KnoK NEWS for 20 February 2001
Covert
* * * * KnoK NEWS * * * *
-- Views from the world of learning in Japan --
Welcome to the 20 February 2001 edition of KnoK (pronounced "knock")
NEWS, an informal and periodic bulletin concerning issues of learning in
Japan. It is brought to you by the Covert family -- Kazumi, Kenya and
Brian -- a multicultural, homelearning family in Osaka, Japan.
KnoK stands for *Kodomo no Kokoro*, meaning "Heart of a Child" in
Japanese. It is our belief that the heart of any child is indeed at the
center of true learning, wherever and however such learning may take
place.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
EDITOR'S WELCOME: We're back!! After a few months' hiatus, KnoK NEWS is
on the beat in February and ready to run again with this first edition of
the new century.
The year 2001 is the "Year of the Snake" according to the Japanese
calendar, and as the snake is the symbol in many cultures of change and
transformation ("shedding one's skin"), we can only hope that the coming
months of this year will be one of positive transition for the
homelearning movement in Japan.
2000 saw us off to a good start: The news media here covered home
education in Japan more extensively than ever last year, and the coverage
was mostly respectful and accepting in tone. Alternative forms of
education in Japan such as free schools and community-based learning
centers have been getting fairly positive press as well, and that is
indeed something to be thankful for.
Japan is seeing a slow but steady rise in the numbers of homelearning
families nationwide who are turning away from school and embracing
education at home (2,000 to 3,000 homelearners nationwide by "unofficial"
counts, possibly more). We are even starting to hear firsthand of cases
in which Japanese school officials are cooperating fully with Japanese
families who declare their intention to homelearn -- a good sign. Perhaps
the educrats in Japan, like other countries, have merely run out of ideas
on how to regulate the spirit of learning to death. But whatever the
reason, there is no denying that Japanese homelearners are moving in a
forward direction in society.
The more we at KnoK NEWS look around at the barren state of mainstream
education in Japan, in fact, the more we find a new, budding "oasis" in
the form of yet another homelearning family here, another alternative
school there, and on and on. So it seems only fitting that we devote this
edition of KnoK NEWS to these oases of sanity -- small and scattered, but
strong in spirit -- that are, in their own ways, changing the face of
education in Japan for the better.
Finally, we want to thank KnoK NEWS readers for your continued interest
in what we are doing, and ask for your understanding in the future as we
try to more effectively work our newsletter schedule in with our
homelearning activities. (Or is that a contradiction in terms? <g> )
As always, feel free to pass this newsletter around and share it with
others.
Enjoy,
Brian Covert
Osaka, Japan
* * * *
BOOK REVIEWS:
(1)
*Kodomo ga Gakko ni Ikitaku-naku natta Toki Yomu Hon*
[The Book to Read When Your Child No Longer Wants to Go to School]
Keiko Itoh, et al, translators
Marunouchi Shuppan/Atmark Learning Inc., 2000
287 pp., 1,500 yen
Despite its eye-catching title, this newest book on home-based learning
to hit the bookstore shelves here in Japan is not an original piece of
work. Rather, it is a Japanese translation of the book "Homeschooling
Almanac 2000-2001," published in 1999 by Mary Leppert and Michael
Leppert, the well-known US homelearners. While the Japanese version of
the Lepperts' excellent book is abridged (only Part 1 of the original is
translated), it does manage to cover many of the important questions and
answers that slowly increasing numbers of families in Japan are facing as
they turn away from conventional schooling.
This new book stands in good company with various other
Japanese-translated versions of English-language homelearning books, such
as John Holt's "Teach Your Own," "School is Not Compulsory" by Education
Otherwise, "The Homeschooling Book of Answers" by Linda Dobson, and "Home
Schooling: Parents as Educators" by Maralee Maybery, et al.
We welcome this newly translated book as the latest addition to the
Japanese homelearning community, and we hope it fosters an even greater
awareness of homelearning throughout Japan in the coming years.
If there is any drawback at all to this book, though, it would be the
lack of transparency concerning the background of its promoters/supporters.
On the front-cover promotional overleaf of this book, an organization
called the Homeschool Support Association of Japan (HoSA)
(http://www.homeschool.ne.jp/) heartily endorses this new book as being
"necessary reading for those who are confronted by the various study
needs of children" (translation from Japanese). What is not revealed
anywhere in this book is that promoter HoSA, a nonprofit organization, is
itself essentially a creation of the co-publisher of this book, Atmark
Learning Inc. (http://www.inter-highschool.ne.jp/)
Atmark, a Tokyo-based for-profit corporation that suddenly appeared on
the Japanese homeschooling scene early in 2000, specializes in offering
"American-style" high school studies to Japanese students on the Internet
through a tie-up with the Alger Learning Center & Independence High
School, an academic institution in Washington state, USA.
HoSA bills itself as an independent home-ed support association, yet
HoSA's official list of supporters is overwhelmingly from the twin fields
of industry and academia in Japan: heads of corporations (such as
Microsoft Japan) and some Japanese university-level academics with clout.
Only one genuine homelearner from Japan's grassroots homelearning
community is listed as a HoSA official supporter.
Atmark and HoSA also have a common founder and leader: Mr. Kozo Hino, a
Japanese businessman with a background in education-related enterprises.
It is he who writes the inspiring afterword of the Japanese version of
this book. Yet these connections are never revealed to the reader.
We certainly applaud the presence of this new book on Japanese bookstore
shelves and would recommend that people read it. But at the same time, we
would like to see the direct connections between HoSA, as an "official"
support group, and Atmark, as its corporate parent, made more transparent
in future editions of this book.
(2)
*Creating Learning Communities*
Ron Miller, editor
The Foundation for Educational Renewal, Inc., 2000
380 pp., $29.95
If you want to change the world around you, then you must first dare to
envision how that world would look.
This, in a nutshell, is the inspiring message that "Creating Learning
Communities" offers its readers. And it is no exaggeration to call the
contributors to this book "visionaries" in their own right: Patrick
Farenga, Wendy Priesnitz, Linda Dobson and Ann Lahrson Fisher are among
those names who will be easily recognizable in the international
homelearning community, and likewise for Jerry Mintz, Ray Ison, Kathia
Laszlo and Ron Miller (editor of this collection) in the global
alternative-education community.
Of particular interest to those of us here in Japan are the essays
contributed to this book by Dayle Bethel (founder and dean of The
International University's Asia-Pacific Learning Centers in Kyoto, Japan
and Honolulu, Hawaii) and by Motoshi Suzuki (a graduate student at the
TIU Kyoto Learning Center who also helps coordinate its programs).
Bethel's essay on "Work, Community, and the Development of Moral
Character" focuses on how work can serve as a positive factor in human
growth and learning. Most enlightening is Bethel's recognition of the
work of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, a Japanese teacher and author in the early
1900s who was far ahead of his time in his commitment to community-based
education in Japan.
Suzuki's essay, in turn, covers the background of the TIU Kyoto Learning
Center, its programs, and how his continuing studies in holistic
education at TIU Kyoto have transformed his life -- a rare experience
indeed, when you consider that contemporary Japanese universities do
little more than prep their students to become efficient "company
soldiers" out in the battlefields of the business world.
This book has been talked about in other online forums and KnoK NEWS
readers have probably heard something about this collection elsewhere in
the cyber-community. But we just couldn't let another edition of KnoK
NEWS go by without *highly* recommending this book. If you want to catch
a glimpse of how the visions of community-based learning are sure to
change the world in the years to come, this book provides a most reliable
blueprint.
Anybody in Japan who is interested in ordering a copy of "Creating
Learning Communities" can do so through the TIU Kyoto Learning Center at:
[email protected] [Disclaimer: KnoK NEWS has no affiliation
or connection whatsoever with either TIU Kyoto or this book, other than
offering our full moral support for the educational missions of each.]
For more information about the book, including viewing an online version
of it, check out the CLC website at:
http://www.CreatingLearningCommunities.org
* * * *
ON THE WEB WITH HOMELEARNING FAMILIES
& ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION IN JAPAN
(1) CHRISTIAN AND HOMESCHOOL RESOURCE CENTER (english)
--> http://www.christianhomeschoolers.com/
Homepage of a Christian homelearning family living in Japan in
conjunction with the U.S. military. Chock full of links and resource
guides for the homelearning Christian family. [Note: You may encounter,
as we did, some errors in accessing this website.]
(2) G.H.B. CENTER (japanese)
--> http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~ghb/
An alternative learning center based in Takasago, Hyogo Prefecture. "GHB"
stands for "Global Human Bridge," and this is one group that lives up to
its name -- with lots of fun thrown in for good measure. As we speak, in
fact, GHB students and staff are visiting in Thailand to take part in
activities of Moo Baan Dek, a pioneering "children's village school" that
is to Thailand what the Summerhill school is to the UK. [Note: There may
be some temporary difficulty in accessing this website, as it is
reportedly under construction by a new provider. We will be sure to let
you know of any changes to this website's URL.]
(3) HOMESCHOOLING IN JAPAN (english)
--> http://www2.gol.com/users/milkat/index.html
For those who have not yet seen it, we introduce the only comprehensive
nationwide network of its kind in Japan set up *by* grassroots
homelearning families *for* homelearning families. This one-stop website
includes info on home education contacts, resources, field trips and news
articles -- not to mention an online newsletter and an e-mail discussion
list. By way of proper disclosure, we are also happy to call
"Homeschooling in Japan" the new Web-based home of KnoK NEWS.
(4) HOME SHURE (japanese)
--> http://www.shure.or.jp/homeshure/
Webpage of a home-education program established by the Tokyo Shure "free
school" (http://www.shure.or.jp/), reportedly the largest of the
alternative schools in Japan. Tokyo Shure was the host of last year's
International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC), a major annual
event in the worldwide alternative- education community.
(5) INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER NETWORK (english)
--> http://www2.kanazawa-it.ac.jp/englishd/reber/clc1.htm
Website focusing on community-based learning centers, and featuring a
network of citizens who are advancing the cause of such centers at a
global level. This site includes a listserve and links to other community
learning center activities in various countries. The website is set up
and facilitated by Michael Reber, assistant professor of English at the
Ishikawa Prefecture-based Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan. Reber
is also now completing his doctorate in education and institutional
transformation at The International University's Kyoto Learning Center
(mentioned in the book review above).
(6) LEARNNET GLOBAL SCHOOL (japanese)
--> http://www.L-Net.com/
A newly opened, alternative "international school for Japanese people"
located on Mount Rokko in the city of Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture. This school
seems to be getting a lot of attention in the Japanese mass media these
days. A few homelearning children are reportedly enrolled in LearnNet
programs, which include Montessori-based methods and afterschool
activities. This website includes homelearning and alternative education
links, as well as its own online discussion list.
(7) MOORE JAPAN (japanese)
--> http://www.geocities.co.jp/Milkyway/5262
Yes, the US homelearning pioneers Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore are
making inroads into the Land of the Rising Sun! Moore Japan is based in
Gunma Prefecture, and for some time now has been publishing a print
newsletter in Japanese on home education. Moore Japan does not have its
own website up yet, unfortunately, but it does offer an extensive set of
essays on childraising through this website of the SDA Osaka Center, a
Protestant Christian organization based in Osaka, Japan. Click on number
8 on the left-hand side of this website's main page to see the Moore
Japan essays in Japanese. [The organization can be contacted directly by
writing to: "Moore Japan," c/o Nihon Kensei Kyokai, 3964 Oaza
Minami-gawa, Oni Ishi-machi, Taki-gun, Gunma-ken 370-1405, Japan.]
(8) POWELL FAMILY WEBPAGES (english)
--> http://odin.prohosting.com/powellcl/
and
--> http://fly.to/PowellPage
Fantastic photos of life in Japan, music, artwork -- it's ALL here! The
seven members of the Powell homelearning clan recently celebrated the
one-year anniversary of their stay in Japan. They live in the city of
Yonezawa, Yamagata Prefecture, and have lots to show and tell about their
experiences in this country. We are delighted to feature the Powell
family webpages here on our list. Please take some time and check this
one out!
(9) T.I.U. KYOTO LEARNING CENTER (english)
--> http://www.tiu-asiapacific.org
Website of an independent-study program in Japan that has been offering
alternative education to university students for more than *two decades*
-- since way back in 1975, that is, when the concept of holistic,
community-based learning was a much crazier idea in Japanese society than
it is today. The Kyoto Learning Center is a branch of The International
University (http://www.tiu.com) in Independence, Missouri, USA. Dayle
Bethel (noted in the book review above) established the Japan program
first in Osaka, then in Kyoto, where it remains today.
(10) TOKYO HOMESCHOOLING NETWORK - "HINATA BOKKO" (japanese)
--> http://www.alpha-net.ne.jp/users2/gratias/bokko.html
A new homelearning support group in Japan! This is the webpage to apply
for membership in the recently formed Tokyo Homeschooling Network, a
local Japanese group. The Japanese phrase *Hinata Bokko* in the group's
name means to "bask in the sun" -- an appropriate description indeed for
Japanese parents and children who have decided to step out of the shadows
of the collapsing public-school system and embrace homelearning as a
viable alternative in Japan.
* * * *
WISH I'D SAID THAT (Quote of the Day):
One century ago this year....
"Learn to do uncommon things in an uncommon manner. Learn to do a thing
so thoroughly that no one can improve upon what has been done."
--Booker T. Washington, in *Up From Slavery*, 1901
-- Views from the world of learning in Japan --
Welcome to the 20 February 2001 edition of KnoK (pronounced "knock")
NEWS, an informal and periodic bulletin concerning issues of learning in
Japan. It is brought to you by the Covert family -- Kazumi, Kenya and
Brian -- a multicultural, homelearning family in Osaka, Japan.
KnoK stands for *Kodomo no Kokoro*, meaning "Heart of a Child" in
Japanese. It is our belief that the heart of any child is indeed at the
center of true learning, wherever and however such learning may take
place.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
EDITOR'S WELCOME: We're back!! After a few months' hiatus, KnoK NEWS is
on the beat in February and ready to run again with this first edition of
the new century.
The year 2001 is the "Year of the Snake" according to the Japanese
calendar, and as the snake is the symbol in many cultures of change and
transformation ("shedding one's skin"), we can only hope that the coming
months of this year will be one of positive transition for the
homelearning movement in Japan.
2000 saw us off to a good start: The news media here covered home
education in Japan more extensively than ever last year, and the coverage
was mostly respectful and accepting in tone. Alternative forms of
education in Japan such as free schools and community-based learning
centers have been getting fairly positive press as well, and that is
indeed something to be thankful for.
Japan is seeing a slow but steady rise in the numbers of homelearning
families nationwide who are turning away from school and embracing
education at home (2,000 to 3,000 homelearners nationwide by "unofficial"
counts, possibly more). We are even starting to hear firsthand of cases
in which Japanese school officials are cooperating fully with Japanese
families who declare their intention to homelearn -- a good sign. Perhaps
the educrats in Japan, like other countries, have merely run out of ideas
on how to regulate the spirit of learning to death. But whatever the
reason, there is no denying that Japanese homelearners are moving in a
forward direction in society.
The more we at KnoK NEWS look around at the barren state of mainstream
education in Japan, in fact, the more we find a new, budding "oasis" in
the form of yet another homelearning family here, another alternative
school there, and on and on. So it seems only fitting that we devote this
edition of KnoK NEWS to these oases of sanity -- small and scattered, but
strong in spirit -- that are, in their own ways, changing the face of
education in Japan for the better.
Finally, we want to thank KnoK NEWS readers for your continued interest
in what we are doing, and ask for your understanding in the future as we
try to more effectively work our newsletter schedule in with our
homelearning activities. (Or is that a contradiction in terms? <g> )
As always, feel free to pass this newsletter around and share it with
others.
Enjoy,
Brian Covert
Osaka, Japan
* * * *
BOOK REVIEWS:
(1)
*Kodomo ga Gakko ni Ikitaku-naku natta Toki Yomu Hon*
[The Book to Read When Your Child No Longer Wants to Go to School]
Keiko Itoh, et al, translators
Marunouchi Shuppan/Atmark Learning Inc., 2000
287 pp., 1,500 yen
Despite its eye-catching title, this newest book on home-based learning
to hit the bookstore shelves here in Japan is not an original piece of
work. Rather, it is a Japanese translation of the book "Homeschooling
Almanac 2000-2001," published in 1999 by Mary Leppert and Michael
Leppert, the well-known US homelearners. While the Japanese version of
the Lepperts' excellent book is abridged (only Part 1 of the original is
translated), it does manage to cover many of the important questions and
answers that slowly increasing numbers of families in Japan are facing as
they turn away from conventional schooling.
This new book stands in good company with various other
Japanese-translated versions of English-language homelearning books, such
as John Holt's "Teach Your Own," "School is Not Compulsory" by Education
Otherwise, "The Homeschooling Book of Answers" by Linda Dobson, and "Home
Schooling: Parents as Educators" by Maralee Maybery, et al.
We welcome this newly translated book as the latest addition to the
Japanese homelearning community, and we hope it fosters an even greater
awareness of homelearning throughout Japan in the coming years.
If there is any drawback at all to this book, though, it would be the
lack of transparency concerning the background of its promoters/supporters.
On the front-cover promotional overleaf of this book, an organization
called the Homeschool Support Association of Japan (HoSA)
(http://www.homeschool.ne.jp/) heartily endorses this new book as being
"necessary reading for those who are confronted by the various study
needs of children" (translation from Japanese). What is not revealed
anywhere in this book is that promoter HoSA, a nonprofit organization, is
itself essentially a creation of the co-publisher of this book, Atmark
Learning Inc. (http://www.inter-highschool.ne.jp/)
Atmark, a Tokyo-based for-profit corporation that suddenly appeared on
the Japanese homeschooling scene early in 2000, specializes in offering
"American-style" high school studies to Japanese students on the Internet
through a tie-up with the Alger Learning Center & Independence High
School, an academic institution in Washington state, USA.
HoSA bills itself as an independent home-ed support association, yet
HoSA's official list of supporters is overwhelmingly from the twin fields
of industry and academia in Japan: heads of corporations (such as
Microsoft Japan) and some Japanese university-level academics with clout.
Only one genuine homelearner from Japan's grassroots homelearning
community is listed as a HoSA official supporter.
Atmark and HoSA also have a common founder and leader: Mr. Kozo Hino, a
Japanese businessman with a background in education-related enterprises.
It is he who writes the inspiring afterword of the Japanese version of
this book. Yet these connections are never revealed to the reader.
We certainly applaud the presence of this new book on Japanese bookstore
shelves and would recommend that people read it. But at the same time, we
would like to see the direct connections between HoSA, as an "official"
support group, and Atmark, as its corporate parent, made more transparent
in future editions of this book.
(2)
*Creating Learning Communities*
Ron Miller, editor
The Foundation for Educational Renewal, Inc., 2000
380 pp., $29.95
If you want to change the world around you, then you must first dare to
envision how that world would look.
This, in a nutshell, is the inspiring message that "Creating Learning
Communities" offers its readers. And it is no exaggeration to call the
contributors to this book "visionaries" in their own right: Patrick
Farenga, Wendy Priesnitz, Linda Dobson and Ann Lahrson Fisher are among
those names who will be easily recognizable in the international
homelearning community, and likewise for Jerry Mintz, Ray Ison, Kathia
Laszlo and Ron Miller (editor of this collection) in the global
alternative-education community.
Of particular interest to those of us here in Japan are the essays
contributed to this book by Dayle Bethel (founder and dean of The
International University's Asia-Pacific Learning Centers in Kyoto, Japan
and Honolulu, Hawaii) and by Motoshi Suzuki (a graduate student at the
TIU Kyoto Learning Center who also helps coordinate its programs).
Bethel's essay on "Work, Community, and the Development of Moral
Character" focuses on how work can serve as a positive factor in human
growth and learning. Most enlightening is Bethel's recognition of the
work of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, a Japanese teacher and author in the early
1900s who was far ahead of his time in his commitment to community-based
education in Japan.
Suzuki's essay, in turn, covers the background of the TIU Kyoto Learning
Center, its programs, and how his continuing studies in holistic
education at TIU Kyoto have transformed his life -- a rare experience
indeed, when you consider that contemporary Japanese universities do
little more than prep their students to become efficient "company
soldiers" out in the battlefields of the business world.
This book has been talked about in other online forums and KnoK NEWS
readers have probably heard something about this collection elsewhere in
the cyber-community. But we just couldn't let another edition of KnoK
NEWS go by without *highly* recommending this book. If you want to catch
a glimpse of how the visions of community-based learning are sure to
change the world in the years to come, this book provides a most reliable
blueprint.
Anybody in Japan who is interested in ordering a copy of "Creating
Learning Communities" can do so through the TIU Kyoto Learning Center at:
[email protected] [Disclaimer: KnoK NEWS has no affiliation
or connection whatsoever with either TIU Kyoto or this book, other than
offering our full moral support for the educational missions of each.]
For more information about the book, including viewing an online version
of it, check out the CLC website at:
http://www.CreatingLearningCommunities.org
* * * *
ON THE WEB WITH HOMELEARNING FAMILIES
& ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION IN JAPAN
(1) CHRISTIAN AND HOMESCHOOL RESOURCE CENTER (english)
--> http://www.christianhomeschoolers.com/
Homepage of a Christian homelearning family living in Japan in
conjunction with the U.S. military. Chock full of links and resource
guides for the homelearning Christian family. [Note: You may encounter,
as we did, some errors in accessing this website.]
(2) G.H.B. CENTER (japanese)
--> http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~ghb/
An alternative learning center based in Takasago, Hyogo Prefecture. "GHB"
stands for "Global Human Bridge," and this is one group that lives up to
its name -- with lots of fun thrown in for good measure. As we speak, in
fact, GHB students and staff are visiting in Thailand to take part in
activities of Moo Baan Dek, a pioneering "children's village school" that
is to Thailand what the Summerhill school is to the UK. [Note: There may
be some temporary difficulty in accessing this website, as it is
reportedly under construction by a new provider. We will be sure to let
you know of any changes to this website's URL.]
(3) HOMESCHOOLING IN JAPAN (english)
--> http://www2.gol.com/users/milkat/index.html
For those who have not yet seen it, we introduce the only comprehensive
nationwide network of its kind in Japan set up *by* grassroots
homelearning families *for* homelearning families. This one-stop website
includes info on home education contacts, resources, field trips and news
articles -- not to mention an online newsletter and an e-mail discussion
list. By way of proper disclosure, we are also happy to call
"Homeschooling in Japan" the new Web-based home of KnoK NEWS.
(4) HOME SHURE (japanese)
--> http://www.shure.or.jp/homeshure/
Webpage of a home-education program established by the Tokyo Shure "free
school" (http://www.shure.or.jp/), reportedly the largest of the
alternative schools in Japan. Tokyo Shure was the host of last year's
International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC), a major annual
event in the worldwide alternative- education community.
(5) INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER NETWORK (english)
--> http://www2.kanazawa-it.ac.jp/englishd/reber/clc1.htm
Website focusing on community-based learning centers, and featuring a
network of citizens who are advancing the cause of such centers at a
global level. This site includes a listserve and links to other community
learning center activities in various countries. The website is set up
and facilitated by Michael Reber, assistant professor of English at the
Ishikawa Prefecture-based Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan. Reber
is also now completing his doctorate in education and institutional
transformation at The International University's Kyoto Learning Center
(mentioned in the book review above).
(6) LEARNNET GLOBAL SCHOOL (japanese)
--> http://www.L-Net.com/
A newly opened, alternative "international school for Japanese people"
located on Mount Rokko in the city of Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture. This school
seems to be getting a lot of attention in the Japanese mass media these
days. A few homelearning children are reportedly enrolled in LearnNet
programs, which include Montessori-based methods and afterschool
activities. This website includes homelearning and alternative education
links, as well as its own online discussion list.
(7) MOORE JAPAN (japanese)
--> http://www.geocities.co.jp/Milkyway/5262
Yes, the US homelearning pioneers Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore are
making inroads into the Land of the Rising Sun! Moore Japan is based in
Gunma Prefecture, and for some time now has been publishing a print
newsletter in Japanese on home education. Moore Japan does not have its
own website up yet, unfortunately, but it does offer an extensive set of
essays on childraising through this website of the SDA Osaka Center, a
Protestant Christian organization based in Osaka, Japan. Click on number
8 on the left-hand side of this website's main page to see the Moore
Japan essays in Japanese. [The organization can be contacted directly by
writing to: "Moore Japan," c/o Nihon Kensei Kyokai, 3964 Oaza
Minami-gawa, Oni Ishi-machi, Taki-gun, Gunma-ken 370-1405, Japan.]
(8) POWELL FAMILY WEBPAGES (english)
--> http://odin.prohosting.com/powellcl/
and
--> http://fly.to/PowellPage
Fantastic photos of life in Japan, music, artwork -- it's ALL here! The
seven members of the Powell homelearning clan recently celebrated the
one-year anniversary of their stay in Japan. They live in the city of
Yonezawa, Yamagata Prefecture, and have lots to show and tell about their
experiences in this country. We are delighted to feature the Powell
family webpages here on our list. Please take some time and check this
one out!
(9) T.I.U. KYOTO LEARNING CENTER (english)
--> http://www.tiu-asiapacific.org
Website of an independent-study program in Japan that has been offering
alternative education to university students for more than *two decades*
-- since way back in 1975, that is, when the concept of holistic,
community-based learning was a much crazier idea in Japanese society than
it is today. The Kyoto Learning Center is a branch of The International
University (http://www.tiu.com) in Independence, Missouri, USA. Dayle
Bethel (noted in the book review above) established the Japan program
first in Osaka, then in Kyoto, where it remains today.
(10) TOKYO HOMESCHOOLING NETWORK - "HINATA BOKKO" (japanese)
--> http://www.alpha-net.ne.jp/users2/gratias/bokko.html
A new homelearning support group in Japan! This is the webpage to apply
for membership in the recently formed Tokyo Homeschooling Network, a
local Japanese group. The Japanese phrase *Hinata Bokko* in the group's
name means to "bask in the sun" -- an appropriate description indeed for
Japanese parents and children who have decided to step out of the shadows
of the collapsing public-school system and embrace homelearning as a
viable alternative in Japan.
* * * *
WISH I'D SAID THAT (Quote of the Day):
One century ago this year....
"Learn to do uncommon things in an uncommon manner. Learn to do a thing
so thoroughly that no one can improve upon what has been done."
--Booker T. Washington, in *Up From Slavery*, 1901