Doing It Their Way
Home-Based Education and Autonomous Learning
by Jan Fortune-Wood
The book begins with a brief overview of the thinking of those who have significantly influenced the trend to autonomous education. This includes names like Karl Popper, John Holt, Ivan Illich, Alice Miller, John Taylor Gatto and Roland Meighan. In part two, the practice of autonomous home education is explored, looking at key issues and questions. This is followed by an analysis of the notion of "necessary" knowledge. We see that autonomy fundamentally questions the prevailing mythology of essential, age-related, "balanced" education. Next is an examination of the question of socialisation, questioning the relevance of school models of compulsory, age-related socialisation and the need for homogeneity, and proposing instead a model which allows for the social self to develop without compromising the child’s autonomy. The wider questions of the effect of autonomous home education on lifestyle are introduced, focusing on eradicating the demarcation between education and life and looking at practical issues such as limits on autonomy, television and computers, the role of play and life-style education.
Dr. Jan Fortune-Wood is married to Mike, who is Webmaster of Britain’s largest home education (website www.home-education.org.uk). They live in North Wales, where they home educate their four children in an autonomous style. Jan is a writer, independent liturgist and life coach (see www.soul-well.com).
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