freedom-in-education.co.uk 

Freedom in Education Magazine 
Updated February 2004
In January 2003, we decided to start producing a printed version of the Freedom in Education Newsletter. This quickly developed into the Freedom in Education Magazine which now contains articles, letters, cartoons, poems, crafts, mathematics, puzzles, dot to dots, recipes, gardening tips, news, and information.

The Spoon Family: Episode 1
The most frequent comment that we receive about the magazine is "my children love the Spoon cartoons". Specially drawn for the magazine, the Spoon family has proved to be an instant success..

Recipes: Chocolate Vanilla Shortbread
Articles: The magazine carries the main article from the freedom-in-education newsletter.

News: Summary of educational news from around the world.

Literature: Poems and nursery rhymes.

Puzzles: Code, word searches, quizzes, and dot to dot.

Craft: Craft projects.

Finances and Format
The magazine has to be self-financing, and therefore receives little promotion except by word of mouth, but it now has almost one hundred and fifty subscribers, each of whom has a chance to shape its future development through their comments and contributions.
Financial constraints also dictate the size and format of the magazine. It is folded A4 (similar to U.S. letter size) with a
colour cover printed on an office printer and other pages photocopied in black and white. The magazine started with 12 pages and quickly grew to 24 pages per month, which probably represents the limit of the present format.
The magazine has no debts or loans and incurred no start up costs: monthly production costs are covered by subscriptions and it is therefore not subject to commercial or financial pressure to develop in any particular way. It remains free to reflect the views and opinions of its readership.
Aims and Objectives
Our aim for the magazine is to create a high-quality monthly publication that represents education in its true light:
  • It assumes that it is parents and not teachers or government officials who have overall responsibility for each child's education.
  • A strikes a balance between items that talk about education and items that actually are educational.
  • It is designed to appeal to the whole family.
  • It recognises the link between enjoyment and education; if something is not enjoyable, then it is not educational.
  • It stresses that there are many aspects of education much, much more important than examinations and qualifications.

It is our hope that if the magazine adheres to these principles, it will not only be a valuable resource for parents, but it will also make the case that home-based education offers viable solutions to the wider problems that face the whole education system.

History: Stories from history.

Gardening: Tips for the organic gardener. This section is being extended to give information about plants, wildlife and botany.

Mathematics: The magazine includes a series of articles explaining the Elements of Geometry upon which Western mathematics is based.

Fairy Story: The magazine has just completed a full-colour 8-part serialization of Allerleirauh, adapted from the brothers Grimm, and will soon start a new story: The Goosegirl at the Well.. 

Most of the material in the magazine also appears either on the freedom-in-education website or on The Jamboree website, but subscribers do say that reading it online is not comparable to having a magazine that falls through the letterbox, which the children can pick up and read. We therefore hope that you will take advantage of the offer to order a trial copy, or to subscribe, using the buttons below.
Freedom in Education is edited by Gareth Lewis, author of One-to-One and Unqualified Education. 

Subscribe 12 Issues:

    UK and Europe: 
                     4 issues £12
    United States and the rest of the world:
                     4 issues $25

    All prices inclusive of postage and packing.
    If you have any problem in making a payment with Pay Pal, please contact us.
    UK subscribers can send a cheque for £12 to Nezert Books, Nezert, Duault 22160, France.