It was backed up by lots of scientific evidence, anecdotal stories and examples of different options. If Dave didn’t think I was working fast enough, he would come and turn up the machine: thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk-squirt. Clear and logical points based on scientific evidence and psychological understanding that makes complete sense to me both rationally and intuitively. Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's daily session limit.

A huge thank you to all the people who helped it along its way and a particular thanks to those who took a chance on it. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.It's also shone a light on the fear and conditioning which keeps alternative education (with a small 'a') niche, and I sincerely hope that it fuels the current groundswell for change. An essential guide, informed by educational theory and personal experience, which presents accessibly the evidence and argument for self-directed learning, getting the child to lead where their curiosity and interests should be developed. The excerpt is from her new book, Changing Our Minds: How Children Can Take Control of Their Own Learning. If you remember, SDT is a theory of motivation, which suggests that autonomy, relatedness and competence underpin intrinsic motivation. It can feel hard to be the buffer between cultural norms and unschooling and this book contained so many snippets which I have personally experienced with my child and so has reassured me.

There I was, eight hours a day, sticking profiteroles on spikes as fast as I could to avoid being covered with cream. It provides evidence of the arguments made and helped us to feel more confident about the steps we felt were necessary. It has reached more people than I ever imagined when I was tapping away at the keyboard late at night or wrestling with the ideas in the swimming pool. Even when people work at the weekend, they tend to do it in their own time and in their own way, and therefore have increased autonomy as compared to during the week. It is written for the growing number of parents who feel that 'school' is doing their children more harm than good.It’s totally understandable - everyone is tired and stressed and an alternative just isn’t known about in the mainstream! Fisher sets out, accessibly but with academic authenticity, the science that explains the inhibiting effect of many school regimes on the natural desire of children to learn.

This was a great book to read if you are interested in children’s learning, the school system and thinking about alternatives to the usual path. In fact, when children leave school to be home-educated, one of the things they often do first is refuse to change out of their pyjamas or refuse to brush their hair. This enables children, including those diagnosed with special educational needs, to flourish in their own time and on their own terms. In the process, Dr Fisher asks us to reconsider our fundamental assumptions and views about how learning takes place, advocating for a more student-centred and strengths-based approach to education.If you missed out the occasional piece of fruit or sometimes got your satsumas the wrong way round, not a chance. From this platform Dr Fisher advances the meaning of self-directed education as a fulfilment not just of the individual but also of society and an answer to the question of who we want to be. It offers a real lens shift on the almost-universally accepted system of schooling, and what it means to learn, and it does so in a way that is compelling, evidence-based and balanced too.

The time to reimagine education is now, and this book makes an important and valuable contribution to this conversation. Really recommend to not just those interested in pursuing alternative forms of education for their children - but every parent, no matter how you may choose to educate your child. Naomi Fisher draws on her extensive psychological knowledge, as well as her experience as a mother of two children, to show that there is an alternative to the damaging effects of current educational practice. We are socialised to believe that schooling is synonymous with education, but it's only one approach.It suits people in these jobs for everyone to think this, because that justifies their high salaries. We met to discuss it in Feb 2020, in a time when there were rumours about lockdown in Italy and a strange virus.