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Doing It Their Way : Home-Based Education and Autonomous Learning
Autonomous education allows children and young people to develop the lifelong habit of being self-directed and intrinsically motivated learners. This book gives a brief overview of the thinking of those who have significantly influenced the trend to autonomous education and it explores the key issues and questions in the practice of autonomous education.
- GenresEducation
140 pages, Paperback
First published February 18, 2000
17 people want to read
About the author
Jan Fortune-Wood
22 books1 followerJan Fortune-Wood writes poetry, fiction and non-fiction. She is co-founder and editor of Cinnamon Press and lives in North Wales. Jan originally studied Theology at Selwyn College, Cambridge and completed a PhD in Feminist Theology. She also has an MA in Creative Writing. She has worked as a teacher, priest, charity director and creative writing tutor. She is the author of several non-fiction books, chapters and articles on alternative education and parenting.
Her first novel, A Good Life, and first poetry collection, Particles of Life were published by Bluechrome in September 2005. Her second novel, Dear Ceridwen was published by Cinnamon Press in May 2007 and her first novel for teenagers is due out in November 2007. Jan is currently working on a novel in prose poetry form, Stale Bread and Miracles, to be published by Headland in 2008 and a new poetry collection Knot-work.
from academi.org
Her first novel, A Good Life, and first poetry collection, Particles of Life were published by Bluechrome in September 2005. Her second novel, Dear Ceridwen was published by Cinnamon Press in May 2007 and her first novel for teenagers is due out in November 2007. Jan is currently working on a novel in prose poetry form, Stale Bread and Miracles, to be published by Headland in 2008 and a new poetry collection Knot-work.
from academi.org
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 1, 2009
This is a book for folks who understand the basics of unschooling and ideally radical unschooling/consensual living. It is a more of academic analysis and defense of "autonomous learning" and consensual living than a user-friendly guide. Since there is so little literature on the topic its a nice addition for those who want to read everything they can on the subject, but not as a first or second text on the subject due to its dryness.
It is fairly British centric (and I am a US reviewer)- lots of references to government regulations and how public schools operate in Britain and in general British assumptions and language about learning (for example, "doing maths" or quotes from the Minister of Education).
Being a convert to the topic already, my favorite part was a discussion of the finer points between the different sources of child-led learning/consensual living philosophies in existing literature. However, I didn't really get my questions answered and felt like I had to infer the subtleties. Also I felt that there was an undercurrent of snarkiness and superiority (without substantial reasons for it) towards other child-led learning and consensual living philosophies.
The author compared the philosophies of Taking Children Seriously to John Holt's writing, The Continuum Concept, Naomi Aldort's Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves, and unschooling in general. Holt's and The Continuum Concept were criticized for romanticizing the learning of children ("it just happens") while TCS is supposedly grounded in rational thought. Aldort was criticized for having ulterior motives for how children should grow up (while I read the couple paragraphs on the author's example multiple times I still was not able to see their point), and unschoolers were criticized for only being consensual with traditional academic subjects. This was the most confusing point for me. While I recognize some people only unschool academic topics, my understanding from the three major Internet mailing lists on the subject is that most people when they say unschooling, really mean radical unschooling which more or less translates into what the author describes as Taking Children Seriously (perhaps with very subtle nuanced differences in application but not basic philosophy). My conclusion is that perhaps this definition of unschooling was true when the book was published 7 years ago, but that it has shifted in recent years. It seems to me that Taking Children Seriously might be Britain's take on radical unschooling (or radical unschooling is the US's take on TCS). All in all, I felt that her points were weak and poorly argued, but interesting for me as a critical thinking exercise and I have a wee bit more understanding (although still severely lacking) of Taking Children Seriously.
And my favorite thing about the book is the publisher - Educational Heretics! Hee!
It is fairly British centric (and I am a US reviewer)- lots of references to government regulations and how public schools operate in Britain and in general British assumptions and language about learning (for example, "doing maths" or quotes from the Minister of Education).
Being a convert to the topic already, my favorite part was a discussion of the finer points between the different sources of child-led learning/consensual living philosophies in existing literature. However, I didn't really get my questions answered and felt like I had to infer the subtleties. Also I felt that there was an undercurrent of snarkiness and superiority (without substantial reasons for it) towards other child-led learning and consensual living philosophies.
The author compared the philosophies of Taking Children Seriously to John Holt's writing, The Continuum Concept, Naomi Aldort's Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves, and unschooling in general. Holt's and The Continuum Concept were criticized for romanticizing the learning of children ("it just happens") while TCS is supposedly grounded in rational thought. Aldort was criticized for having ulterior motives for how children should grow up (while I read the couple paragraphs on the author's example multiple times I still was not able to see their point), and unschoolers were criticized for only being consensual with traditional academic subjects. This was the most confusing point for me. While I recognize some people only unschool academic topics, my understanding from the three major Internet mailing lists on the subject is that most people when they say unschooling, really mean radical unschooling which more or less translates into what the author describes as Taking Children Seriously (perhaps with very subtle nuanced differences in application but not basic philosophy). My conclusion is that perhaps this definition of unschooling was true when the book was published 7 years ago, but that it has shifted in recent years. It seems to me that Taking Children Seriously might be Britain's take on radical unschooling (or radical unschooling is the US's take on TCS). All in all, I felt that her points were weak and poorly argued, but interesting for me as a critical thinking exercise and I have a wee bit more understanding (although still severely lacking) of Taking Children Seriously.
And my favorite thing about the book is the publisher - Educational Heretics! Hee!
January 25, 2008
A well-presented view of autonomous style home education, and the non-coercive lifestyle that many parents choose in the UK.
I did find it a bit heavy-going in places, and don't agree with all the author's arguments. But well-worth reading as it's quite thought-provoking in places.
I did find it a bit heavy-going in places, and don't agree with all the author's arguments. But well-worth reading as it's quite thought-provoking in places.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews