The purpose of this blog is to discuss alternative approaches to education in light of traditional, cultural approaches.

I love to watch children learn, more specifically how they learn. For that matter, I like to watch anyone learn. I want to do everything I can to foster learning. I have been a fan of alternative forms of education ever since I stuck my neck out and homeschooled my fourth-grade son. I’m particularly interested in the role technology and the growth of the Internet will play in the future.

My dissertation focused on how technology was employed, or not employed, to learn literacy in homeschooling families. I interviewed twenty homeschooling families who held a wide variety of educational philosophies. I have continued to interview fourteen of these families for four years now and hope to continue for another six years. This longitudinal study provides lots of stories and data about alternative education.

The purpose of this blog is not to find the ‘one true path’. I believe there are and should be many paths. The families I interviewed have graciously given me permission to share their stories. I share these stories because they provide such a diversity of possibilities, so many different paths. Please hear these stories with care; questions and your own stories are welcome, but this is not a forum to harshly criticize what is shared. I intend to also post about articles and other ideas which would be open to more debate and discussion, but I will protect the sharing of everyone’s personal experiences.

My interest in alternative education doesn’t diminish the respect I have for traditional education, having taught in elementary school for eleven years and in college for three. I’m curious how traditional schooling will evolve in this digital world.

 

 

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Published by Jody Cooper

I attended Bryn Athyn College for two years. I attended University of Delaware for two years and graduated with a BS in Economics (1974). I attended Widener University graduating with a Masters in Education and a certification to teach in Pennsylvania (1997). I received an EdD in Curriculum, Instruction, Technology Education from the College of Teaching and Learning at Temple University, May 2015. I homeschooled some of my children for six years.

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