Freedom in Education is a newsletter from the UK.

March 2004
Setting a Standard
Learning About New Technology
Letters

February 2003
Guiding Principles
Education: An Historical Perspective

November 2003
Nursery School Madness

October 2003
Education and Play
Education Rediscovered
Unqualified Education
Letters Products and Services

September 2003
Qualifications: What are They Really all About?
Why do people place such importance on school-based qualifications? Do they really justify the effort that is put into them? In this issue we take an overview of the whole concept of studying for qualifications when one is still young.

August 2003
Rudolf Steiner – Home Education Pioneer?
Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian Philosopher who lived at the beginning of the twentieth century is remembered as the founder of the Waldorf school movement, but his ideas may be more applicable to the home than the classroom

July 2003
Bullying -- Zero Tolerance
Bullying in schools is a problem that appears to be becoming progressively worse with the passage of time. The reasons for this and possible solutions are discussed in the following article.

June 2003
Freedom in Education
This issue marks the first anniversary of the free Freedom-in-Education E-Newsletter and six months of the printed version. The E-Newsletter started with 30 subscribers in June 2003: it now has 900 subscribers, including people from the UK, the US, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Kenya, Australia, and New Zealand…it seems that Freedom in Education is an idea that crosses national boundaries and is able to unite people from around the world.

May 2003
Special Educational Needs
Why are some children diagnosed as having special educational needs? Why is there a stigma attached to children who do not conform to the pattern of development demanded by schools?  This month we explore some of the issues surrounding the question of special educational needs.

April 2003
Education and the Law
Something that has struck me since I started this newsletter, and became able to correspond with home-educating families around the world, is the amount of time that everyone spends in worrying about the official reaction to their decision to home educate. People spend months preparing for official tests and visits and are worn down by the constant anxiety of worrying about whether the local education authorities will approve of the education that is being provided in the home. This is time that could be better spent in other ways and caused me to wonder how or why the State could ever have become so involved in the education of our children.

March 2003
What Makes a Good Teacher?
Many parents would like to educate their children at home but are worried that they may not be competent to play the role of being their children’s teacher.  My daughter, Bethan, and I have each written an account of what we consider to be the qualities required by a good teacher.

February 2003
The Social Aspect
The first question that home-taught children are always asked by adults is “Do you have any friends?” and the first question that home-educating parents are always asked is “What about the social aspect?”. Most home-educating families find these questions intensely annoying as there is no easy answer to them and, no matter what they say, it simply confirms what the person asking the question already knows: home-educated children do not have ‘school’ friends.

January 2003
Mathematics
Mathematics is the subject in which people experience the most difficulty at school and is also the subject that causes the most anxiety for home-educating parents. The following article explains some of the reasons for these difficulties and some solutions.

December 2002
The Purpose of Education
One of the biggest obstacles to freedom in education is the expectations that people place upon children. It seems as though they are hardly out of the crib before they are being asked what they want to be when they grow up.

November 2002
Learning to Write
“Primary schools were introduced to teach the children of illiterate parents how to read and write.  Now that most parents are literate, why do they continue to send their children to primary schools?”

October 2002
Learning to Read
I have written the following article in response to requests from readers. It is based upon my experience of teaching my own children at home and of working as a teacher in a wide variety of different situations.