Brief Update

I've been talking about this project with people and responses have been favourable everywhere.

I put my notice up on the bulletin board at the Natural Foods Store in Sutton village on Saturday morning. I will put up the same notice at the Sutton Library and at the Pharmacy in Knowlton village and at the Knowlton Library.

For now, that will be enough to start with.

In the first week of September, I'll put a classified ad in the local newspaper.

I have the thought that I will learn by doing with this project. As I tutor children with the intention and aim of teaching them how to learn on their own, I will increase and improve my own understanding of what this means for children.

The book, 'Free to Learn' by Peter Grey was brought to my attention. There is an unschooling philosophy that goes on the assumption that children will learn without any structure at all.
I love watching children learn as they play. Play is one of the richest sources of learning for children and this includes all kinds of play activity, alone or in a group. However, I believe very strongly that children need some basic skills and some support and encouragement to learn how to read for information, write well and coherently and use the incredible resource of the internet to find information. I intend to create a centre for children where they can learn to read, print and type, and use numbers with confidence and at their own pace and then explore learning for themselves.
I've seen children look lost and I've heard children express the desire for more structure in my time in 'free school' environments or unschooling environments.

My mother tells me that I taught myself to read at age 4, but not all children do this, nor should we expect them to.

So, I'm not going to throw the baby of support and encouragement out with the bathwater of coercion and adult control of the child's learning. There is a big difference between support and control.

So, my assessment of Peter Gray's book is that it is apparently beautifully written and well-researched through his own experiences at Sudbury Valley School. Read this book and learn from it, but use your own discernment to determine what feels right for you and for your child or children.