Volume 3 covers a period when homeschooling was getting more local, national, and international media attention and the growth of the movement comes alive in these pages. Holt’s long essay in GWS 32, “Our Legal Situation,” addresses this growth and offers surprising advice to those who want to overturn compulsory school laws—don’t do it. Parents […]
First published in the mid 1960s, How Children Fail began an education reform movement that continues today. In his 1982 edition, John Holt added new insights into how children investigate the world, into the perennial problems of classroom learning, grading, testing, and into the role of the trust and authority in every learning situation. His […]
This enduring classic of educational thought offers teachers and parents deep, original insight into the nature of early learning. John Holt was the first to make clear that, for small children, “learning is as natural as breathing.” In this delightful yet profound book, he looks at how we learn to talk, to read, to count, […]
Forward by Stuart Brown KaBOOM! is the powerful, uplifting journey of a man who grew up in a group home with his seven brothers and sisters and went on to build a world-class nonprofit that harnesses the power of community to improve the lives of children. In 1995, Darell Hammond read an article in the […]
The essence of John Holt’s insight into learning and small children is captured in Learning All The Time. This delightful book by the influential author of How Children Fail and How Children Learn shows how children learn to read, write, and count in their everyday life at home and how adults can respect and encourage […]
“Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” was Haeckel’s answer—the wrong one—to the most vexing question of nineteenth-century biology: what is the relationship between individual development (ontogeny) and the evolution of species and lineages (phylogeny)? In this, the first major book on the subject in fifty years, Stephen Jay Gould documents the history of the idea of recapitulation from […]
Includes Chapter 2 – A Closer Look at Play – by Dr. Stuart Brown and Madelyn Eberle Distinguished clinicians demonstrate how play and creativity have everything to do with the deepest healing, growth, and personal transformation. Through play, as children, we learn the rules and relationships of culture and expand our tolerance of emotions—areas of […]
Forward by Stuart Brown MD This authoritative work brings together leading play therapists to describe state-of-the-art clinical approaches and applications. The book explains major theoretical frameworks and summarizes the contemporary play therapy research base, including compelling findings from neuroscience. Contributors present effective strategies for treating children struggling with such problems as trauma, maltreatment, attachment difficulties, […]
Child-initiated, creative play is returning after decades of erosion. Through the hard work and dedicated efforts of play activists, new opportunities for play are arising, including the use of open-ended play materials in schools, parks, nature centers, and adventure playgrounds. Over 20 play initiatives are described in this book, with dozens of photographs that illustrate […]
The revolutionary book that teaches you how to use the cutting edge of human psychology to build high performing workplace cultures. Too often, great cultures feel like magic. While most leaders believe culture is critical to success, few know how to build one, or sustain it over time. What if you knew the science behind […]
In Potential Space, Farese implores us to protect the right of all children to dive into the primordial soup of free play, a key to a healthy life for us all.
Play is serious business. Whether it’s reenacting a favorite book (comprehension and close reading), negotiating the rules for a game (speaking and listening), or collaborating over building blocks (college and career readiness and STEM), Kristi Mraz, Alison Porcelli, and Cheryl Tyler see every day how play helps students reach standards and goals in ways that […]
Researching Play from a Playwork Perspective will appeal to researchers and students around the world working in the fields of playwork, childcare, early years, education, psychology and children’s rights. It should also be of interest to practitioners in a wide variety of professional contexts, including childcare and therapy. Play is of critical importance to the […]
Thoughtful essays on topics that affect your daily work with children and their families Navigate through the extreme swings of opinion in educational philosophy, regulations, and practices and focus on the middle ground?a place where common sense and intentional teaching combine in support of high-quality early childhood care and education. Covering a variety of topics, […]
Today more than one and a half million children are being taught at home by their own parents. In this expanded edition of the book that helped launch the whole movement, Pat Farenga has distilled John Holt’s timeless understanding of the ways children come to understand the world and added up-to-the-moment legal, financial, and logistical […]
While this book is not play oriented it does tell the story of how No Child Left Behind led to play based learning being removed from Kindergarten and pre-school classrooms. In this landmark book, Diane Ravitch – former assistant secretary of education and a leader in the drive to create a national curriculum – examines […]
What do students say about life at Sudbury Valley? This book is a remarkable series of vivid personal recollections of school, in the words of former students. Drawn from comprehensive, reflective interviews, each account presents a picture of school days from the unique perspective of a student, telling what they did, and how they felt […]
Perhaps because they were given to pioneers dedicated to opening a new Waldorf school, these talks have been considered one of the best introductions to Waldorf education. Steiner shows how essential it is for teachers to work first upon themselves to transfrom their inherent gifts, and to use humour to keep their teaching lively and […]
The most successful inventions often begin with an impulse of ridiculous and brilliant ideas. This book encourages people of all ages to engage themselves in the innovation process, sparking the intellect with undeniable, inspirational valor. With nearly 200 pages of hysterical, action-packed photos of the creatively crafted inventions in use, people can see how almost […]
Donald Hebb’s “The Organization of Behaviour: A Neuropsychological Theory” has been one of the most influential books in the fields of psychology and neuroscience. In this seminal work, Hebb proposed biological explanations of behavior and processes relating to the mind; most notably, Hebb’s Rule 1, also known as “Theory of Hebbian Learning.” Rule 1 says […]
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A) Playing, being playful, is the healthiest way to spend your time (after feeding and housing yourself).
B) The activities that evoke playful feelings are unique to each of us.
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