Visit to the Free School: Finding Treasure in the "Sticks"!
Don't judge a free school by its pole barn!
Was blown away by my visit to the local free school for "school refusers" today. The cheerful faces and glowing smiles of children treated with basic human dignity and immersed in art and creation, without a top down, authoritarian power structure leering over their every move was amazing. In light of today's discoveries, if I play my cards right, I think unschooling my son is a more readily accomplishable goal than ever.
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~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)
Good news!
I think I’d be happy for my children to be somewhere like that if they wished it part of the time at least. I do think we were built for most of human history for tribal living and I also notice for my teens it has not been enough for them to fit with their family. They instinctively know we are the past generation and have felt panic about whether they can fit with their generation. I think this is a big part of why one of my daughters left unschooling and took herself off to school to be ‘conventional’. Her drive to fit in her generation is powerful and will make her undergo many levels of hardship. If I could have provided her something like this she may have felt she fitted with her generation.
That really seems like the biggest challenge to me, as well (well, besides the state breathing down our necks), building/finding a community of peers and buddies to share the adventure of life with. Either way, don't be too hard on yourself. It takes a lot of guts to follow your heart and do something that's a bit against the grain. Cheers to you, @sallylloyd.
Yes :-) Thanks @kafkanarchy84.
We recently got to largely not worry about the state [locally at least ... and it was a big problem] breathing down our necks re unschooling/home education as we worked with our local authority to rewrite their policies and procedures in line with the UK Government's 'Guidelines for Local Authorities on Elective Home Education' [ https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/288135/guidelines_for_las_on_elective_home_educationsecondrevisev2_0.pdf ] which is quite reasonable as it stands at the moment. Education law as regards home education in the UK is good as it stands [understanding of unschooling, no registration, etc] but it is always under assault and we've worked hard to keep it that way. It is very hands off, but in practice local authorities like ours in Staffordshire UK were not adhering to it [it's not guidance but guidelines which means they don't have to]. Luckily, we found they were acting outside of the law [conferring statutory duties they don't have to private companies who sent unlawful school orders etc]. That [and a pretty hefty political campaign] enabled us to gain their cooperation and get a chance to educate them and the council employees who have contact with people who home educate or are thinking to home educate in our area. They even advertise the fact that home education is a viable, legal opportunity for children when they send out their invitations to register for school aged 4-5!
I think this surety has give me more space to think about other issues ... a bit like art can develop within cultures when their basic needs for food, shelter and safety are met.
:-)
Good news!
I wish this was available near me as at least part of the time it would be ideal for my kids.
I think when they are teens it becomes especially important. They kinda want to join their generation and we are not ‘the future’ they’ll have to fit with ... so having this kind of opportunity will become even more important.
Great news mate.
I have no doubt you will prevail. As I've said before the best thing you can do for your kids is unschooling.
Cheers man, much appreciated.
Great to hear about this new prospect.
I am jealous of your son and all kids that get to escape the government school program, or at least have such enlightened parents.
Thanks man. Haha. I’m jealous, too. Being in that place made me wish I could’ve gone there instead of being stuck at public school feeling like some kind of weirdo for 12 years.
wow man i am so happy to hear that you and your wife visit the free school and meet with children's, all the children's are same and i think they truly deserve this, well if i am not hear wrong you plan to put your child in that free school and if that's true then it's a great decision you make, it's doesn't matter it's a free school the thing which matter the most is your son likes it and you are happy with that school go for it man and i Wishing you all the very best for each and every one of your future endeavors my friend! Stay awesome
Thank you!
I think our governments should invest more in free education, especially in where I live (Italy), here the education system is made in such a way that everybody start hating to learn new things and end up doing nothing that they love to do, but only doing something in order to survive.
Government influence in education is the reason it's shitty in the first place. More government won't solve that.
I'm not saying more government will solve the problem, what I'm saying is that in many countries there is a big need for more school for which the government should pay from the taxes that the people are paying.
And if they've failed at that thus far, there's no reason to think they can fix themselves. Government programs are shit by definition. Only private solutions can improve the quality of education.
I wish something like this gets more mainstream, and people finally figure that strict regime and hierarchy might not be the surrounding most kids like to operate in. I would like to know more about how these schools are scheduled and what are the curriculums, where could I look that up?
Hmmm. That’s a tough one to research as most info would likely be in Japanese, but you can search “unschooling in Japan futoko” and you most find some info. These places are often run on a volunteer basis and the approach to curriculum for the children do varies widely from place to place.
I love charter schools. I have many friends and teachers who are against them, but I've read so many good articles about them.
Hope this works out well for you and your son.
Hello Kafka...again the same browsing problem.. tried to see the video several times during day time but it didn't work...sorry...
Ah. Sorry about that, @momi5. Thanks for trying again. I’ll have to look into this.
No..its ok.. Actually I try to go through each and every post of yours...as much as I can..but then these problems ...
I enjoyed reading you post@kafkanarchy84