Chris Mercogliano Libri

The pressures of modern life are increasingly squeezing the adventure, the wonder, the physicality-the juice -out of children's lives. Virtually every arena of kids' experience is now subject to some form of outside control, and this is a serious threat to the unique spark that animates every child. Lamenting risk-averse parents, overstructured school days, and a lack of playtime and solitude, this book is a clear and compelling plea to save childhood.

From the introduction: My hope in writing this book is to contribute to the proliferation of educational alternatives; first, by examining the core characteristics of any good learning environment and the basic steps involved in starting one; and second, by telling the stories of a wide variety of uncommon schools and learning centers . . .