Freedom or Control

Guest post by Wendy Priesnitz. Life learners trust kids to learn. We believe that learning is innate and doesn’t require teaching, texts or tests. We know that children are not blank slates or raw clay, to be written on or molded into shape by adults. We allow kids to learn by living. And our trust…

Understanding and Empathy

Guest post by Larry Cohen. When our children have been “bad,” it’s hard for us to remember that they need comfort rather than punishment. After all, when you have made a mistake, would you rather get understanding or criticism? The best way to cultivate empathy is to focus on children’s underlying needs and feelings, instead…

A Human Becoming

Guest post by Scott Noelle. In a product-oriented culture, there’s a tendency to “productize” and “package” people. We often forget that a human being is a living process — a “human becoming.”Children are especially dynamic — often visibly different from one day to the next — and no two children develop precisely the same way.…

Can Hemp Save the World?

Guest post by nutiva. Hemp is easily grown without pesticides or herbicides, and besides its tasty nut it yields a strong fiber used for cloth, paper, construction, plastics and auto parts, and countless other applications. It’s an extremely versatile and hardy plant, with many uses and is known as one of the most nutritious foods…

What is Unschooling?

Guest post by Nicole Olson. Asking, “What is unschooling?” is a little bit like asking, “What is love?” or “What is happiness?”. It means different things to different people. But within its broad framework, there are some fairly consistent themes and basic beliefs that most unschoolers embrace.What is unschooling… Belief #1: Children are hard-wired to…

A Four-Step Health-Care Solution

Guest post by Hans-Hermann Hoppe. It’s true that the U.S. health care system is a mess, but this demonstrates not market but government failure. To cure the problem requires not different or more government regulations and bureaucracies, as self-serving politicians want us to believe, but the elimination of all existing government controls.It’s time to get…