A Personal Journey Into Home Learning
Pages: 1-29
Abstract
In this narrative the author, Colleen Raja, shares her personal experience and reflections on the decision she made to homeschool. Through reflection and story she shares her own struggles and triumphs in learning about herself, her surroundings and the true desires and needs of her children. She also addresses and debunks some of the typical stereotypes and objections to home learning. In the end she sees that what had taken her several years to discover about and desire from the lifestyle of home learning took her children mere moments to embrace.
Colleen RAJA
Letting The Child Work: Real Learning, Real Play In School
Pages: 30-52
Abstract
Unschoolers, and those who practice democratic, free, and progressive education philosophies, are often uncomfortable with a particular choice their children make: as Summerhill’s A. S. Neill observed: “Every child under freedom plays most of the time for years” (1964, p. 116). Those who see children as active, motivated learners can be disappointed when, given an environment rich with fascinating choices, their children spend most of their time in fantasy. The families’ discomfort can result in a reversion to more conventional schooling. Beginning with an early encounter with educational democracy during the 1970s at Toronto’s ALPHA Alternative School, supported with commentary from educators from schools that took a parallel path, and from psychologists and education critics both historic and contemporary, this article gathers arguments that support play as not only a pleasure but a necessity for growth, learning and mental health.
Deb O’ROURKE
The Boy Who Learned To Read Through Sustained Video Game Play: Considering Systemic Resistance To The Use Of ‘New Texts’ In The Classroom
Pages: 53-81
Abstract
Various studies have discussed the pedagogical potential of video game play in the classroom but resistance to such texts remains high. The study presented here discusses the case study of one young boy who, having failed to learn to read in the public school system was able to learn in a private Sudbury model school where video games were not only allowed but considered important learning tools. Findings suggest that the incorporation of such new texts in today’s public schools have the potential to motivate and enhance the learning of children.
Rochelle SKOGEN
The Wall On Gladstone Avenue
Pages: 82-92
Abstract
“Since the house is on fire,
Let us warm ourselves…”
(Calabrian Proverb)
It all began in the village. We would wake up with the sun, we would rest our laboured bodies underneath the moon. Gli vecchi (old folks) often told us: “In the end, all that will remain is our story. Nothing else really matters.” This article “The Wall On Gladstone Avenue” will take you into a life of duality and how immigrants “press-on” to acquire knowledge and manifest meaning in a new land — Canada.
Pina MARCHESE