This is Part 4 of my reflections based on the book "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion" by Jonathan Haidt.In his book, Jonathan makes a strong case for the groupish nature of humans and for group selection

Are Superorganisms Real Entities? (Ep.64)

Oct 16th, 2020 21m 13s

This is Part 3 of my reflections based on the book "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion" by Jonathan Haidt.In his book, Jonathan makes a strong case for the groupish nature of humans and for group selection

Bees and the Human Hive (Ep.63)

Oct 6th, 2020 10m 59s

This is Part 2 of my reflections based on the book "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion" by Jonathan Haidt.In his book, Jonathan makes a strong case for the groupish nature of humans and for group selection

Our Righteous Minds And The Mortal Engines We Live In (Ep. 62)

Sep 25th, 2020 9m 58s

This is Part 1 of my reflections based on the book "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion" by Jonathan Haidt.In his book, Jonathan makes a strong case for the groupish nature of humans and for group selection

The Stateless Society Of Chiron - Voyage From Yesteryear Book Review (Ep.61)

Jul 5th, 2020 1h 30m

In the sci-fi novel Voyage From Yesteryear, author James P Hogan explores what could happen when a governmentally structured society from Earth comes in contact with a stateless society like the one described as being on the planet Chiron. I fo

Respectful Parenting And Unschooling With Rachel (Ep.60)

Jun 21st, 2020 23m 12s

In this interview, I talk with Rachel who is a mum with three children here in North Canterbury. I got to know Rachel about a year ago when we both had an interest in starting a democratic school. In the meantime, our views have shifted more to

Natural Learning Interviews 1 (Maree And Carly) (Ep.59)

Jun 16th, 2020 1h 12m

In this first interview of my series on people engaged in natural learning, I talk with two mums (Maree and Carly) who have come to home education in the last half-year or so. I talk about what set them onto this journey and the things they hav

Am I Judgemental? (Ep.58)

Apr 30th, 2020 15m 53s

Over the past few weeks, I have continued to get feedback that what I am doing with my podcast is somehow very bad. The other day I got an email saying that I was "judgmental, condescending and patronizing". I find this all rather fascinating.

Outliers and Children's Obsessions (Ep.57)

Apr 25th, 2020 21m 30s

This is my response to Malcolm Gladwell's book, "Outliers: The Story of Success".It is certainly an interesting look into what makes an outlier and outlier. What makes these highly unusual people successful?From this I then look into what thi

Analysis- Home school life: I feel like I am failing my kids (Ep.56)

Apr 19th, 2020 22m 1s

So there's many interesting articles coming out from parents who are very worried about the current Covid-19 situation and what this means for their child's education. One such article is Home school life: I feel like I am failing my kids https

Learning Through Conversation (Ep.55)

Apr 7th, 2020 6m 8s

One of the essential skills humans learn early in life is to talk, to have a conversation. For most people, this early step in life happens through natural learning. The mistake we make is that we think that children want to be babied all the

Why Natural Learning? (Ep.54)

Apr 6th, 2020 10m 17s

I’m always fascinated with people’s backstory. How they came to do what they are doing and how they came to believe the things they do. The world isn’t just random, and humans certainly aren’t. There’s always a reason behind what we think and w

Roughhousing (Ep.53)

Apr 3rd, 2020 9m 14s

Are you ready to Rumble! I hope so because today I want to talk about roughhousing, wrestling, and rough and tumble play. Roughhousing is essentially any activity such as wrestling, pillow fighting, sliding down the stairs, jumping off the bed

Playfulness and Chasing Games (Ep.52)

Apr 2nd, 2020 10m 58s

The drive to play is found in most mammals and some species of birds. As humans, we too have a drive to play; in fact, play possibly has a greater significance in our lives than any other creature. But what really is play? And why, particular t

Curiosity (Ep.51)

Apr 1st, 2020 8m 21s

Today, when we think of the words education, learning and children, we also immediately think of schooling. In other words, we think of education as something done to children by adults. As the education researcher Peter Gray put it, “Today,

Direct Learning (Ep.50)

Mar 31st, 2020 6m 14s

In my last podcast, I talked about the importance of simulations, especially games, as learning tools. However, sometimes we get stuck there, making simulations the primary way of learning. But that is not their rightful place. Simulations are

Games As Simulations + Bonus Dice Game (Ep.49)

Mar 30th, 2020 11m 19s

Games are a lot of fun. They are highly enjoyable, and for children in particular. But why is that? What are they getting out of it? Why are games so important? And why should we be both initiating and joining in games with our children?In thi

"But All My Kids Want To Do Is Play Video And Computer Games" (Ep.48)

Mar 27th, 2020 9m 40s

Computer and video games, do you think your kids are spending too much time on them? Are you wanting them to do other things but whatever you suggest seems to get turned down? Do you see no point in video games and that your children are just w

Dice Stories (Ep.47)

Mar 25th, 2020 13m 3s

A great activity that fosters conversation, connection through spending time together, and co-inspiration as you create amazing ideas, is to create Dice Stories.Hope they can be lots of fun!Check out my Facebook page as well to comment and sh

Natural Learning Intro (Ep.46)

Mar 25th, 2020 5m 47s

Here in NZ we are heading into Covid 19 lockdown.This is my introduction to a new series that I am doing on Natural Learning. In this episode I go into what natural learning is and in following episodes I will show how the principles can be a

Corona Virus Stopped Your School? (Ep.45)

Mar 18th, 2020 9m 33s

An increasing number of schools are shutting down worldwide due to the Corona Virus. This puts many parents into a situation where they may find themselves considering home education. Yes, this has produced some dank memes and also some good re

We Are Always Learning (Ep.44)

Mar 11th, 2020 24m 17s

We are always learning. There is never a time when we are not learning. But what are we learning? What is the aim of our learning?I believe there are two general aims or general directions that our learning can take. As John Taylor Gatto put i

When We Invalidate Another's Feelings (Ep.43)

Mar 4th, 2020 15m 17s

Too often we think about what people SHOULD feel. But it really doesn’t matter what we think people should feel, it only matters what they actually DO feel.Related episodes:The Art Of Principled Negotiation (Ep.39) https://anchor.fm/justus-fr

An Announcement (And How To Deal With Disagreements) (Ep.42)

Feb 27th, 2020 10m 46s

A Special Announcement!+ also not everything has been plain sailing. Many people have asked Rachael and I why we are together even though we have some significant differences in worldview. This is my answer to that.Link to the article I menti

The Fear Of Freedom And Responsibility (Ep.41)

Feb 19th, 2020 18m 38s

People seem to fear freedom because they fear responsibility. Particularly taking responsibility for your own life. Taking responsibility for your own life and your actions is a huge psychological barrier and emotionally overwhelming for us. Mu