Abstract
As parents, we are concerned about whether we may be wasting our bright children's periods of optimal learning (Clark, 1983). In our zeal to insure their fullest intellectual development, we plan all manner of lessons, trips and experiences to fill their lives and their minds. In so doing, we may reduce their autonomy, making them become dependent on outside stimulation and reducing their control over their own worlds. Are freedom and autonomy the enemies of structure, or are they the handmaidens and partners of growth and development? This article focuses on the learning experiences and structuring of knowledge and affect made by Elizabeth over the period of the summer, with total freedom of time and the choice of activities. As her mother, I was happy to stay in the background, observing the magical process going on in Liz's mind and body, to see how she assembled bits and pieces of knowledge, however imperfect, into a healthy structure, a springboard from which to launch into her next level of development.
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