Life Learning: Lessons from the Educational Frontier
edited by Wendy Priesnitz

This passionate collection of essays from the leading edge of educational theory and practice demonstrates how families around the world are embracing the philosophy of life learning.

Academics, parents and young people describe why non-compulsory, non-coercive, active, respectful, interest-led, family- and community-based learning from life is growing in popularity and will displace prescribed curriculum, standardized testing and the other regurgitation-based relics of our outmoded school system. This innovative way of learning through living not only fosters intellectual development and academic achievement, it allows children and young people to develop an understanding of themselves and their place in modern society so they can create a better world.

Life Learning is the story of how children can personalize and control their own learning . . . and what adults can do (and stop doing) to help them.

These essays from some of the contributors to Life Learning Magazine provide a great introduction to this progressive style of education, written by those who have experienced it first hand. Includes learning to read and do math without being taught, the importance of unstructured play, learning when you’re ready, what’s wrong with curriculum, trusting children to do their best naturally, a grandparent’s reaction to unstructured homeschooling, learning in the real world, parents as role models, self-reliance in life and learning, and much more.

About the Editor:
Wendy Priesnitz is a North American homeschooling and self-directed learning pioneer. She and her husband helped their two daughters learn at home when it was almost unheard of, beginning in the mid-1970s. She has also authored twelve other books, including School Free and Challenging Assumptions in Education. She is a former broadcaster and an award winning journalist, and is the founding editor of Life Learning Magazine.

Natural Life Books specializes in adult non-fiction about ways that families and individuals can live and learn on Planet Earth in a healthy, socially responsible, environmentally sound, self-reliant manner. We are the retail division of The Alternate Press, an imprint of Life Media, an independent, family-owned book and magazine publishing house established in 1976.