On Wednesday I was informed that a Learner had a slight fever of 99 degrees and would be staying home. I then communicated back and forth with the family who was unsure as to whether they should send their other Learner to Abrome. I emphasized that a 99 degree temperature was not a fever, and that according to our protocols which are stronger than any of the schools in Central Texas (probably all of Texas) that neither needed to stay home. The family decided to stay home for the sake of others in the community and planned to get a Covid-19 test for the Learner with an elevated temperature. Then another Learner who sometimes carpools with that family contacted me and said because one Learner they had been carpooling with had a fever that he was going to voluntarily quarantine until he knew that it was safe for him to come back to Abrome. So I explained the difference between an elevated temperature and the flu, but thanked him for putting the health of the community first. This was not the first time that families have been confused as to whether or not come to Abrome or quarantine, and it is not the first time that a Learner has caused some alarm claiming they had a flu when they did not. The document we provided to explain how we were going to safely come back together during pandemic is not a short read, so I am glad that the families are reaching out asking for clarification. And I am grateful that they take the health of the community so seriously. I think I should probably find time over the next week to provide them with a flow chart that they can use to figure out the appropriate steps for staying home, quarantining, or isolating.
I was also previously informed that one of the Learners was going to Enchanted Rock with her family in the middle of the week to enjoy it when there were no crowds. And when a Learner found out that the two Learners she spends most of her time with were not going to be in that day, she decided to stay home as well. And this left us with only two Learners on day 43. Self-Directed Education centers are unique in the world of education because they endeavor to return to children their autonomy so they can pursue their own interests while being in community with others. This not only increases the quality of education (more people with varied interests, goals, and life experiences leads to exponentially increasing learning opportunities), it also increases their sense of well-being by providing them with a safe space to immerse themselves in human relationships with others. Particularly if the centers are anti-oppressive, consensus based, liberation seeking communities like Abrome. But when the community is very small, or when people don’t show up during a pandemic in which there are only six or seven Learners in each cell, those benefits can quickly fade. Sure, it is still better than doing pandemic schooling at school or remotely, but it is a far cry from what happens when one is surrounded by supportive friends and mentors. So I focused on making the day as great as it could be for the two Learners who were there.
They propped up a root with a stick and built a cairn on top of it
We started off our day with the morning meeting. The Learners being six- and seven-years-old, respectively, I kept the meeting short and to the point. With so few Learners around we were pretty free to go wherever we wanted to go. Surprisingly to me, they did not want to go straight to the lake like on so many other days. They instead wanted to go away from the lake. We settled on a plan to hike up to the first waterfall, then to the second where we would spend an unspecified amount of time, and then maybe we would go to the lake. But before we left the Learners insisted on using a stick to prop up a broken root of a nearby oak tree that was sticking out of the ground, and then build a cairn on it.
Once that was finished we began our hike. The youngest Learner is almost always barefoot, so normally the hike would not be a problem for him. But he did get a nice cut on his foot the prior Friday, so I was a bit concerned about him on parts of the trail that were extremely rocky. But I think he is tougher than the rest of us combined when it comes to what his feet can bear, and he seemed to have no problem with it. Speaking of rocks, the Learners continued their ongoing focus of playing with larger numbers during the walk by debating how many rocks there were on the trail, and in the entire park that we planned to spend the day at.
Lunch break at the first waterfall
When we got to the first waterfall the Learners insisted on taking a break for lunch. Lunch is a very flexible concept at Abrome. Many Learners eat their lunch as soon as they arrive, while others only eat their desserts and save the main meals for later. A couple of us, me included, wait until 12 p.m. to break out our lunch. As they were eating lunch earlier than I was prepared for I set up my chair and had planned to do some work communicating with Facilitator Lauren. But the Learners decided that they had enough of the first waterfall location and they really wanted to move on to the second waterfall. So off we went.
The Learners were clear that they were excited to go to the second waterfall but only if we took the relatively flat route their, and not the route that forces them to climb up and over a large hill. The path that we took skirted along the stream that led to the first waterfall, and I encouraged them to enjoy the beauty of the walk. Just when one of the Learners began to question whether or not we were getting close to the second waterfall it appeared before us. For one of them, it was their first time there.
They immediately got to running, jumping, and climbing all over the rocks of the dried out waterfall, as well as the trees and paths around it. As I watched them I noticed that they were constantly drawn to taking moderate risks such as jumping from one rock to another or scaling the face of the waterfall. It was fun watching them openly discussing some of their fears, plotting courses of action to overcome their fears, and then launching themselves into their fears. While neither of them got hurt, it would not have been the end of the world if they did get hurt. It is hard to learn and grow if we don’t take risks.
Taking a Rubik’s cube break
Eventually they tired out and settled down. One of the Learners broke out his Rubik’s cube to play with, while the other focused on breaking downed sticks and throwing rocks at other rocks (and away from me and the other Learner). I also played around with my Rubik’s cube, still feeling great about finally solving it the day before. I also took out much lunch and ate it, and then pulled out some printouts that I brought with me to do some work while they focused on themselves for a bit.
Soon they were back to exploring and finding ways to engage with the space around them. One of the Learners noticed some larger holes in the large granite rock that water flows over when the creek is full and decided he would play a game of basketball with it by tossing rocks up into them from below.
Later one of the Learners noticed a large branch that was stuck in one of the cedar trees alongside the upper portion of the waterfall. But the large branch was not a cedar branch. We talked about how on earth such a large branch could get up there and concluded that it must have gotten stuck there during a flash flood, which is not uncommon in these parts due in part to the very thin layer of topsoil that cannot absorb much water during heavy rains. The eventually removed the large, dried out piece of wood and found that it quickly disintegrated when they hit it on the ground. So they proceeded to break it into tiny pieces in what looked to be a good little workout.
With the Learners uninterested in me, I went back to working on administrative stuff (which is much harder to do outdoors than indoors). They then began to talk about all different kinds of transportation technologies that were surely on the horizon. When they got to discussion of flying cars (which according to them will be rolled out in just a few years) one of them provided the very wise counsel of not being an early adopter. Wait a year so you can purchase it after the price drops.
Hiking back from the waterfall
Eventually we decided our time at the waterfall was finished and they wanted to go to the lake with a short stop at the drop-off location so we could refill our water bottles. It was a good day up to that point, and I am thrilled that these two made a day of it at the waterfall. The rest of the day was a bit more challenging as we worked through some issues of what it means to be true to our commitments and what it means to honor the Abrome principles. Those difficult conversation were not nearly as fun as the time we had at the waterfall, and walking to and fro, but they were just as valuable in other ways.