Free to choose

Central to my approach to education is autonomy. I am passionate about an individuals right to choose what they learn, and how they learn it. This can be expressed as helping a child to discover their intrinsic motivation. This makes for an interesting dilemma, when organising a bookclub. 


Some children have joined and moved on, because the agony of reading books chosen by someone else (not by me, but by very helpful library staff) is too much. Though I'm always sorry to see kids move on, I applaud their choice. I would be mortified if I had put anyone off reading.


So, I never demand that books are read, and the structure of each session takes a creative form.
Older kids love to talk about books they have dismissed, but younger ones don’t enjoy talking (about books) quite so much, so we play with an idea inspired by something in the book…this is often very tenuous…but takes the pressure away.