Some questions seem to be asked each year by parents and students new to alternative education.
The Plexus group recently debated the need for the students at the campus school to do work. In the Clonlara School Home Based Education Program, we use a broad definition of work. Work is any activity that is part of, or relates in some way to, a particular subject and through which a student is either learning something or perfecting a skill. Work, for a home based student, does not necessarily require the production of something which can be shown to a teacher, to their parents, or to Clonlara School. Work, we believe, is the act of learning itself, not the proof of its successful completion nor the tool for assessing the quality of the activity or the student's participation in it.