John Caldwald Holt (Home Schooling)

1. John Caldwald Holt(Home Schooling) ED 530 Theorist Presentation Spring Semester 2010 Marianne Ostrowsky

2. Background • Born on April 14, 1923 in New York City • In 1943 graduated from Yale University with degree in physics • He “stumbled’ into the classroom from a suggestion from his sister. • Spent 11 years on a classroom observation project with Bill Hull in Boston. • These findings were the foundation for his first 2 books, How Children Fail and How Children Learn • He was a sought-after speaker and supporter of school reform • He was a visiting teacher for the education departments at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley Image source:http://www.holtgws.com/johnholtpage.html

3. Background continued • He felt he failed at reforming the school system and then became an advocate of homeschooling • In 1977 founded Growing Without Schooling, the nation’s first homeschooling magazine • Teach Your Own, was published in 1981 • became the "Bible" of the early homeschooling movement • was revised by his colleague, Patrick Farenga, and republished in 2003 • He wrote several more books about education theory and practice, including alternative forms and many social issues relating to the education system.

4. His Theories • Believed that children love to learn on their own terms but hate to be taught. • Children • strive for teacher approval or the “right” answers many times using ‘guess-and-look’ strategy watching the teachers face and reactions • fear wrong answers and avoid challenges • learn how to survive in school without understanding the ideas • were frightened, timid, evasive, and self-protecting in a formal classroom

5. His Theories continued • Holt realized school children were not failing academically because they weren't attending public school but rather because of the schools themselves. • He believed the learning environment at home needed to be different than the school’s environment, not replicated. • Children did not need to be coerced into learning; they would do so naturally if given the freedom to follow their own interests and a rich assortment of resources. • He sought to show a model of the learning process a child goes through and how he believed public schools were stifling that process with their modern and mass education. • “Learning is as natural as breathing”

6. His Theories continued • "father" of the term unschooling • Differs in methodology, curricula and grading methods • Children learn through their natural life experiences • including child directed play • game play • household responsibilities • social interaction • Children learn by their own motivation on their own terms through discovery

7. Homeschooling today • In 1980, home schooling was illegal in 30 states. • It became legal in all 50 states in 1993 • specific state laws constitute a patchwork of regulations. • About 1.1 million students were home schooled in the U. S. in the spring of 2003, up from 850,000 in the spring of 1999 • the percentage of the school-age population that was being home schooled -- increased from 1.7 percent in 1999 to 2.2 percent in 2003.1 1U.S. Department of Education, NCES, 1.1 Million Homeschooled Students in the United States in 2003 (Washington, DC: NCES, 2004).

8. National Center for Education Statistics

9. References • Holt, John. How Children Fail. New York, NY: Perseus Publishing 1982. Print • Holt, John, and Patrick Farenga. Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press 2003. Print • Cambridge Forum Speakers 1970-1990 John Caldwell Holt http://www.harvarsquarelibrary.org/cfs/john_calswell_holt.php • History of the Homeschool Movement: Trends and Growth in a Push for Homeschooling Acceptance Globallyhttp://homeschooling.suite101.com/article.cfm/modern_homeschool_movement#ixzz0eOyP8L0A • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Caldwell_Holt • U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey of the 2007 National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES).