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18 replies
  1. Jessica from Down Under
    Jessica from Down Under says:

    Thanks, Penelope! I’m always on the lookout for good book to read and inspire me…I’ll check these out!

  2. Sarah M
    Sarah M says:

    Huh. I had no idea Radical Homemakers was self-published. I read it years ago, because I saw it on a library endcap and it looked interesting. I ended up really liking it and recommending it to friends. I’m going to check out the other two.

    (I also thought it was ridiculous that Robinson didn’t mention homeschooling. Have you heard of his new book? It’s called Creative Schools, and it’s basically all about a mix between unschooling independent/democratic schools, but those are SO few and far between location-wise, I don’t see them as a viable option. Homeschooling is location-independent. Feels like a second facepalm for Sir Ken.)
    Sarah M

    • Julia
      Julia says:

      You have to consider that the vast majority of parents just aren’t going to homeschool, whether you like it or not. Robinson writes about reforming education for an audience that is never going to even want to replace school with homeschool. There is a reason that his books are published by Penguin and even the best books on homeschooling are self published. So it’s not a facepalm, it’s obvious market forces at work.

      • Sarah M
        Sarah M says:

        You’re right, I agree that most parents won’t homeschool their kids and there are ‘obvious market forces at work’, but to advertise democratic schools and not even mention the *option* of homeschooling-that’s the facepalm.

        I disagree with this statement, “[he] writes about reforming education for an audience that is never going to even want to replace school with homeschool.” Actually, that’s exactly what democratic schools are-it’s homeschooling with teachers who follow the student’s lead, which is, more or less, what homeschooling is.

        The amount of kids who go to democratic/ecclectic schools is minute compared to homeschoolers, and the people who are taking their kids out of traditional school to homeschool (statistically) have high education levels and read a lot of books…to not mention it is an oversight on his part.

        • Julia
          Julia says:

          It has nothing to do with the philosophy or educational approach though. The vast majority of parents do not want their children at home all day and do not want to be their child’s primary educator. Democratic and eclectic schools are appealing to parents who want to reform education but still keep their children in school, even if they don’t actually send their children to democratic schools.

          • Julia
            Julia says:

            Sorry, should have finished my thought before posting. The other consideration is that probably a huge portion of his audience is teachers, or more likely, students training to be teachers. Another audience that dwarfs the homeschool crowd and doesn’t want to read about homeschooling.

          • Julia
            Julia says:

            And one more… All that aside, Robinson is a prolific author and if he hasn’t written about homeschool yet, it may well be forthcoming.

  3. Jim Grey
    Jim Grey says:

    Even though it’s been 20 years since I was an editor in a publishing company, it’s amazing how many wannabe authors there are out there who, when they find out about that part of my career, ask me for advice on how to get chosen by a publishing company.

    I tell them all to forget the publishing company and self publish. But first, use social media to find an audience. If I were doing it I’d blog and link my blog to a Facebook page, and promote the crap out of it. And I’d stay wicked focused on topic, and come across as an authority. Try to drive/hope like heck for shares to reach more people. And when you get an audience, self-publish and promote through that channel.

    This is going to be hard as hell. But I think it’s at least equally hard to get the attention of a publisher when you’re essentially a nobody.

    The publishing company I worked for had A, B, and C titles. The A titles were always written by the well-known authors, and got 80% of the marketing budget. The Bs and Cs had to fight it out for the rest. Frankly, we printed just 10,000 copies of those and felt like we’d won if we sold through the print run. Which didn’t always happen.

    If you can show up at a publisher’s door with a built-in audience thanks to social media, and the ability to show you’ve already sold 10,000 copies of a self-published book, you’re going to get their attention.

    Again: very hard. But possible. And probably easier than getting a publisher’s attention when you don’t have a name.

    What I learned from my time in publishing is that the publisher doesn’t care what’s printed on your book’s pages as long as it sells through the print run. It’s much the same as when I worked in radio: my boss once told me, “If pigs oinking got better ratings than the music we play, I’d program the pigs 24/7.”

  4. Jennifa
    Jennifa says:

    There seems enough space for both to happen; a dramatic increase in homeschooling and a complete reinvention of public schools. Hopefully both things do happen.

  5. Jennifer McCormack
    Jennifer McCormack says:

    Librarian here chiming in to say that if they are terrible books why would you offer them to a library? We are in the business of developing good collections for our customers!

  6. Caitlin Timothy
    Caitlin Timothy says:

    Thanks for the suggestion, Penelope!

    I never thought about how useful ideas about education would definitely *not* come through mainstream publishers- that’s such a good point.

  7. Cáit
    Cáit says:

    I was thinking something about unschoolers. They often write warmly about the possibility of schools that use their educational philosophy but are usually critical of workbook and textbook homeschoolers.
    I was wondering which point they identify as more critical in their approach: delight directed learning or the home environment over institution? It seems the former by what they *say* but I’m not sure that is where the biggest difference really is between them and public schools. I say this as a workbook homeschooler making an observation.

  8. Mark W.
    Mark W. says:

    I think you may be describing two different types of authors writing about education – education reformists and education activists. The education reformists will, as you say, identify the problems in the education system and recommend changes to it usually without offering specific steps to significantly alter it. The education activists are willing to recommend more substantial and disruptive changes to the way education is delivered with specific instructions included. I’m glad that both types of authors are publishing both by mainstream and self publishing.

  9. Sarah Holm Norton
    Sarah Holm Norton says:

    I was incredibly unhappy with my life as an at-home parent until I read “Radical Homemakers”. You could never confuse me with any sort of activist (unless the act of simply living differently than those around you is activism), but it helped me understand what I was doing had more value than I had given it.

  10. jessica
    jessica says:

    By coincidence, I just finished Paul’s book. He in fact did leave school his first semester of Columbia, and then jumped around doing other random things before taking an internship and then quitting his job at NYT to write the book for three years, which happened to be the same first three years of his own infants life. All this to say he finds himself wondering throughout the book the same things you do- what does it meant to quit or fail, how much does character matter (a lot), and thus how does and can the education system influence and help build character over IQ?
    I found the book hard to digest as he covers a multitude of studies in a bit of slapstick fashion, but what I appreciated was his in depth coverage of the few reformers that question what they are in the process of doing and develop new strategies based on research (at times even, they find the research was focused on the wrong outcomes such as IQ over character qualities). He focuses on poverty, and then has a couple paragraphs on the Ivy track (and how that can be detrimental to those who feel they can’t and should not fail- meaning don’t try).
    I can’t seem to find his thoughts on homeschooling, even though he does have a book called Helping Children Succeed. He seems to deflect all questions there.

  11. Ellen Hawkins
    Ellen Hawkins says:

    Unless I am mistaken, isn’t Ken Robinson’s primary audience people who work for the traditional schooling establishment? Yes, he speaks at Ted Talks which can be viewed by anyone online. He’s a good communicator, but he’s talking about problems everyone already knows exists. Nothing new there. Has he ever spent time engaging (not one-way talking to) the families that have made the shift away from traditional schooling? He puts a good face on the school-reform supportive group, but I’ve never heard him bring up anything like the “independently flex-learning” life such as what we do. How can kids have time or energy to find passion during nonschool hours during the school year? A few kids manage to find a passion in school sports, arts, etc, but doesn’t the word “passion” imply that it is the priority, focus, primary devotion? It’s pretty hard to achieve that when kids don’t have any input into how the best hours of their day is spent. (I’m going to read Robinson’s book, though, out of personal interest.). This all make me very glad that yesterday I spent the “school day” biking up a high mesa plateau with my 15 year old daughter doing what she is passionate about, pushing her self-knowledge of what she can do out in a place of magnificent beauty, followed by a reward of tubing down a mountain river. Everyday isn’t like that; but she has the freedom to choose it when she wants to, and I’m happy to spend it with her.

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