Carlson Family

> There's also a group around here (in the Santa Cruz Mountains) who were
> homeschooling long before John Holt did much! They were homeschooling
> in the 70s - I think most of them would have been considered hippies.
>

And oh, there's a pioneer who inspired me on this path. Patricia Joudry, a Canadian writer, and her husband John, were doing this in 1961. The were living in England at the time. She wrote about their experiences in ...and the children played , which was published in 1975.

Some quotes from this book:

"We didn't educate our children; we just gave them freedom to be. They educated themselves and each other. Nobody pushed them, nobody could have stopped them"

"After a good deal of trial and error we finally came to our senses and said, "Okay. There are the books. If you want to know about them anytime, just ask. If you don't, skip it."

Patricia wrote about extended nursing as follows:

"A friend asked: "Isn't that child ever going to give up the breast?" "Why, certainly, she'll have to," said John. "Patricia will die eventually.""

As she did in October 2000, in Powell River, B.C., at the age of 79.

Joan


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]