Welcome to School of the Unconformed, a newsletter offering practical guidance on navigating family, education, and daily life in the Machine Age.
I write as a nonconformist. The domination of tech and the inversion of traditional values makes me bristle and respond with a commitment to stay grounded in reality, to nurture Truth and beauty, and hope that the seeds I sow for my children and community will find fertile ground to grow.
I do not own a cell phone, I love reading especially long classic novels, I make most of my bread by hand, I don’t have a big screen TV, and my husband and I home-educate our three children. Yet I am under no illusion that I am unaffected by the lure of technology. I grew up as a polyglot in Switzerland until I was 18 and was able to spend my youth in a country rooted in traditional values, natural beauty, and academic rigour.
For more than a decade I have founded and coordinated various homeschool programs in my community including an early education co-op, hands-on science classes for middle and high school students, spelling bees, speed math, Charles Dickens and classical vocabulary, Latin, and public speaking programs. Since 2021, I have a weekly live radio spot on the Richard Syrett Show as homeschool advisor, where I report on homeschool and educational news in the context of of the rapid changes and upheaval in our society.
In my daily life, I love bringing people from all backgrounds together, offering support and guidance to new homeschoolers, and encouraging students and families on their educational journeys. I always keep books nearby (concurrent ones for breakfast, couch, and bedtime), and enjoy being outdoors with my family. You can gain some more insights into my life as mother, homemaker, and educator in my interview on The Home Front.
I am married to Peco and through our writings on Pilgrims in the Machine and The School of the Unconformed, and now Peco’s novel Exogenesis, you will gain glimpses of a husband and wife trying their best to point a way through the Machine for their children and others striving to find anchors of hope.
School of the Unconformed focuses on how we can bring about lasting change by building different life foundations that support a tectonic shift in our relationship to technology. The writings will offer support and practical guidance in strengthening the home and hearth, growing different daily rhythms and habits, parenting, taking charge of education, and embracing what Wendell Berry calls the Good Life.
This bottom-up approach provides the life-blood for change that results not from shifting mind furniture, but from arranging solid cornerstones that shape everything we do. We suggest you start with the following essays from the archive:
Most essays are offered in a free pdf download, and some even include reading lists such as this collection of “Unmachined Words”:
The following essays offer a good starting point:
The 3Rs of Unmachining: Guideposts for an Age of Technological Upheaval
Today’s post is a unique collaboration between my husband Peco and I, capturing our efforts to point a hopeful path through an age of technological upheaval. Although this is a single (lengthy) post, we have been discussing the foundational ideas for over a decade. We hope that you will find encouragem…
The Analog-Digital Hybrid Model
Anything Peco and I produce online, is first sourced and developed in the analog world, started out with handwritten brainstorming notes and drafts, was developed through conversations, and was created free of any AI use.
School of the Unconformed plans to go beyond the “human certified badge” to establish reader-writer trust:
I (Ruth) recently came across 600 pages of beautiful linen foolscap paper. It seemed made for our readers! Starting this summer, I am thus inviting paying subscribers to write me a letter. It can simply be a letter to introduce yourself, to share ideas, poems, offer reading recommendations, or to ask questions.
I will respond with a handwritten full-page letter, embossed with the School of the Unconformed logo.
Would you like to send me a letter? Contact me via direct message for my mailing address:
In addition, I will invite annual paying subscribers to a 40-min one-on-one zoom chat. While not as good as a real-life conversation over a hot drink, it will allow us to “meet” each other, ask questions, and simply connect.
You can redeem a 20% discount as part of the Analog Renaissance Special here:
We would love to hear from you, if there are any particular resources or support that you would find helpful. We greatly appreciate your support and hope that you will find encouragement and inspiration in our writings to live life differently, to resist the dehumanizing draw of devices, and to reclaim daily habits that are grounded in real action, people, and places.
Happy to have you along!
Ruth and Peco
