I deliberately don’t often include links on this site because I am very mindful of the fact that “the Net seizes our attention only to scatter it,” as Nicholas Carr puts it in his fascinating book, The Shallows. However, today I’m going to make an exception because I want to mention Treezilla, a project from theContinue reading “Treezilla”
Category Archives: Home education
‘Heidi’ – an unschooling Classic? Part 2 – Learning to read
An important turning point in Heidi comes when in Chapter 10 “another grandmother” comes to visit Clara and Heidi in Frankfurt and shows Heidi a book: “For a moment or two she looked at it with brightening eyes, then the tears began to fall, and at last she burst into sobs. The grandmother looked at the pictureContinue reading “‘Heidi’ – an unschooling Classic? Part 2 – Learning to read”
‘Heidi’ – an unschooling classic?
There is a really interesting passage in Johanna Spyri’s Heidi where Heidi’s grandfather resists the great pressure that is put on him to send Heidi to school. “I am going to let her grow up and be happy among the goats and the birds; with them she is safe, and will learn nothing evil,” heContinue reading “‘Heidi’ – an unschooling classic?”
On Compost, Quarantine Homeschooling, and Home Education
On digging rich earth from the bottom of the compost heap the other day, I couldn’t help but think about education. I’d been working on my compost for a long time and now, at last, when the children wanted to plant vegetables, it was ready to do some good. The work I had put inContinue reading “On Compost, Quarantine Homeschooling, and Home Education”
Spring unfolds
Over recent weeks and months I’ve been trying to respond to the unfolding seasons by sketching what I see rather than by taking lots of photos. It’s an attempt to slow down and really see what’s there, though my artistic skills aren’t yet up to the job. (However, I have learned quite a lot inContinue reading “Spring unfolds”
Slow Education: an extract from ‘Out of the Classroom and Into the World’
A lecturer in the department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge once told me that the question she is most often asked is, “How long did it take you to learn Chinese?” Her reply to this unanswerable question was always “I don’t know, because I’m still learning.” Much the sameContinue reading “Slow Education: an extract from ‘Out of the Classroom and Into the World’”
My latest article for UnHerd
Here’s my latest article for UnHerd in which I write about education during and after the lockdown, industrial and slow education, and the importance of leisure.
Who needs schools anyway?
And here’s an earlier article I wrote for UnHerd: ‘Who needs schools anyway? What homeschooling taught me – and my kids‘. I should point out that I didn’t write the headline!
The secrets of successful home teaching
Here’s a recent article I wrote for UnHerd on ‘The secrets of successful home teaching‘.
Some recent articles on making the most of isolation
I have been writing quite a few articles in the last few days and weeks, so I thought it would be a good idea to post links to them here. First up is my article for The Catholic Herald on ‘Making the most of isolation: How to strike a balance in homeschooling‘.
Teaching our children at home
My latest article for UnHerd on ‘The secrets of successful home teaching’ is now available: https://unherd.com/2020/03/how-to-survive-as-a-home-teacher/ . I hope it helps.
Introducing a new reading group
Now that we have lots of time to read, I am pleased to introduce a new reading group that focuses on children’s books. In this first episode I introduce the group and our first book – Hilda van Stockum’s The Mitchells: Five for Victory. https://anchor.fm/roy-peachey0/embed/episodes/Introducing-a-childrens-book-club-ebnbj9/a-a1nvknb
What is the purpose of education?
In the preface to his great book, The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School, Neil Postman pointed out that in “in tracking what people have to say about schooling, I notice that most of the conversation is about means, rarely about ends. Should we privatize our schools? Should we have national standards ofContinue reading “What is the purpose of education?”
3 Great Audiobooks for Children
Today I’m introducing a new section to the site: 3 Great … And I’m starting with 3 Great Audiobooks for children.
Reading Reconsidered
I am currently reading Reading Reconsidered and will review it properly in the next week or so. However, I couldn’t resist mentioning a couple of statistics from the book (both from page 210) before I do so:
