"How did you homeschool/unschool without having the Internet?" Well, John Holt created a book and music catalog for helping parents and children find learning materials that were either unavailable from school product providers (they didn't support homeschooling then as they do now) or that he thought were better books and materials than standard-issue curricula. I collated most of the books and materials we sold into this list . . .
Read MoreMany educators grasp the importance of letting children learn through their own joy and passions, but almost none recommend that unschooling can be a sound way to do so. Even fewer dare to be education heretics and question why we need to box children into schools and how else they might learn and grow in today's world . . .
Read MorePew Research Center: "Screens have changed our reading patterns from the linear, left-to-right sequence of years past to a wild skimming and skipping pattern as we hunt for important words and information . . . " One solution to this is slow reading.
Read MoreDon't teach the way you were taught: Involve other adults, other kids, and other activities in your children's lives. But most of all, get involved in building an open relationship with your children to best understand what does and doesn't work for them and you . . .
Read MoreFin and Rye drying foraged chokecherries. The boys know where to find wild mushrooms and berries, "and Lord knows what else [they] are eating out there," Hewitt writes on his blog . . .
Read MoreFrom the creator: "My inspiration comes from the College Board's new AP Chemistry framework that includes this gem—'The student can connect phenomena and models across spatial and temporal scales.'"
Read MoreI am cochair for the Homeschool Plus conference; it will be held online on August 7 and 8, 2014. It is free to attend and everyone is encouraged to submit a presentation proposal, including first-time presenters . . .
Read MoreThe role of the teacher is different when the child decides when, where, how, and from whom to learn, and the context and purposes of teaching are radically different in this configuration . . .
Read MoreI’m delivering a keynote at the online Learning Revolution conference early tomorrow morning. It is being recorded so you can listen to it on your own schedule, but if the topic interests you and you’d like to participate with questions and comments, please grab a cup of coffee and join me. I'm speaking about "What is the role of teacher when children do self-directed learning?" . . .
Read MoreAn interest-led learning opportunity in Peru for teens and young adults and a new guide for earning college credit for what you know . . .
Read MoreThree types of media for you to enjoy: The slides, bibliography, and videos from my recent talk about how parents of preschool-age children can best help them learn; a new video about Holt's Learning All the Time; and a synchronized update of my slides and video, Homeschooling and Unschooling, presented at the Alternatives to Compulsory Schooling conference at Harvard University in April 2013.
Read MoreKen Danford, a cofounder of NorthStar: Self-Directed Learning for Teens, does a TEDx presentation about this unique resource center upon its 18th anniversary.
Read MoreI lived through the reading wars and survived, though it wasn’t easy in the homeschooling movement. Phonics purists couldn’t quite embrace John Holt’s ideas since he considered phonics to be just one way that children can learn to read, and not necessarily the best way. “It is good books, not good reading methods, that make good readers,” John said . . .
Read MoreWhat happens when homeschoolers get to use a technological platform reserved for university-level courses (Blackboard Collaborate) to co-create a free, online, nonsectarian homeschooling event? Read about it and see some presentations to draw your own conclusions.
Dr. Peter Gray writes a followup article to his controversial Salon essay, "School is a Prison and Damaging Our Children" . . .
Read MoreDay Farenga at the Eiffel Tower, July 4. Did that really happen?
Read MoreMatt Hern, author Everywhere All the Time: A Deschooling Reader, is appearing on The Future of Education for a free, one-hour interview with Steve Hargadon . . .
