ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION
Here is an incredible poem by Jo May entitled "Living in a Box."
The Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO) is a non-profit organization founded in 1989 by education expert Jerry Mintz to advance learner-centered approaches to education. AERO is considered by many to be the primary hub of communications for educational alternatives around the world. Check out the link site for extensive journals, publications, and resources.
Alternatives In Education: Dr. Robert Fizzell has worked in the field of public education for over 30 years to develop a system which would provide quality education for all members of the society. Several excellent articles on alternative education and several sites.
The Learning Collaborative .Org is a collaborative early childhood resource website with a collection of articles that explore key ideas, thinkers and practices within early childhood education and lifelong learning. You will also find many practical resources to support young children's exploration of the world.
Cafe Progressive is a progressive launch pad and a thriving independent and alternative community of progressive resources and ideas for teachers and educators, political activists, multicultural students and citizens.
Free2be
"The Free2be website hopes
to help challenge current perceptions about what education is all about. It
suggests that the old systems are no longer relevant to today's technological
society and that education should increasingly be about valuing learning,
thinking and feeling abilities over the simple acquisition of knowledge. It
brings together the work of people worldwide who are actively exploring the
nature of human consciousness and potential and it calls for a new way of
learning that is about the freedom and fulfillment of the individual."
All Kinds Of Minds is a non-profit institute for the understanding of differences n learning. "All Kinds of Minds provides programs, tools, and a common language for parents, educators, and clinicians to help students with differences in learning achieve success in the classroom and in life. Founded in 1995, All Kinds of Minds is a private non-profit Institute, affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, that offers a powerful system of programs for helping kids succeed."
Sudbury
Valley School
Sudbury Valley School is
a private school in Massachusetts where students (from age four on up) are free
to do as they wish during the day, as long as they follow the school rules. The
campus is "open" and people may come and go as they please, without
having to check with an office or other such nonsense. No one is required to
attend classes and, indeed, classes are rare and bear little resemblance to the
usual notion of a "class". There are no tests or grades of any kind.
Students and staff (teachers) are equal in every regard. The students and staff
refer to each other by first name, and the relationships between students and
staff can't easily be distinguished from the relations between students. Excellent
articles!
Alternative
Learning Exchange
This homepage is based in The
Netherlands and was created to facilitate communication between adults and
children of different countries and cultures who are interested in alternatives
to traditional systems of education, and perhaps interested in participating in
the creation of such alternatives.
The
Clearwater School
In Seattle and based on the
Sudbury Valley School, the Clearwater School consists of students and staff who
have each committed to being responsible members of the school community. The
school is a rights-based community in which all members are free to exercise
their rights and are protected from infringement or coercion by others.
Colleges
That Admit Homeschoolers FAQ
Answering the common question,
"How do homeschoolers get into college?", this site provides links to
more than 650 colleges that have admitted homeschoolers.
Democracy.Org
The DEMOCRACY.ORG
mission is to: promote education for democratic citizenship, create and
strengthen "learning organizations," assist individuals and
organizations to make and act on decisions based on ethical principles, and
promote character education and service learning.
Family
Unschoolers Network
From their intro,
"The Family Unschoolers Network provides support for unschoolers,
homeschoolers, and self-directed learners. If you are interested in unschooling,
homeschooling, self-directed learning, or just learning in general, then this is
the site for you! You will find newsletter articles, reviews, resources, web
sites, books and lots of other information to help your homeschooling or
unschooling efforts."
Internet
Public Library
"The Internet
Public Library Project seeks to challenge and redefine the roles and
significance of libraries in an increasingly distributed and digital world.
Libraries have always been places of learning and excitement, opening new worlds
of information, enlightenment and entertainment to all who enter. Libraries and
the people who work in them are committed to democracy and equality of access,
the dignity of their patrons, and the freedom to express and investigate all
points of view."
Learn
in Freedom!
Karl Bunday, organizer
of this site, writes, "It is clear that school attendance is something
distinct from learning. Today, hundreds of thousands of children are learning
outside of school all over the world, just as many of the founders of the United
States learned mostly outside of school. Technological trends suggest school is
obsolete, so it's worthwhile thinking about other channels for learning and for
discovering new knowledge." He provides links to many such channels here.
Liberty
School
"Liberty School, a
learning community where teachers and students collaborate in running the
school, offers students in grades 9-12 a diverse and innovative educational
program that merges challenging academic skills with artistic work and other
educational opportunities that will enable young people to meet the demands of
the 21st century."
National
Coalition of Alternative Community Schools
NCACS is a non-profit
coalition of schools, groups, and individuals committed to participant control
of education.
Natural
Life
As they say, "On
this site you'll find hundreds of pages of information about sustainable living,
including alternative perspectives on the events of the day, current and back
issues of Natural Life Magazine, access to hard-to-find books and much
more."
The
Option Institute
The Option Institute and
Fellowship is a nonprofit organization founded in 1983 grounded in a uniquely
self-accepting and empowering process which has profound educational and
therapeutic applications. They offer a series of intensive personal growth
programs for individuals, couples, families and groups who are either challenged
by adversity or who want to improve the quality of their lives by becoming
happier, more effective, and more successful.
Paths
of Learning
From their site:
"Paths of Learning aims to inspire parents, educators, and others
interested in educational policy and practice to consider diverse ways in which
children and adults can gain meaningful, integrated knowledge and develop their
own most authentic potentials."
World
Wide School
"For whatever reason, many
people may find it difficult to broaden their education by traditional means.
Attending high school or college can seem like an impossible dream. World Wide
School, offering a free education on a variety of topics via the Web, is one of
the best places on the Internet to learn just about anything. Just read, click
and learn. The site is dedicated to the collection, preservation and
presentation of educational material. To participate in the World Wide School
all you need to do is to invest your time."
Home School Legal Defense Association - HSLDA works to protect the freedom to home school and defend homeschoolers who come under the attack of various federal, state and local governments and bureaucracies. Look here regularly for alerts to the latest legislation that could affect your right to home school your children.
Updated: 3/03/08