Joyful Learning
How to Find Freedom, Happiness, and Success Beyond Conventional Schooling
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- 115,00 kr
Publisher Description
From the bestselling author of Unschooled, an exploration of new, low-cost K–12 learning models that favor individualized, learner-centered education—“the roadmap for anyone tired of the status quo and ready to make a difference in how we teach the next generation” (John Mackey, New York Times–bestselling author of Conscious Capitalism)
Across the United States, parents, teachers, administrators, policymakers, and ordinary citizens are increasingly frustrated by the rigidity and standardization of modern schooling, and they are seeking alternatives. Openness to different learning models reached new heights during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to accelerate.
Entrepreneurial parents and teachers are responding to the growing demand for learning models that challenge the status quo. They are creating micro schools, learning pods, homeschooling collaboratives, online learning networks, and other flexible educational models that provide specialized, individualized education, often at a lower cost than traditional private schools. Joyful Learning shares the experiences of these everyday entrepreneurs who are reimagining learning in their communities, showing parents what is possible for their children and encouraging aspiring school founders to take their own enterprising leaps.
Blending fresh storytelling with straightforward advice, Joyful Learning is an inspiring, relevant, and timely book for parents looking for different education options for their children, as well as would-be education entrepreneurs hoping to launch their own creative learning solutions.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
McDonald (Unschooled), a school reform advocate, cheerleads microschools in this upbeat survey. Intending her narrative to serve as a guidebook for school-hunting parents as well as "education entrepreneurs," McDonald presents strategies gleaned from her profile subjects, including New Jerseyan Jill Perez, who homeschooled her four children during Covid by joining "pods" with other families. The model the parent group created—with "abundant outside time before focusing on academic content"—attracted neighborhood interest, and led to Perez starting a microschool grounded in a similar approach. McDonald dispenses advice for entrepreneurs about how to run a profitable microschool, which is no small feat given the intentionally low enrollment; the key, she says, is to franchise. For parents, she also notes that startup microschools are generally cheaper than more established "unconventional" brands like Montessori. Though the project being advocated here can come off a bit like upper-class secessionism, some of McDonald's anecdotes offer hope even to the hoi polloi—when one Arizona public school allowed a franchised microschool to operate on its premises, it gave the public school kids a taste of a small classroom experience (just 10 students instead of the normal 30) that was so positive some reported having their entire approach to school shift for the better. This offers rich pedagogical insights, even for educators dead set against privatization.