by Anthony Eldridge-Rogers in

HOLD THE BIGGER PICTURE

Anthony We all get focused on those small important things in our lives. We become focused and attached to behaviours and things that we have decided are either important and that feel compelling, or that are in some way addictive. We can get stuck in our thinking and beliefs, our attitudes and emotions. How easy it seems for us to start believing that the world that we see close-up around us is the only world there is. How much do we expand our view beyond the current crisis? Why is

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by Anthony Eldridge-Rogers in

SELF DIRECTED LEARNING & LIVING

What does it mean to be self directed? Most people consider that they are self directed. They will believe they make decisions freely for themselves and their families and that they are autonomous in their lives to a large extent. This confidence in the idea of being self directed extends to beliefs. Most of us argue that our beliefs are our beliefs because we chose them. It seems that way I know but it is not hard to understand that we are highly influenced by family background and social conditioning.

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by Anthony Eldridge-Rogers in

Just when you thought schools could not get more idiotic

The manipulation of mindfulness into schools is cause for concern. It is tough for our schooling systems to reform themselves root and branch in the way we need. Mainstream schooling certainly has not and it is unlikely that it even can. In a way it is no surprise that a coercive, directive and conditioning educational system is resorting to hijacking and distorting enlightened spiritual principles to pacify, control and punish children. Some schools are mandating mindfulness instead of detention or are putting it into the curriculum. On first presentation this

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by Anthony Eldridge-Rogers in

RAISING THE FUTURE – PODCAST SERIES

CLICK TO PLAY A fascinating and uplifting conversation with Professor Peter Gray to start our new podcast series Peter Gray, Ph.D., research professor at Boston College, is author of Free to Learn (Basic Books, 2013) and Psychology (Worth Publishers, a college textbook now in its 7th edition). He has conducted and published research in comparative, evolutionary, developmental, and educational psychology. He did his undergraduate study at Columbia University and earned a Ph.D. in biological sciences at Rockefeller University. His current research and writing focus primarily on children’s natural ways of

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by Anthony Eldridge-Rogers in

What is learning anyway?

An excerpt from ‘Jump, Fall, Fly’ written by Anthony Eldridge Rogers One of the main focuses of unschooling is related to learning. And out of this come many of the insecurities about alternative learning lifestyles like unschooling. It revolves around our beliefs and experiences of learning ourselves. So first of all let us get clear about learning. I love dictionaries and for this section I decided to look again at how the Collins dictionary defines learning. It is worth reproducing here as you will see. So first Learning is defined

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by Anthony Eldridge-Rogers in

Freedom and the Free Mind

The book is coming out soon and my thoughts have turned to a key question about raising kids and what might we mean when we say we want them to be ‘free’? This led me to ask what is a ‘free’ mind? The debate about conditioning ties into the wider issue of freedom. What is freedom? Does it exist, or is it a myth? It is defined by many different people and cultures in many different ways.  My definition is focused on freedom of the mind as opposed to freedom

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by Anthony Eldridge-Rogers in

What on Earth is a Good Education?

  I came across a Buddhist educational blog this week. One thread on the blog was about education so I had a look around. What jumped out straight away was the proposition that children should be given a “good” education. It’s a phrase I have heard much in my life and what is clear to me is that a “good” education means many different things to many different people. Michael Gove, when UK Education Secretary said when he was mucking around with UK education that it involved all sorts of

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by Anthony Eldridge-Rogers in

Trying to explain Brexit to my kids… it all sounds so stupid

Pretty much all of europe and most of the rest of the world has heard of the recent Brexit vote by the UK.   Over the last few days and weeks myself and Lehla have been focussed on this vote and what it might mean for us and what it also tells us about the UK, our home country. As we have been plugging into and out of the news the children have shown only a passing interest in it. That changed a little as the vote we were not

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by Anthony Eldridge-Rogers in

MINDFULNESS SHOULD NOT BE A STICKING PLASTER ON THE REAL PROBLEM: OUR WORKPLACES AND SCHOOLS HAVE BECOME UNBEARABLY STRESSFUL

        This is a blog I wrote focussed around my work as a recovery and wellness coach but realised that it is relevant to unschooling…..so here it is   It is pretty astonishing really. Here we are in 2015 and meditation is the corporate and now educational cure all of workforce pacification. Now it seems we are going to roll it out to school children. I don’t think we are asking the right questions about the actual need for all this whipped up popularised non spiritual spiritual

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by Anthony Eldridge-Rogers in

UNSCHOOLING – A MESSY AND BOISTEROUS WAY OF LIVING

I like order. I like planning, arranging and having things just so and in their place. This way I can feel more in control, more able to measure outcomes and anticipate events. I should say that only a part of me is like that, as other parts of me resist it. Somehow, as soon as it is all ordered I feel something has lessened. Something vital. Something that is trying to get out. Like a trapped breath. Eventually it does. We have to breathe, as breath is life. And as

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