«HOUSE OF THE FREE CHILD» – AN EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION (1906–1909)

A retrospective analysis of the activity of the «House of the Free child» by Kostiantyn Mykolaiovych Venttsel has been made in the article. It has been found that K. Venttsel founded the House of the Free Child» based on the idea of a pedagogical community where adults and children are equal, where pedagogical communication is cross-pollinated, where every moment of a child’s life is filled with meaning, where punishments, force, fixed timetable are unacceptable, where there is no place for curricula and manuals. The time spent at school was divided into five periods, namely: community service; satisfying children’s curiosity or assisting children in meeting their scientific inquiries; systematic but free production labor; free art classes; a breakfast break, free exercise, children’s games, and more. The cycle of school subjects, their contents, timetable – all these was determined by children themselves and thus became the embodiment of their conscious self-will and expression of desires.