Just as we have crayons and paper, books and computers, yarn and playdough, magazines and watercolors, we have workbooks. They are nothing fancy–just the ones you can pick up at a local store or online (my gang seems to like Brain Quest)–but they are scattered around our home. These workbooks are available to the kids, just like all other tools and supplies, to use and explore as they like.
Tag: children
Letter To a Prospective Homeschooling Parent
Welcome to the exciting world of learning without schooling! You have already taken the important first step in redefining your child’s education by acknowledging the limitations of mass schooling, recognizing the ways it can dull a child’s curiosity and exuberance, and seeking alternatives to school. Now it’s time to take a deep breath, exhale, and explore.
Evil Is Childish (With Apologies to Children)
When is the last time you knowingly did something wrong? If you’re being honest, it was probably in the last 24 hours. But there were probably some other things going on at the same time.
Self-Directed Education Is Instinctual
The key advantage of Self-Directed Education is that it empowers parents and children. Parents learn to trust their children’s natural learning instincts while tapping into their own instincts about how to best nurture their children’s growth. Children learn to trust themselves, retaining their innate creativity and desire to explore and understand the world around them.
Display Authority, Feed Values, Prescribe Rules, Hide Vice
I dislike how parents generally act around their kids. They play a role, they have written an approved script, and they hope for everyone to play along. Some of this is due to poor information (or poorly understood information) and some of it is purely to display authority and power over their children.
The Golden Rule
I don’t get it. Isn’t the Golden Rule simple and straightforward enough? I heard a young girl in the Ophthalmologist’s waiting room this morning, “Why can’t people just treat each other as they would like to be treated?” There’s the confusion — why do people suspend the Golden Rule?
Life Outside the Cloister
Every time a person asks how homeschoolers learn about relationships or socialization, I think that some folks must believe a) that homeschooled kids must be stuck in the home all day, since their own experience is with being stuck in a cloister, and b) they must not realize that lots of life actually happens outside that tiny cloister in which they spent most of their early lives.
The Danger of Tribalism on a Large Scale
Seeing more latinos in my area, or more Africans, Arabs, Indians, Asians, Eastern Europeans, et cetera doesn’t bother me at all. I see them as my fellow human beings. However, I do think it would be incredibly easy for me to view them as the outgroup and be bothered by their presence. I think that’s due to my evolution as a member of a tribalistic species.
Children and Developed Nations
Do developed societies have fewer children? What does it mean to be “developed,” in today’s world? The thing most developed in such nations is the government. It’s big, costly, and intrusive.
How Should We Answer Our Children’s Questions? (7m) – Editor’s Break 034
Editor’s Break 034 looks at answering questions posed by our children, particularly difficult ones like, “Is God real?”