By Idzie Desmarais If a child learns in the forest, and there are no adults there to see it, did they really learn at all? The summer my sister turned 13 was spent in a patch of woods–one of the few semi-wild spaces near us to be spared from development–with […]
bokan/Shutterstock As schools resume for most Australian students, a new group of parents have emerged. These parents have decided to give home education a longer term try, finding their children have improved academically and benefited from the calmer home learning environment. This change may mean some families move to a more child-led […]
A Harvard law professor wants to ban or greatly restrict homeschooling. Ouch. By Peter Gray Ph.D. Freedom to Learn An article published in the May-June 2020 issue of Harvard Magazine sent shockwaves through the homeschooling community. At the top of the article, entitled “The Risks of Homeschooling,” is a drawing of a forlorn girl […]
Shutterstock Most Australian children are stuck at home due to the outbreak of COVID-19. They need to find ways to socialise, do their school work, exercise and entertain themselves. It’s not surprising parents may be hearing “I’m bored” a lot more than before. People hate being bored. So much so […]
Education is much more than what is taught in school. Take advantage. A pandemic is never a good thing. It’s a terrible thing. But maybe some good can come from it. Anything that disrupts our usual ways of being can lead us to try new ways of being, ways that might in the […]
Over the next few weeks, many preschoolers will meet their foundation teachers, spend some time in a classroom and hopefully make some new friends. from shutterstock.com The transition from preschool to school is a big deal for many children and parents. Over the next few weeks, many preschoolers will take part in […]
A traditional maths problem involving pizza will be very far removed from real life. from shutterstock.com In real life, ordering pizza for a group of people involves having a conversation about what people like, how much they can eat, how much they want to spend and whether pineapple really belongs […]
When children write freely, they say they escape from everyday thinking. from shutterstock.com Ask a child why they write and you might receive a common response: the teacher told me to. Kids often lack confidence as writers and find it emotionally draining. The problem might be the classroom and its detachment from what writers […]
By Peter Gray Ph.D. / Freedom to Learn Ruby Lou and I were children when children were free. We reunited recently. I opened Chapter 1 of my book Free to Learn with the following paragraph: I’ve learned from hundreds of great teachers over the course of my life, but if I had to […]
Dads tend to engage in more active, physical play activities with their young children. Shutterstock/pyrozhenka Play is an important way for children to learn about the world around them. Through play, they learn cultural norms, socialisation guidelines and experiment with different ways to interact with their environment. But play between a father and […]