A criticism of homeschooling is that we are experimenting on our children and their futures by not doing what school does. John Holt, in the above photo, is with his fifth-grade students at the Colorado Rocky Mountain School. He’s an example of a teacher who changed his ideas about schooling by experimenting with his students.
Read MoreUnschoolers tend to believe that the most important issues of our lives deserve our personal attention, and that our personal attention, in turn, is naturally drawn to what is important—if it’s not schooled out of us. John Holt had precious little tolerance for easy answers—for curricula which would automatically make us healthy, wealthy, and wise; for experts who grew frustrated when asked for examples; and for Big Science Business Government who wrested from people their ability to educate, feed, or physic themselves.
Read MoreAmidst the remarkable singing, dancing, and music in the movie are the critical responses of people at the concert to the US putting a man on the moon, which occurred during the concert. One commenter at the concert made a point that rang particularly true to me: “You could have spent that money on earth and made a whole lot of people much better.”
That’s often how I feel about our never-ending school reform efforts: more technology, bigger schools, more testing, more theories and schemes about making children learn what schools determine they need to know so they can become the workers that science, business, and government want. Instead of focusing on the perceived future needs of science, business, and government, why not focus that money on improving the actual needs of local neighborhoods, family healthcare, salaries, and wages?
Read MoreAugust 28, 2018, is the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Though not present, John Holt supported the students and was highly critical of the police. John adds some thoughtful commentary and advice about being careful not to turn just anger into blind hate in this previously unpublished piece.
Read MoreJohn Young writes, "John Holt wrote comparatively little on religion per se, . . . However, I think his occasional comments on the matter enrich our understanding of unschooling, especially as the topic of religion comes into play."
Read MoreFifty years ago John Holt woke the dreary world of educational theory by showing that for small children “learning is as natural as breathing.” His brilliant observations are as true today as they were then. Over a million copies were sold worldwide in the decades that followed. This new, 50th anniversary edition features a Foreword by teacher/author Deborah Meier, who praises Holt's influence on herself, in schools, and in homes.
Read More. . . If I could have given myself one piece of advice when I was a child, it would have been: “If you happen to make your mark by doing what you purely enjoy, then fine. But never do what you fail to enjoy for the sake of making your mark.” . . .
Read MoreBooks about homeschooling tend to be nonfiction and educational in tone, so it is a pleasure to see an increase in novels written by homeschoolers that add fresh perspectives and stories about homeschooling and family life. I want to call out these two novels because they share a common inspiration—John Holt’s writing.
Read MoreHolt's most political book, Freedom and Beyond is also a very practical and useful book for parents and anyone who works with children because it explores in detail many of the tensions caused by giving freedom. Partners who argue over the value of self-directed learning, who worry about discipline, and so on will find that Holt presents both sides of these tensions and notes they will never go away . . .
Read MoreFrom Freedom and Beyond: "In sum, a deschooled society would be a society in which everyone shall have the widest and freest possible choice to learn whatever he wants to learn, whether in school or in some altogether different way . . . . It would be a society in which there were many paths to learning and advancement, instead of one school path as we have now . . . a path far too narrow for everyone, and one too easily and too often blocked off from the poor."
Read More"Many of us may coerce without meaning to.
"The question is, what kind of influence do we exercise over other people, what kind of open or hidden pressure do we put on them, what chance do we give them to say No, what do they risk if they do say it? . . ."
Read MoreJohn Young, a twelfth-grade English teacher, recently contacted me about The Norton Reader, which he uses in his classes and that first introduced John Holt’s thoughts about education to him years earlier. Mr. Young mentioned that Norton was no longer using Holt’s article and he was disappointed in this development . . .
Read MoreFrom John Holt's reply to Dr. Jerome Bruner's letter to the NY Review of Books: "The proper business of the intellectual is to make complicated ideas more simple, not simple ideas more complicated; to make the real world more comprehensible, not less so." Read more about this sharp exchange . . .
Read MoreSeptember 14, 2015, marks the 30th anniversary of John Holt’s death and I’ve been conflicted as to what to write about it . . . As I thought about this anniversary I went through various books and files for inspiration and I came across the documentary slide show we created for the Growing Without Schooling 20th anniversary conference in 1997 . . .
Read MoreJohn Holt's books have been translated into over 48 languages, and I continue to field requests for more translations . . .
Read MoreThis new movie about learning outside the classroom is not only a great introduction to homeschooling and unschooling, but is also a testament to our individual and group abilities to create new private and public spaces for living and learning with children when institutions fail to do so . . .
Read MoreHelp us make John Holt's videos accessible in other languages and to the deaf by joining our new video captioning project . . .
Read More"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 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 . . .
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