Distilling a lifetime of passion for homeschooling and self-directed learning, this collection gathers the very best of the author's essays and articles from a variety of sources. Addressing all ages and a wide variety of subjects, it offers the most comprehensive overview available of the many options for schooling outside traditional channels. Laced with insight and humor, the topics include educational resources, special needs, chronic illness, discipline, and transitioning to adolescence and beyond. Both novice and experienced homeschoolers will be challenged and inspired by this expert guide to the complex challenge of learning outside traditional schools.

Who are the key thinkers in education? What are the hot topics in education? Where will education go from here? The Routledge Companion to Education presents the most comprehensive, up-to-date guide available to the key theories, themes and topics in education. Forty specially commissioned chapters, covering all aspects of education, introduce you to the ideas, research and issues that have shaped this most diverse, dynamic and fluid field. Part one provides an introduction to the key theories, thinkers and disciplines within education Part two covers ideas and issues about how, what and why learning takes place Part three includes analysis on particular approaches to education and explores the issues that attract much contemporary interest. Written by an international team of expert contributors, the chapters all include a descriptive introduction, an analysis of the key ideas and debates, an overview of the latest research, key questions for research and carefully selected further reading. The Routledge Companion to Education is a succinct, detailed, authoritative overview of the topics which are at the forefront of educational research and discourse today. This classic collection is a bookshelf essential for every student and scholar serious about the study of education.

Blending how-to essays from parents who have successfully homeschooled their children with a catalogue and directory, this work provides creative resources for constructing exercises and lessons for every age group along with tips for teaching special-needs children. It also provides a collection of free resources useful for teachers or parents.

First published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Building on Robin Alexander’s landmark Towards Dialogic Teaching, this book shows how and why the dialogic approach has a positive impact on student engagement and learning. It sets out the evidence, examines the underpinning ideas and issues, and offers guidance and resources for the planning, implementation and review of effective dialogic teaching in a wide range of educational settings. Dialogic teaching harnesses the power of talk to engage students’ interest, stimulate their thinking, advance their understanding, expand their ideas and build and evaluate argument, empowering them for lifelong learning and for social and democratic engagement. Drawing on extensive published research as well as the high-profile, 5000-student trial and independent evaluation of Alexander’s distinctive approach to dialogic teaching in action, this book: Presents the case for treating talk as not merely incidental to teaching and learning but as an essential tool of education whose exploitation and development require understanding and skill; Explores questions of definition and conceptualisation in the realms of dialogue, argumentation and dialogic teaching, revealing the similarities and differences between the main approaches; Discusses evidence that has enriched the debate about classroom talk in relation to oracy, argumentation, student voice and philosophy for children as well as dialogic teaching itself; Identifies what it is about dialogic teaching that makes a difference to students’ thinking, learning and understanding; Presents the author’s rationale and framework for dialogic teaching, now completely revised and much expanded; Proposes a professional development strategy for making dialogic teaching happen which, like the framework, has been successfully trialled in schools; Lists resources from others working in the field to support further study and development; Includes an extensive bibliography. Robin Alexander’s A Dialogic Teaching Companion, like its popular predecessor Towards Dialogic Teaching, aims to support the work of all those who are interested in the quality of teaching and learning, but especially trainee and serving teachers, teacher educators, school leaders and researchers.