RLL #68: Self-Directed Education with Peter Gray, PhD
Today, Colleen speaks with Peter Gray, PhD and author of “Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life.” Peter and Colleen discuss his journey to understanding how self-directed learning is a most successful model of education, empowering kids to take ownership of their learning from young ages.
They discuss concrete examples of easy to implement guidelines drawn on major studies on self-learning and play, and Peter explains how democratic schools like the Sudbury Valley school in Massachusetts and unschoolers have developed successful case studies of self-directed learners beyond graduation. If you’ve thought of embracing a more self-directed homeschool, but aren’t sure where to start, or you’re on that path already and would love a little validation, you’re not going to want to miss this conversation.
Links and Resources from Today’s Show:
- Sponsor: The Anxiety Toolkit (by Colleen Kessler)
- Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life by Peter Gray, PhD
- Free to Learn column by Peter Gray, Ph.D., in Psychology Today
- The Alliance for Self-Directed Education
- What is Self-Directed Education?
- Children’s Natural Ways of Educating Themselves Still Work: Even for the Three Rs by Peter Gray PhD
- Self-Directed Education—Unschooling and Democratic Schooling by Peter Gray PhD
- The Challenges and Benefits of Unschooling, According to 232 Families Who Have Chosen that Route by Peter Gray PhD
- Grown Unschoolers’ Evaluations of Their Unschooling Experiences: Report I on a Survey of 75 Unschooled Adults by Peter Gray PhD
- Democratic Schooling: What Happens to Young People Who Have Charge of Their Own Education? by Peter Gray PhD
- What Exactly Is Play, and Why Is It Such a Powerful Vehicle for Learning? by Peter Gray PhD
- The Special Value of Children’s Age-Mixed Play by Peter Gray PhD
- The Many Benefits, for Kids, of Playing Video Games by Peter Gray PhD
- A Question and Survey About Dyslexia: Do “dyslexic” children who leave conventional schooling learn to read? How? by Peter Gray PhD
- Sudbury Valley School, Framingham, MA
- List of Democratic Schools, Co-ops and Resource Centers
- Echo Dot (3rd Gen) – Smart speaker with Alexa – Charcoal
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