Will liberated youth choose to do nothing?

There is a belief among too many adults that young people, if given the opportunity to do nothing, will do nothing. It is based on an ageist, anti-youth, and often ableist mindset that children are flawed creatures and must be forced to work to overcome their inborn sloth. It is also untrue. No one is more eager to explore and learn than the youth.

A young Abromie facing away from the camera sits curled up on a yellow chair reading a graphic novel she checked out from the library. 

First, they are biologically wired to try to engage with the world and learn. The best thing adults can do is stop interfering in that natural inclination.

Two masked Abromies hanging out in the lounge playing a game of Uno. 

Second, they have less life experience so they are much more likely to find their experiences novel, and hence more likely to be excited to engage in it. Except when adults ruin it by mandating it, gamifying it, or testing it.

Third, to the extent that they do act “lazy” when given the freedom to play and learn, it is more often an inability of the adults to understand how young people learn outside of schools settings.

Finally, if they are truly slothful and want to do nothing, it is usually because they have expended too many cognitive resources performing for adults.

If adults want the young people to grow into grownups who are eager to engage with the world, to be lifelong learners, they would be wise to let the young people be free to play and learn, today.   

An Abromie, facing away, working with the Scratch programming platform for the first time.

A masked Abromie standing at a whiteboard working through some multiplication problems. 

Two masked Abromies in the kitchen working some flour for a cooking creation. 

Two masked Abromies facing the camera after they created a new dessert together. 

Collective compassion over mé féinism

We were just informed of this article titled “Our children are at grave risk of COVID as State puts profit ahead of public health,” written by Irish journalist Tess Finch-Lees at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately it is behind a paywall. Doubly unfortunate is that pleas to protect children in schools continue to be ignored. In it she says:

“I’ve been scouring the web to see if any school has managed to prevent outbreaks. I found one – Abrome, in Texas. How did it do it? By ignoring politicians and following the science.

“Acknowledging Covid is airborne, mitigations included daily testing, mandatory FFP2/3 masks indoors and outdoors in close contact during surges, distancing, remote learning when cases were extremely high, outdoor learning options, and Hepa filtration in every classroom. If CO2 readings exceeded 800, rooms were evacuated and classes continued in sheltered outdoor spaces, also used for eating. Everyone is vaccinated.

“Abrome’s ethos is that of inclusion. A Covid-safe school is accessible to everyone. The sense of collective compassion over mé féinism.

“In the same way I would challenge institutional racism, I won’t participate in a system that discriminates against disabled, clinically vulnerable children and those with clinically vulnerable family.” 

1. we appreciate that some folks recognize that in a landscape where an extremely tiny minority of institutions are protecting people from COVID transmission, that Abrome’s COVID protocols provide an accessible alternative to school for those who are at risk of serious illness from COVID (although it should be noted that everyone is potentially at risk).

2. the sense of collective compassion over mé féinism extends beyond the walls of Abrome. We are members of adjacent and broader communities and we recognize our responsibility to not do harm to those communities.

3. we agree that people should seriously interrogate their participation in oppressive institutions.

—
Featured image by cartoonist Graeme Keyes from the online article.

A delicious mess

On Monday of last week, two of the younger Abromies who plan to open a bakery together someday decided that they wanted to experiment in the kitchen and make a new kind of dessert. They pulled out many of the standard ingredients such as flour, baking soda, sugar, and vanilla extract. They played around with the ratios based on the available amounts of each ingredient they had, but they felt the real opportunity was in the dessert syrup they could create.

During the excitement of the food making another young person asked if he could also participate. Together, the three of them created a new dish, and quite a mess. When the dessert was finished all the folks at Abrome were invited to taste the results, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. “This is actually really good!” “This is kinda delicious!”

The most challenging part of the day was the cleanup, everyone’s least favorite part. But it is our agreements (e.g., clean up after yourself and participate in end of day cleanup) and principles (e.g., take care of the space) that allow us to have the freedom to express ourselves without unduly burdening others in the community. At the end of the day reflection the question was posed, “what could make cleanup easier?” That question would be revisited later in the week.

Days 137, 138, & 139 of AY20-21: wrapping up cycle 9

May 7th, 10th, and 11th were the final three days of cycle 9 at Abrome. May 7th was a Friday and was the last scheduled in-person day of the cycle, and the 10th and 11th were our scheduled remote days prior to changing up the cell compositions for cycle 10.

Cycle 9 ended with a whimper in many ways. The three inclement weather days coupled with lower turnout on the in-person days led to decreasing attendance as Learners often opted to stay home if a bit tired or wary of the weather knowing that their friends might not show up, either. This seemed like an inevitable place to end up as the pandacademic year chugged along, but there was hope on the horizon in that it seemed inevitable that we would be dropping down to risk stage level 2, soon, which meant that we would be able to come back together in larger cells, giving Learners more motivation to show up, despite what would certainly be rising temperatures. On Friday, though, the low attendance gave the Learners the opportunity to really connect with other Learners and Facilitators in a bunch of one-on-one interactions.

Good spot for a nap

My cell chose to be walk to the waterfall in the morning, which was nice, and then walk back to the lake in the afternoon. During the walk to the waterfall I played music requests from the Learners, and at the waterfall I got into an extended conversation about rap music history with one of them. We are truly of different generations, yet we still found common ground on our taste for music from both eras.

When we got to the lake, I spent some time chatting with the youngest Learner before he decided that the day would be a lot of observing others and taking some naps. The oldest Learner, meanwhile, spent her time talking with another young lady who she had met at the park prior.

I spent a most of my time that day interacting with an adolescent Learner who prefers to spend his time interacting with other adolescents when possible, while the other two Learners chose to spend much of their time away doing their own thing.

Earlier in the year we spent a lot of time and effort trying to save tadpoles in a puddle that kept drying up, and we succeeded in bringing many of them along to adolescents, themselves. On this day we noticed that the puddle was once again filled with tadpoles, but that large numbers of them were stuck in the mud, as their portion of the puddle dried up. The Learner and I went searching for some discarded bottles or cans to use to try to save them, and the Learner ended up cutting open a can to serve as a water transport tool and a shovel.

We thought that the operation would be pretty simple, as the previously stranded tadpoles seemingly came back to life as soon as they had enough water, but on this day it appears we arrived too late, and many of them perished. Nonetheless, we persisted and we were able to relocate enough of the ones that were still clinging to life to the water, and it was fabulous to see them swimming free, again. We hoped that our effort may have allowed them to eventually grow into viable mosquito eating adults.

Although I had no plans to jump in the water that day, the Learner then convinced me to jump in the water. We considered doing a backflip off the top of the overhang to the dock, but we failed to overcome our fear on that day.

At the other cell Facilitator Lauren spent a good amount of time connecting with a Learner who has really struggled with connecting with others since he joined Abrome in January, but was not able to show up in-person until March due to the Covid-19 surge and then the Texas Freeze. But on this day, given a smaller number of people, he made what seemed to be large strides.

At one point, the Learner asked Facilitator Lauren if he could show her a clip from a movie while she was trying to eat. She said he could but would appreciate it if he could wait until later so she could finish her lunch. He then responded that sometimes people say later without given a set amount of time, and that leads him to keep asking, which becomes annoying. Facilitator Lauren acknowledged the awareness, thanked him for raising it, and told him that she needed 20 minutes. He then set off to explore, during which time he caught a toad. Later, she asked him if he wanted to share the clip, and he did. They then continued to talk for a long time.

Later in the day Facilitator Lauren went on a 45-minute walk with another adolescent Learner, connecting with him in a meaningful way for the first time in many months as due to them not being in the same cells or him choosing to be remote for multiple cycles.

There was also ample hammock time, with Facilitator Ariel, and Learners getting their turns relaxing in the great weather before departing for the weekend.

When we returned virtually on Monday we braced ourselves for low turnout yet again, but some combination of missing each other and anticipation for dropping to risk stage level 2 for the first time all year seemed to have gotten a decent number of Learners out of bed for the morning meeting.

As with many morning meetings, we shared announcements and then a prompt. The most exciting announcement was two of the older Learners saying they got their second Covid-19 vaccination shot over the weekend. Later, one of the older Learners dropped off call as soon as she responded to the prompt. I jumped on Discord and asked if she was okay, and she said she was, so I asked why she dropped off. She said she shared her prompt and was done. I explained that being there to listen to others is often more valuable than sharing, as it allows others to know that what they have to say is valued. She then jumped back on for the remainder of the call.

Next, we shared the calendar for the two remote days and went through an abbreviated Set-the-Week meeting. One Learner wanted to have everyone join him in gaming, and Facilitator Ariel encouraged him to formally hot the offering so folks would show up. We also threw in some water chugging to get folks hydrated, but it turned out that only Facilitators showed up for that. The hydration struggle continues.

Later, I had a nice conversation with the mom of an unschooling family that was considering enrolling, but they felt that 1 hour and 15 minute commute was probably too much (and I agreed with them). Then they surprised me with, “I so appreciate your calling out Chris Hyde and your emphasis on diversity and justice.” She was referring to the difficult letter I wrote pointing out how incompatible any form of bigotry or dehumanization of groups of people, in this case the houseless, was with any form of liberatory education work. Because we both exist in a world that values (or at least markets to) unschooling families, I could not allow an anti-houseless narrative to go unchallenged.

In better enrollment news, on Tuesday I walked a prospective family through the Family Financial Worksheet and confirmed a shadow for their child the next cycle. We had delayed asking for enrollment agreements from families until the summer as we wanted to give them maximum flexibility considering our lack of clarity over what our pandemic plan would be for the next year. We did not feel comfortable asking for commitments in the first few months of 2021. We knew most families would probably re-enroll, but we could not be sure without enrollment documents in hand. But having a family commit to shadow, with others also lining up to shadow over the final two cycles, made me feel a bit more secure.

The other highlights of Tuesday included one of the Learners turning on his video to show us his haircut, and Facilitator Lauren and a young Learner watching old cartoons and talking about them together. They chose to watch ThunderCats and The Croods.

After the afternoon roundup the Facilitators did our final After Action Review of the cycle. We felt exhausted from Zoom, surprise, surprise, and couldn’t wait to be back together in-person, hopefully in larger numbers, when cycle 10 was set to begin in six days.

Liberation means liberation for all

Self-Directed Education communities can be magical places where young people and adults come together to build relationships and find meaning through shared experiences and endeavors. But there are challenges that most SDE communities face, and if they are not addressed they can undermine the well-being of the community. One challenge is that Self-Directed Education communities are too often place based (e.g., in a building, within property lines), walling their members off from broader society. Another is that SDE communities often acknowledge the necessity of youth liberation, but do not take seriously liberation projects for other historically marginalized and oppressed populations.

We are proud to be a part of the Flying Squads network because it actively takes on both of the aforementioned challenges. As a practice, Flying Squads do not confine themselves to physical, private structures. We deliberately take up public space as an act of defiance against an adultist society that expects young people to be confined to schoolish settings. And the Flying Squads network recognizes that not embracing the liberation efforts of other people, particularly those who are most marginalized and oppressed, would merely reinforce the dominant sentiment that education is a tool to be used to help certain students position themselves to rise to the top of a hierarchical society, instead of helping to create an inclusive and just society.

By addressing these two concerns in tandem, Flying Squads promotes bringing young people into the world, and extending the concept of community outward, to include everyone, including those that society wants to wall out or wall in.

Days 135 & 136 of AY20-21: what should we do when we see harm?

Wednesday, May 5th was our 135th day of the pandacademic year. On this day, I facilitated the morning meeting for the cell I was a part of. I prepared three prompts for the meeting that I had hoped would spark an interesting conversation for our group that ranged from the youngest to the oldest Learners at Abrome. The prompts were: (1) When society is doing something harmful, what should you do about it? (2) What is society doing now that is hurtful (locally, state, nation, world)? (3) What should you do about it? The meeting stretched on as everyone took the prompts seriously, with each sharing their thoughts. One of the adolescent Learners who is normally quite reserved opened up in surprising ways during the conversation.

Relaxing in the water

Some of the ways that the group felt they should respond to society doing something harmful included helping someone who is affected by it; protest and rally to change the minds of leaders; introspect, talk about it, and participate in communities that are supporting people; help create alternatives that can undermine systems of harm; and “if you see something say something.”

What they felt society was doing now that is hurtful included racism; police abuse of power; removing and destroying homeless settlements; discrimination against AAPI and LGBTQ communities; devaluing and destroying the natural world; and the criminalization of people who are already hurting.

What they felt they should do about it included supporting the impacted communities, and donating or joining relevant organizations; filming the police; connecting people with nature, especially young people to reestablish connection with nature; supporting organizations that help people recover from the impacts of criminalization; and making books or movies about racism.

Great spot for sun

The day was going to be short for some of us, as one Learner was going to leave early for some skin art, I was going to drop some books off with a prospective family and schedule a call with another prospective family, and another Learner would end up going home because of an unfortunate run-in with a bunch of bugs. After the uncharacteristically long morning meeting, we walked to the river so that the Learner who had planned to depart early could enjoy some time there. After 45 minutes we walked back to the pickup spot together and then hung out on some large rocks talking about life while waiting for her ride.

After the Learner had left, I drove out to the home of four prospective Learners to drop off some books, and got to say hello to the 12-year-old girl member of the crew. I then returned to Abrome and scheduled a call with the family of four more prospective Learners for the next day, as well as trying to organize shadows for other prospective Learners who said they wanted to shadow with us before the end of the academic year.

Enjoying the temporary stream

Meanwhile, back at the cell, the Learners broke out the inflatable paddle board until one of the Learners who was on shore had a run in with a bunch of insects. The bites were nothing serious but he was ready to go home. On his walk back to the pickup spot they spotted a bunch of eggs that were located at the base of a tree and relayed that information back to the group still at the lake.

The rest of the crew did their best to enjoy themselves on the water but on this day a large number of local high school kids showed up for what would quickly turn into a very loud party, complete with fermented drinks and funny smelling cigarettes, if you know what I mean. Facilitator Lauren raised the desire to cede the space to the kids who seemed to have been let out of school early, as their presence (density, noise, smells) coupled with the increasing intensity of the heat seemed overwhelming. The other Learners agreed and they decided to take a walk to the first waterfall for the short remainder of the day. On their way they kept their eyes open for the eggs (later determined to be chicken eggs that someone had inexplicably placed there). It was a short stay at the waterfall, where they had their afternoon roundup. The discussed what was enjoyable about the day, what they had wanted to do but did not do, and what they wanted to do the next day.

Gaming in nature I guess

At the other cell, a Learner returned from his day off for his Star Wars birthday (May the Fourth be with you). Facilitator Ariel handed him the birthday card that all the Facilitators signed for him, and then the crew decided to walk to the location they dubbed “the cave” for their morning meeting. There, one of the adolescent Learners volunteered to lead the morning meeting.

While the walk was long, the Learners largely stayed in one place the entire day, enjoying the water and each other. Two of the Learners really focused on taking in all that nature had to offer them that day, soaking up the rays of the sun, appreciating the sounds of the water flowing by, and getting their feet wet and appreciating all that was happening on the bed of the temporary stream. Two of the Learners meanwhile spent much of their time playing video games on a phone. Not how I would spend my day but it worked for them. One of them did take some time to check out the water, and both seemed to appreciate the hike to and from the cave. At the end of the day another Learner led the afternoon roundup. He asked what everyone was excited about and consensus was that they were excited about the shadowers who would be joining us in the coming cycle. On the long walk back, Facilitator Ariel was able to have a deep conversation with one of the adolescents who is working through a lot in their life.

A great place to relax

Water fight!

On Thursday, May 6th, I was fully remote, focusing on administrative tasks. On the day I had a great 71-minute call with a family looking to shadow with us, and I communicated with other families, as well, to include one that may be moving from Mexico to join us! I was also compelled to write a blog post distancing ourselves from a nature educator in the area who has been vocal in his support of actively harming the houseless population as a means of ‘cleaning up’ the city. I also wanted to raise the awareness that educators have been complicit in the criminalization of the houseless. Too often many on the political left believe that if only we school more we will have a more tolerant, more peaceful society, but they ignore that the people run and are employed by the school come from our current society, and they ignore the explicit aims of schooling.

At the cell that I would have otherwise been at that day, many other Learners were also out. This left only one Learner and Facilitator Lauren. The Learner was given the option of staying home by his mom, but he chose to stay for the day and spend it one-on-one with Facilitator Lauren. But with flexibility in mind, they decided to relocate to another park for the day. The mom went home and picked up some water blasters and floaties, while Facilitator Lauren pulled out some water noodles.

At the park they went to, the young Learner thoroughly took in having Facilitator Lauren all to himself for the day. They got in a water blaster battle, played volleyball, sat in the sand, swam with noodles, and just enjoyed the green grass. It was a great day for both, and it would most certainly be the last time that only one Learner would be showing up for an Abrome day.

Meanwhile, at the other cell they had another hiking day. A long hike that gave the Learners plenty of opportunity to take in the beauty of the hill country in spring. When they finally settled down at a spot near the water, one of the Learners rested against a tree limb with his feet in the water. Nearby a toad was also appreciating the view, or maybe it was looking for food. The only thing that was not relaxing about the day for the other cell was that it was determined that there was a monster prowling in the water. Fortunately no one was hurt.

Do not let go of your time outdoors when the pandemic ends

When we went outdoors this year in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we were not sure how the Learners would respond to the heat, the cold, the rain, the bugs, and the physical activity. Because we are a Self-Directed Education community that elevates free play as a wonderful use of time and a fabulous end in and of itself, we figured that the Abrome Learners would better adapt than those who were only given a 30-minute recess in elementary school, and no recess in middle or high school, and often being stuck indoors even when at home because of homework or studying. While it has certainly been a challenge for some, others have really thrived.

Over the past pandacademic year, we have become much more comfortable with discomfort, we have found ways to find joy when sweaty and dirty, and many of us have rediscovered the endless miracles of nature. It seems likely that many of us will have the opportunity to go back indoors in September as cases will hopefully continue to fall as more people get vaccinated and people continue to avoid needlessly congregating indoors in large groups. However, we hope that what we gained this year in going outdoors is not lost when we have the opportunity to be shielded from the elements or when digital entertainment is easier to access.

Our society has been systematically deprived of the regenerative power of nature, and next to only those who have been incarcerated, children are the biggest victims of the institutional walls that seal us off from nature. It is educational malpractice for adults to tell children that they should forgo all of the benefits of nature in order to thoroughly school (in school and at home) in order to prepare themselves for the false promises of a supposedly successful life. Children’s lives include the present as well as that future, and more time in nature enriches both.

When this pandemic ends, whenever you consider it to be over, please do not let go of your time outdoors. And most importantly, do not force the kids back indoors.

Days 133 & 134 of AY20-21: rain is a good thang

Monday, May 3rd was the beginning of the final full week of cycle 9. The small, physically distant cells were great for much of the year as it helped us greatly reduce the risk of exposure to Covid-19 for our community should someone get infected. But the challenge is that the Learners and Facilitators really want more than four to seven Learners showing up each day because each additional person added to a Self-Directed Education environment has an outsized impact on the community. On Monday, four Learners showed up for the small cell that I am part of for the cycle. But with pandemic numbers continuing to improve, we were preparing for the possibility of larger cells the next cycle, if the risk stage as determined by Austin Public Health were to drop to level 2.

On this day, most of us had the expectation and plan to spend much time on the paddle board. Shortly after our meeting and our walk to the lake, one of the teens to offer to pump up the paddle board so he and another teen Learner could get out on the water.

Some of the Learners have been on the paddle board before so they effortlessly pushed off and enjoyed their time on the surface of the lake. But two of us had never been on the paddle board, and each of us were able to overcome our fears and our shaky stabilizer muscles to get up on the board and enjoy the challenge of working against the current and waves of the lake.

Although I was on only briefly, as were Facilitator Lauren and a young Learner, two of the teen Learners spent a great deal of time on the paddle board individually and together. They then decided to head up the river (the lake in Austin is really just a river). And they stayed up the river for quite some time, without having shared with us the plan. When they came back we all had a conversation about what are reasonable safety boundaries and what are our communication needs. They also brought back a turtle with them that they then released back into the lake.

All but one of us went in the water at some point during the day. But as the temperatures continue to rise I think that we will need to really encourage everyone to get in the water to help regulate their temperatures. Having pulled out the swimming noodles certainly made getting in the water a bit easier and more fun for Facilitator Lauren and a young Learner who navigated all around an inlet.

On this day I decided to do another polar bear plunge, as I think I will do many many days from here on out as the weather gets hotter and hotter. I planned to jump over the two teens who were on a paddle board together as a surprise, and I lucked out by a water plane landing nearby that took their attention.

When Facilitator Lauren and the youngest Learner were on the paddle board I broke out the drone so the teens could fly it.

As summer comes in and as more and more schools release their hold on kids, more and more will be coming into the green areas we have frequented for much of the year. One young lady who had been at the dock the week before had returned, and a couple of the Learners had separate conversations with her. They both said that they were really glad they got to know her a bit.

As the day was coming to a close one of the adolescent Learners asked if I wanted to jump back into the water from the roof over the dock, so we each climbed up and made a few leaps. Then we climbed higher, onto the roof of the building, and made the longer jump in. It was a blast.

At the other cell the Learners got to see the greenbelt they visited filled with water! Usually the bed is dry, but the recent rains turned it into a lovely flowing body of water.

The water led multiple Learners to just sit and take it all in, while one Learner took some time for themself to help process a rough morning. Two Learners spent a lot of time together for the first time since that Learner enrolled in January, but because the January and February cells were completely remote, and because the other Learner only returned recently after becoming fully vaccinated, this cycle was their first chance to really get to know each other.

Meanwhile, the conversation of King Kong came up, again. Everyone was pulled into the conversation even though some did not care to be pulled in. The conversation revolved around the question of can something that was created with racist intent ever not be racist? Should we try to take racist messages and turn them into not-racist? One Learner suggested that we should just enjoy it and that we “don’t have to look in the past.” Another countered that it still influences the present and future, and pointed out that some people have the luxury of not looking in the past. The Learner who recently returned who had never participated in that conversation later thanked folks for the conversation and raising his awareness of the issue.

On Tuesday morning I started the day with a great call with the parent of a prospective 10-year-old Learner. We talked about community and our focus on centering the needs of Learners, particularly as they relate to issues of race. Later I had another great call with the parent of four prospective Learners and set up a shadow for the first of them. Finally, I had a third call with the parents of yet another four prospective Learners. Our biggest concerns right now with enrollment are (1) do we have enough time left in the year to get every prospective Learner in for a shadow, (2) do we need a larger facility to accommodate them all next year, and (3) do we have enough Facilitator capacity to bring on everyone if they want to enroll? Not the worst problems to have.

At the cell that I would be with if it were not a Tuesday the crew was smaller than usual, as one of the Learners got a bad case of sunburn and needed to stay at home, as did his sibling. The adolescent Learner who showed up was going to have a short day because he needed to leave at 1:30 p.m. for an appointment. Knowing that it would only be Facilitator Lauren and a young Learner at the end of the day, Facilitator Lauren invited the Learner’s vaccinated mom to join them that afternoon.

It was a beautiful day with amazing weather, so the crew decided it would be a good morning to hike to the bigger waterfall. They took a somewhat different path getting there by walking barefoot up the cold waters of the the stream. It was slippery at times, as they tried to keep their balance while walking over algae and moss covered rocks. During the meandering walk they took time for quiet breaks and rock skipping. During one of the breaks they came across a large patch of wild onions and began to chow down. It wasn’t the best tasting food they’d have that day, but it was probably the healthiest.

After the older Learner left for his appointment, Facilitator Lauren, the younger Learner, and that Learner’s mom spent time at the lake swimming with noodles, eating ice cream, and eating watermelon. It was a very relaxed and enjoyable day despite the low turnout.

At the other cell, one of the Learners stayed home to celebrate his birthday. But all the other Learners showed up, and those who were not there the prior day made the most of the abundant water. Every one of the Learners got into the water at some point.

One of the Learners decided to go up and down the stream several times, while others just let the water flow over their bare feet. One of them splayed themselves face down on a rock in the middle of the stream in what looked like a potential crime scene photo, but it was much more relaxing than any crime scene could be.

On this day, the crew decided to hike for 20 minutes, exploring the ways that the greenbelt have changed with the influx of water, before their morning meeting. They found a variety of things to do to include capturing a skink and enjoying observing its beauty before releasing it back to the wild, in addition to setting up the hammock and letting the sun fall on them.

In addition to spending lots of time in and around the water, two of the Learners got sucked into a game on a Learner’s phone. Fortunately that did not prevent them from appreciating the beauty all around them or from going in the water.

Final note: my previously declared daily' blogging has now fully shifted to cluster-of-days blogging. It just makes sense to me to do so given the much more frequent thunderstorms that result in inclement weather days from March to June, and with me taking Tuesdays and Thursdays off-site for administrative duties while we have three Facilitators (one of them being an intern) to support the Learners. I’m also now a month behind on posting! I’m neck deep in trying to respond to the greater than usual interest in enrollment from prospective families while also supporting our current families in navigating their plans for the coming year with continued uncertainty about what the pandemic plan will look like. Will we be able to be indoors? Will indoors only be for fully vaccinated Learners? Will we continue to have dedicated outdoor cells? I do not know, and the Delta variant of Covid-19 seems to be throwing a wrinkle into the possibilities. The bad news is that schools everywhere had long ago given up on protecting the community from the spread of Covid-19, so whatever happens we will still likely be on the extreme end of prioritizing community over convenience. The good news is that vaccinations continue to inch up, including among Learners in our community. Anyway, I hope to really ramp up my posting again after mid-June!

Days 130, 131, 132 of AY20-21: a day and two remotes

As we entered into the latter half of the middle week of cycle 9 of the pandacademic year we were uncertain as to how much time we would be able to spend with the Learners given pandemic fatigue, thunderstorms, and struggle with the heat and the humidity. When I showed up on April 28th I found that we again had a smaller than decent sized crew, with only three Learners present, so I went back to Abrome to focus on getting more Learners enrolled. For the Learners who did show up in my cell, Facilitator Lauren focused on giving them lots of individualized attention and play.

In addition to Facilitator Lauren, the smaller crew consisted of a 16-year-old, 8-year-old, and a 6-year-old. The younger Learners often spend a lot of time with each other, but they don’t spend much time with the teens, but they all tend to appreciate being in each other’s orbits. On this day they all played monarchs and viceroys (the insects, not the authoritarians), and cougar stalks deer. Perhaps having fewer teen Learners present made it easier for the 16-year-old to join in, although we have pulled teens into these games before.

In addition to the games was a great appreciation for local animals. For example, there was much admiration for the great blue heron who was hanging out near the cell, and of another snake that was situated at the base of a cypress tree. There was less joy at seeing two baby copperheads slithering across the trail under feet as the crew was walking toward the lake! That gave them all an opportunity to talk about safety and being mindful of wear we step.

At the lake the adolescent Learner eagerly jumped at the opportunity to spend time on the paddle board, where he would spend much of the day enjoying the tranquility of sitting on the surface of the lake.

But the other Learners also were sure to get their turns on the boat as well. As Facilitator Lauren and the 8-year-old floated up a stream they watched a snake slowly lower itself into the water and swim away, and they saw the blue heron snatch a fish out of the water and eat it! During the paddle board adventure the younger Learner noticed a can that was thrown (or dropped) in the water, so she asked to paddle over to it, where she picked it out of the water and then dropped it off in the trash when she returned to shore. What a wonderful way to help take care of the public spaces that we are able to frequent!

In addition to appreciating the fauna the Learners also appreciated the flora of Central Texas on the beautiful day. One of the Learners found that in addition to tasting delicious that mulberries serve as an excellent hair dye, while another Learner was fascinated by the gradient of colors of a blade of grass going from a deep green to a near white.

When everyone was finished with their time on the paddle board, and as Facilitator Lauren was at the bathroom, the teen Learner began to pack it up. When Facilitator Lauren returned she thanked him for packing it up. The 8-year-old Learner then remarked, “that was really helpful.”

As the day came to a close the cell gathered around and played a variety of quizzes together, such as identifying the names of video games or NASA missions. For the afternoon roundup they each shared one experience during that day that was uncomfortable, one that was joyful, and one that was inspiring. They then walked back to the pickup spot where the Learners got into their vehicles to go home. As the youngest one was getting into his car he turned to his mom and asked if he was “helpful.” They’re always watching, and they’re always listening.

At the other cell the Learners spent most of their day climbing around rock faces, throwing dirt on each other, playing games on a Learner’s phone, and just enjoying the scenery. It was a nice way to spend time together on what would turn out to be our last in-person day of the week.

Thursday weather

Morning meeting 29th

Then the thunderstorms rolled in. Or at least the forecast of thunderstorms which required us to cancel in-person meetups on Thursday. I don’t know if I’ve said it clearly enough, but I cannot stand remote days. They’re awful. I mean, they’re better than bringing people together during a pandemic where a single new infection can be devastating as it has the potential to lead to a super spreader event or a new mutation, but now that we are in an era where most people think that the pandemic is over the ideal is to be together as much as possible (read sarcasm). But lightning strikes are taken more seriously by most than a pandemic, so remote it (still) is.

Remote days don’t bring out the most joy and excitement in the Learners, and on this day it brought out only three Learners for the morning meeting. But I was able to engage those who did show up with some good prompts, in my opinion. First we discussed, “what social or economic issue do you think will have the biggest impact on your life?” Other than one young Learner who said he did not know (yet), the issues that we felt would have the biggest impact were climate change, pollution, a living wage, institutionalized violence, and inequality. Then we each talked about what we could do about it: modeling an ethical relationship with the natural world and supporting organizations that reconnect people ith nature, recycling (with a follow-on discussion of what recycling does and does not do), create structures to provide people with services for their needs, building relationships to address it as a movement, and no answer because the thought of inequality gave her a headache.

While we hold space for Learners by providing offerings or attending offerings, the idea of more Zoom or Discord meetups has not moved many Learners to show up for individual offerings. But on this day I did have a ‘rest of the year planning session’ offering which brought the three oldest Learners who were eager to share how we might be able to shift some of our pandemic measures.

Rest of the year planning session

Friday weather

Friday, unfortunately, was yet another inclement weather day as every hour but one carried the risk of thunderstorms. If only we had a huge campus with large indoor areas to move into during brief thunderstorms. But alas, those facilities are only available to public conventional schools and select private schools that feed off of a schooled society’s fears that without forcing kids to participate in a k-12 curriculum that the kids will end up as the big losers of a society that is predicated on most people being labeled as failures. Hmmmm…

The first thing I focused on on Friday was writing a blog post about some pretty politically charged school board races in the area that probably gives us a peek into what the 2022 midterm elections might look like. It took me a fair chunk of the day, but with the election upon us I felt it was important to share the concerns a Self-Directed Education community (whose members have shunned conventional schooling because public and private conventional schools do not meet their needs) had on public school board candidates who centered their campaigns on bigotry, exclusion, and harm.

Friday afternoon roundup

With Facilitators Ariel and Lauren much more comfortable with their roles as Facilitators I now have the luxury of stepping away from the every day Facilitation at times to focus on other necessary activities, and it is greatly appreciated. The turnout for the morning meeting was really strong, and after the meeting the Facilitators just hung out and chatted with each other on Zoom. As always with remote days, there was little engagement in the meat of the day as most of the Learners went off in multiple directions (virtual or not), although Facilitator Ariel and a teen Learner did find time for some gaming. We ended the day with a four-Learner afternoon roundup and lots of hopes that we could spend much more time in-person the next week.

Days 128 & 129 of AY20-21: paddle boarding, mulberries, snakes

Monday, April 26th, and Tuesday, April 27th were days 128 and 129 of the pandacademic year. I was super excited that we were going to be in-person given threats of thunderstorms. Before the day started, one of the guardians asked for clarification on mask wearing with vaccinated grandparents. Specifically, does an unvaccinated Learner need to quarantine if they are meeting with vaccinated parents and vaccinated grandparents? I thanked the guardian for asking to make sure that we are all on the same page and doing what we can to protect the community. And yes, if everyone except the Learner is vaccinated there is virtually zero risk of the Learner catching and spreading the disease, so no problem at all. While much of society has given up taking the pandemic seriously, I have such great appreciation for the Abrome community who continues to focus on how their actions impact others.

I’ll start with the other cell, the one I was not a member of. We continue to post daily updates on Instagram and Facilitator Ariel ran with the update on this day. His updates are so much lighter and more entertaining than mine are. Don’t believe me? Go check it out on our Instagram page.

The best news of the day was that a Learner who had long been remote because of the pandemic finally came back! He was the first Learner to enroll at Abrome so having him present with some of the newer Learners was great above and beyond just being able to enjoy his company again.

One of the Learners has really struggled since enrolling because of very late night or early morning gaming. Facilitator Ariel asked that Learner how he was feeling, and he said that he was feeling good because he did not stay up all night. Sounds like a winning formula!

Facilitator Ariel asked the Learners to come up with a plan for the day after they broke from the morning meeting. They not only planned where they wanted to spend their time, but they also came up with a water refill plan, which is fabulous because it is one of the practices we’ve been working on (because heat exhaustion is not cool).

It was a really great day for the crew. Not only did we welcome back an old face, but the Learners also found a jaw bone, a dead gecko, played some games on their phones, and caught a lizard. One of the Learners also brought a book for the first time, which was also great because we’ve been talking about ways that we could enjoy being by ourselves even when we are with others.

I had originally planned to be in-person with the other cell, but one Learner was suffering from a bad case of sunburn from the weekend, so he stayed home. That led to another adolescent Learner deciding that he would take the day off because the person he most wanted to hang out with would not be there. With two of three in a carpool calling out, the third one also opted out. Another younger Learner decided that they would stay at home, as well, while another Learner was on an extended family vacation. This left only one Learner for the cell that day. So Facilitator Lauren planned to spend a lot of quality time with the Learner while I went back to Abrome to work on some administrative tasks.

The Learner was initially bummed but he did not want to go home. Facilitator Lauren said, “let’s chill and eat snacks and see what day can look like.” As they discussed possibilities they chose to invite the Learner’s mom to join us. His mom said that it was a really good day for that, and soon showed up with chocolate popsicles. What a win!

The moved to the lake with the paddle board in tow, and along the way they collected and ate mulberries. A very yummy day was shaping up. The Learner was eager to help prepare the paddle board for launch, and spent a fair amount of time manually pumping it up. Eventually he and his mom set off on the lake and had a blast, with Facilitator Lauren also getting some time on it, as well. At the end of the day the young Learner said that paddle boarding was the funnest thing he’d ever done.

Because I was away doing admin work on Monday I chose to be in-person all day Tuesday. But with afternoon thunderstorms rolling in we had families plan for a half-day with an early pickup. It still turned out to be a fabulous (half) day though.

Learning about what folks missed out on the day before, there was intention to pick and eat mulberries, and to spend some time on the paddle board. So right after the morning meeting we headed toward the lake.

At the lake we began collecting the perfectly ripe mulberries and eating them. While we were collecting the mulberries one of the Learners noticed a snake hanging out near the base of the trees. We determined that it was not venomous, and it looked like one they had previously observed shedding.

After harvesting, the adolescent Learner who was eager to spend much of his day on the paddle board volunteered to pump it up. He made short work of it and then pushed off and did indeed spend much of his day on the water. He has excellent balance and never fell, which I thought was pretty impressive.

An adolescent Learner and I had planned to talk about Usual Cruelty, the book we both read the prior cycle, but because of the half day we pushed it off for a later date. Given that the month was almost over, and I had not yet jumped in the lake for my polar bear plunge all of April, I decided that today would be the day to squeeze it in. I asked if the adolescent Learner on the paddle board could withstand me jumping in the lake next to him without falling, and he told me to give it a shot. I did, and he stayed on, and the water was cold, making for a pretty exciting plunge.

As we settled down for the remainder of our short day we observed a water snake, had a conversation on the dock about our early Covid-19 experiences last spring, and then had a pretty engaging afternoon roundup. On our way back to the pickup point we had John and Lisa McQuackerson follow us, just as they had been doing all day. They really like mulberries.

Meanwhile, at the other cell everyone was present! We don’t mandate attendance at Abrome. In fact, we encourage Learners to take time off as they need it, and to take advantage of opportunities to engage with the world when they become available, instead of feeling as though they have to be at Abrome. Nonetheless, we do prefer that they show up, and given that some of the Learners in this cell struggle more to show up every day, it was thrilling to have everyone there. Our first ever enrolled Learner also got to meet the most recently enrolled Learner, for the first time.

The crew hiked to “the bowl” after the morning meeting, which was a welcome form of exercise considering that multiple Learners were not quite prepared for the weather. Seeing as it was a short day the walking took up much of the day, which worked out perfectly. When they settled in briefly at the bowl some of the Learners asked Facilitator Ariel about the Black Panther Party knowing that he was reading a book about Huey Newton. That led to tangential conversations about the complicated history of gun control and copwatching. But before the really good conversation could happen the half day came to an end. Fortunately, there will be opportunities for longer conversations soon.