Four Week P4HE Course (Block 5)

This is a philosophy class for children running in four-week blocks of one-hour sessions. All times are UK time. For US homeschoolers, our later Thursday sessions are likely to be best. EDT is -5 hours, CDT -6 hours, PDT -8 hours.

Online philosophy class for all ages and abilities from everywhere - with home educated children in mind.  These will combine fun dialogue games that help children connect to one another, with opportunities for deep thinking and disagreement about juicy, debatable questions. Here are the topics for this block:

Week 1: Excuses, Excuses

I'm washing my hair... The dog ate my homework... The train was late... Excuses are the stuff of everyday life. But what makes a good excuse? In this session we'll explore what will or won't get you off the hook, and what is just an excuse for an excuse. (Note from Jason: this is a change from the previously advertised session. I realised it was too similar to a recent theme. Is that a good enough excuse?)

Week 2: Authority- Figure?

From parents to police to politicians, we are often subject to the authority of others, who have the power to tell us what to do whether we want to or not. Where does authority come from? How obedient should we be? Can society function without authority? Can authority exist without our consent? This session of philosophy will reach its tentacles into psychology and politics as well. 

Week 3: Plato’s Cave 

Is the world as it seems? Philosophers through history have asked us to question whether the everyday world we think we know is the world as it really is. In this session, we’ll explore a 2,500-year-old thought experiment that can still inspire new thinking in today’s world. 

Week 4: Sisterhoods 

From “The Book of the City of Ladies” in 1405 to “Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls” in 2016, women (and men) have written and campaigned against the inequality of the sexes. But feminists’ views of equality aren’t all the same. We’ll explore various feminisms and the reactions against them.