and gentler" version.  

This photo of Scott in his K&G was taken at Not Back to School Camp 2002 by Alex Davis. Our new versions are on slightly different shirts and with different ink colors.  

#3-- The Kinder and Gentler Unschooling T-Shirt, organic, $17. Printed on the front only: "unschooler,  n : one who learns from life and love and great books and late morning conversations and big projects and eccentric uncles and eyes-wide-open and mountains and mistakes and volunteering and starry nights. Synonyms: homeschooler, self-schooler, autodidact, rise-out." Purple, maroon, and 2 shades of blue ink on an undyed, unbleached organic cotton short-sleeved shirt. Modeled by Maya.  

In stock: adult small, medium, and large.  

#4-- The Kinder and Gentler Unschooling T-Shirt, on a white/red long sleeved raglan shirt, $20. Printed on the front only, same as #3: "unschooler,  n : one who learns from life and love and great books and late morning conversations and big projects and eccentric uncles and eyes-wide-open and mountains and mistakes and volunteering and starry nights. Synonyms: homeschooler, self-schooler, autodidact, rise-out." Red, blue, and purple ink on a white shirt with long red raglan sleeves. Modeled by Munir--contact improvisation dancer and teacher, gestalt preschool teacher, former systems analyst, and Not Back to School Camp advisor.    

In stock: adult medium and large.  

Photo of Evan in his old, well-worn Tshirt, NBTSC 2003, by Zen Zenith. (This is not the same brand of shirt that we use now.) Evan is a Not Back to School Camp Advisor, a grown-up unschooler, and the director of the Education Empowerment Project and of Quo Vadis (an annual gathering for self-educated adults). He also volunteers doing wildlife rehabilitation, and supervising other volunteers, at the Santa Barbara [California] Marine Mammal Center.

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