Feedback from the community on risk tolerance and exposure to Covid-19

Before we reopened for the year we ran a poll to get a better understanding of each family’s approach to the pandemic and their exposure to it. We received responses from all 13 households (Learners and Facilitators) in our community and I am sharing those results with you here.

Q1: Collective beliefs of everyone in your household regarding the pandemic

• 10 households believe that ‘Covid-19 is a dangerous disease that needs to be taken seriously by society, my community, and our household’

• 6 households believe that ‘Covid-19 is dangerous and there are people in my household who would be seriously harmed if they contracted the disease’

• 5 households believe that ‘Covid-19 is dangerous and there are people I interact with who would be seriously harmed if they contracted the disease’

Analysis: We are fortunate that none of the households in our community believe that Covid-19 is a hoax or should not be taken seriously. This may be because our families were drawn to Abrome because of our commitment to centering the needs of those who would be most impacted by the decisions we make. It may also be because only three of the 13 households do not live with or interact with someone who would be seriously harmed if they contracted the disease.

Q2: Mask wearing practices of the people in your household

• 11 households ‘wear masks whenever we are indoors with people outside of our house or pandemic pod’

• 10 households ‘wear masks when outdoors only if there are people nearby or passing us on the street’

• 9 households ‘wear masks whenever we are indoors outside of our house or pandemic pod, even if other people are not around’

• 7 households ‘wear masks whenever we are near others, even if only for a moment’

• 2 households ‘wear masks only if we cannot physically distance from others’

• 2 households ‘don't expect young children to wear masks either indoors or outdoors (except as required at Abrome)’

Analysis: All members of our community wear masks when in public and around others. Given that most Covid-19 infections take place indoors, and almost all recorded super spreader events have taken place indoors, and that masking is one of the best ways that we can protect others, we were pleased to see that the nine of the households wear masks when they are indoors outside of their home or pod, even if others are not around.

Q3: Collective beliefs and practices of your household on interacting with others or going out in public during the pandemic

• 10 households ‘visit stores and businesses for essential needs only’

• 8 households ’evaluate other people's level of risk tolerance and make sure it matches ours before we meet up with them’

• 8 households ‘order groceries and other essentials for delivery’

• 5 households said ‘everyone in our household has essentially stayed home since March’

• 5 households ‘have seen people outside of our household or pandemic pod socially, but always outdoors, and at a distance’

• 4 households ‘visit restaurants for dining, but only outdoors’

• 3 households ‘have seen people outside of our household or pandemic pod socially, but always outside, at a distance, and with masks on’

• 2 households ‘visit stores and businesses but not when there are lots of customers’

• 1 household has ‘seen people outside of our household or pandemic pod socially, but always outdoors, and with masks on’

• 1 household has ‘seen people outside of our household or pandemic pod socially, indoors, but always at a distance, and with masks on’

• 1 household ‘has seen people outside of our household or pandemic pod socially, indoors, but always with masks on’

• 1 household has ‘seen people outside of our household or pandemic pod socially, indoors, without distancing and without masks’

• 1 household has ‘seen people outside of our household or pandemic pod socially, indoors, but always at a distance, without masks’

• 1 household ‘visit[s] restaurants for dining, indoors or outdoors’

Analysis: The large majority of the households in our community have beliefs and practices that will not only help protect the members of their households from Covid-19, but are also consistent with a larger effort to combat the disease here in Central Texas. One respondent selected most of the options about seeing people outside of their household or pandemic pod socially, indicating that they have been in a variety of settings over the spring and summer. One family said they had visited restaurants for dining, indoors and outdoors. We do not know the context behind those responses but we highly encourage families to meet outdoors and wear masks when interacting with people outside their household or pandemic pod. We also discourage eating at indoor restaurants, which have been documented as sites of infection.

Q4: Your household's interaction with others during the pandemic

• 8 households have ‘no one in the household [that] works with others

• 8 households ‘opted out of summer camps, sports, and other social engagements that involved large groups’

• 7 households ‘[do] not interact with anyone outside of our household other than brief interactions’

• 3 households ‘Learner/s have friends or playmates that they spend time with’

• 3 households said ‘at least one of us is an essential worker’

• 2 households said ‘at least one of us works indoors with others’

• 2 households said ‘at least one member of the household attends a school/education program other than Abrome’

• 1 household ‘has set up or joined a pandemic pod that has committed to not spending time with people outside of the pod’

• 1 household said ‘some of us occassionally attend parties or meet up with people outside of our household or pod to let loose’

• 1 household ‘sent our children to summer camp and/or other social events with other children in July or August’

Analysis: We are fortunate that so many Abrome households have the luxury of working remotely during this pandemic, and that over half of our households do not interact with anyone outside their households except for brief interactions. We recognize that not everyone has the privilege to do so, and this greatly reduces the threat of Covid-19 infection within our community. Even better is that members of our community have made hard choices that have benefited the efforts to combat the spread of Covid-19 in Central Texas. For example, eight households opted out of summer camps, sports, and other social engagements that involved large groups, while only one sent their Learner/s to a summer camp or other social event with children over the summer.

Q5: Total number of people living in your household

The minimum number of people living in an Abrome household was one (two of the Facilitators), and the maximum was five. The average number of people living in each household is 3.1.

Q6: Number of people in your household are at risk of severe complication from Covid-19 (e.g., immunocompromised, elderly)

Four households had at least one at-risk person living in their household, with one household having three members. The average number of at-risk people per household is 0.5.

Q7: Number of people in your household who work in settings with other people

While most households do not have anyone in their house who works with other people, three households had one member who does, and one household had two members who do.

Q8: The total number of people household members collectively work with in a work setting (e.g., employees, students).

Most Abrome households do not have anyone who works in a setting with other people, but the average is 2.5 because of three people who work with 7-16 other people. The largest number (16) belongs to a member who works in a non-Abrome education setting.

Q9: Does anyone in your household work in a setting where they interact with large numbers of customers per day (e.g., grocery store, gas station)?

We are very fortunate that no one in our community works in a setting where they are forced to interact with large numbers of customers per day. We also believe that anyone who does work in such a setting should receive full healthcare benefits and should earn substantially more than minimum wage.

Q10: If any members of your household attend a school/education program other than Abrome, how many total students/teachers/staff do they collectively expect to come into contact with each day?

Two Abrome Learners have siblings who attend a school other than Abrome. These two siblings come into contact with seven and twelve people, respectively, each day.

Q11: If your household has joined a pandemic pod how many other households are part of that pod?

Only two Abrome households have joined a pandemic pod. There are three households in one pod, and four households in the other.

Q12: If your household has joined a pandemic pod how many total individuals are in that pod?

The average number of individuals in each pod is only 3.5 people. This is likely due to single people who have no housemates being counted as a household.

Q13: If your household has joined a pandemic pod, are any other households in your pod also members of the Abrome community?

None of the Abrome households that are in a pod have another Abrome household in the same pod.

Q14: Total number of people the members of your household collectively interact with socially (not at work) that are not included in your pandemic pod

Most of the households do not interact socially with others, but the average is pushed up to 2.6 by the five households that do.

Final analysis: Abrome has taken the pandemic very seriously from day one. That is why we extended our spring break to three weeks this past March so that we could better evaluate the trajectory of the pandemic and prepare for the likelihood of supporting our Learners remotely to help protect our families and the Central Texas community. It is why we were the first school in the region to close indefinitely, before the state mandated the same. And it is why we rolled out a reopening plan that placed us in small, physically distant operating cells that are meeting wholly outdoors.

While our plans to limit the potential spread of Covid-19 among Learners and Facilitators is a good one, and by far the safest option of any school that is not entirely remote, that safety can be undone by irresponsible practices by the members of our Abrome community, or by uncontrolled community spread in the Austin area. We asked our families to be “brutally honest” in their responses to this survey, and we greatly appreciate their commitment to doing so.

Based on the responses of each of the Abrome households, we feel that our efforts to keep our community safer is being supported by the members of our community. Each member of our community is taking the pandemic seriously, and the overwhelming majority are engaging in practices that greatly reduce the risk of catching and spreading the disease. We will continue to encourage community members to remember to center the needs of those most at-risk, and we will share information about safer practices each of us can take.

Assuming a cell has the maximum number of Learners (seven) at the current risk stage and one Facilitator, the average total number of people living in those eight households is 25. Coincidentally, 25 is the average number of students in a sixth grade classroom in the local public school district (as of 2019). Each cell’s exposure risk does extend beyond those 25 individuals in the eight households, but given the work profile of our community and their pandemic practices, coupled with our in-person practices at Abrome, it seems that we are able to meet much more safely than any other education community that is meeting in person.

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Banner image: Felipe Esquivel Reed, Coronavirus COVID-19 virus, CC BY-SA 4.0

Day 16 of AY20-21: the last day of the first cycle of our first pandemic year

Yesterday was day 16 and the last day of our first cycle of first pandemic year. I say first because it is unlikely that the pandemic will be over by next August. Well, the first pandemic year if you don’t include last year when we went remote after the first week of March. And our first pandemic year was extra since our calendar stretches into mid-July instead of ending in late May like most of the local schools. Although it was extra less painful because we didn’t mandate that Learners sit in zoom rooms all day, assign homework, test them, or grade them like some local schools did. Too bad most local schools reverted to mandated screen time, homework, testing, and grading for this pandemic year, for those who are remote. And if they are not meeting outdoors they should be remote.

Our morning conversation about copwatching and other topics with Heartwood ALC

Anyway, yesterday was the last day of our first cycle and it was also our second scheduled remote day that makes safely meeting in small and unfixed operating cells possible. Unfortunately I missed out on the morning meeting of our final day of the first cycle of our first pandemic year, which will just be called day 15 from here on out for brevity, because I was invited by a sister-SDE community to give a presentation and participate in a Q&A about copwatching, policing, and defunding or abolishing the police. The community is Heartwood ALC which sits on the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia. Heartwood ALC has been a really great member of the ALC community, and I got to see them in action when I went a spent a day with them (a day is never enough to learn about what an SDE community is about, though) before attending a racial equity in Self-Directed Education summit they hosted in 2019.

In the talk I attempted to briefly talk through my unintentional journey into the world of trying to fight back against police abuse, brutality, corruption, and crime. While my story was necessary to tell, I tried to focus the takeaways on the institution of policing, the way that systems are set up to harm victims of abuse, the benefits of copwatching and other forms of direct action, and the reality that the struggle has no simple solutions. But then I addressed what I thought were possible solutions to the problem, primarily focused on defunding or abolishing the police. Facilitator Jennifer also jumped on the call after they finished with the morning meeting at Abrome.

After I finished with the presentation, I made sure that Zoom room 1 was set up for Facilitator Lauren’s brain blast offering, and then I tried to schedule some check-ins with Learners. At 12:00 p.m. I made myself a simple, delicious, whole foods lunch with lots of nuts and vegetables as I broke my 16-hour fast (and then was left wondering what the point of being so hungry was when I stumbled across an article that said that intermittent fasting may not actually work).

At 1:00 p.m. Facilitator Jennifer hosted a sketching skills offering, and at 2:00 p.m. I hosted a Free Write offering. No one showed up for the offering so I got some more work done as I took notice of how exhausted I was. I guess the first cycle really did tire me out, even though I had been doing a great job of eating well, sleeping 8 hours a night, and working out regularly. At 3:00 p.m. I had a check-in with one of the Learners that went really well. I wanted to make sure that they understood that while attendance is optional, it is awfully difficult to build community when they don’t show up to be in community with us. The Learner got it, and seems really psyched about the cycle to come. Then he explained to me the fascinating world of virtual reality hangouts that I did not even know existed.

At 3:30 p.m. we had our final afternoon roundup of the first cycle. Nine Learners and three Facilitators showed up for the meeting, which felt much better than the turnout for Monday’s roundup. A Learner who was forced to be remote for the first cycle of the year volunteered to lead the meeting, and she asked the group how did we do with our intentions of the day and what are our intentions for the rest of the day. After the meeting Facilitator Lauren and I stuck around to have a check-in with one of the Learners that was in our cell this cycle. It was another good check-in and we talked about a variety of topics and interests for a half hour until Facilitator Jennifer logged back on for our end of the day Facilitator check-in.

That evening I jumped on the ALC book group call (after saying I would miss it because I had planned to go to take a nap) and then I went to the pharmacy to get my flu shot (but their system was down so I had to reschedule). I finally settled back in at home around 7:30 and drifted off to sleep. This was a good first cycle for Abrome as a Self-Directed Education community heading outdoors amid a pandemic. In the coming days I’ll be able to better reflect on the cycle and what we can do to make the experience better for the members of the community.

Day 15 of AY20-21: our first scheduled remote day of the year

Yesterday was the first of our two planned remote days for the cycle, and the first two of our 14 total planned remote days for the year. We have had, and will have unplanned remote days, as well. For example, we were forced to go remote because of all-day thunderstorms twice before in this first cycle of the 2020-2021 academic year. And there are bound to be more days with thunderstorms, or freezing rain, or tornado watches at some point. In a worse case scenario, someone in our community could contract Covid-19 and their cell would then be forced to go remote. But our planned remote days are proactive as opposed to reactive, so that we can reduce the likelihood of the spread of Covid-19 in our community while still allowing Learners and Facilitators to come together in-person. The planned remote days provide enough time between cycles to watch for developing symptoms that would prevent us from bringing people back together in new cells when the next cycle begins.

Our planned remote days are also different than our unplanned ones. When we have to shut down for the day due to inclement weather we are scrambling to let the families know by 7 a.m. that we cannot meet in-person that day. We update the website, we update the internal Facebook group, and we text and email the families. We let the Learners know with a Discord update, as well. And then we might go ahead and propose some offerings during the day. There is usually a sense of disappointment from Facilitators and Learners alike when we cannot be together, although that might change when the freezing rain comes. But when we have a planned remote day there is no rush to figure out what the plan for the day is or to update the families. We have most likely already prepared some online offerings that Learners can opt into. And while it is not as fun as meeting in person, at least it was anticipated.

Our first planned remote day

Yesterday we started our day with a 10 a.m. morning meeting. We were not broken up by operating cell on this planned remote day, and we had three Facilitators and seven Learners show up for the meeting. A pleasant moment at the beginning of the meeting was a young Learner seeing Facilitator Lauren and saying, “I know you.” The young Learner had previously attended a nearby nature school where Lauren had been an outdoor educator, and they were in the same group there. Each Learner reflected on their first three weeks together in their cells, and then shared their intentions for the day.

Once the meeting was over I stuck around for my crossword puzzle offering which no one but another Facilitator showed up for. The crosswords seem to have more of an appeal to Learners in-person, even though they cannot see the crossword puzzle when we are together because of physical distancing, while they can easily see it on a shared screen when we are remote. So I spent that time discussing things that needed to get done at Abrome over the next few days. I then worked on setting up a check-in with one of the newer Learners and then dropped in on Facilitator Lauren’s artist studio hangout offering, where one Learner was hanging out. At 12 p.m. we had the check-in meeting with the newer Learner.

At 1 p.m. I hosted the make noise offering—an invitation for Learners to bring whatever instruments they wanted to learn how to play, or already knew how to play, and make noise with me. I had recently bought a ukulele to strum while I am out with my operating cell on lazier days, and this offering gave me the chance to play around with it for the first time. A younger Learner brought his guitar with him, and we talked about how he was learning how to play and my confusion over the sheets of music that came with the ukulele. The Learner was shocked that at my age I did not know how to play a ukulele, and I explained that the learning process is largely the same no matter what age we begin to learn something. The Learner soon got bored talking about guitars and ukuleles and proposed that we play the number game that we were doing when we were remote last year. I soon realized he was talking about sudoku, so I pulled up a puzzle to solve.

After the make noise offering I stuck around to help make sure that the Pictionary offering had the the support it needed before I headed to the park. At least one Learner, also a newer Learner, had arrived by the time I left, so that felt good. I headed to the park with Cuddle Buddies Ingrid and Ivan, and a 5-gallon bucket, to fulfill one of my daily intentions which was to check on the tadpoles that we had been taking care of. When I arrived I was dismayed to see one of the puddles almost dried out, with a bit of water and what looked to be lots of tadpoles bunched together. I went to the lake and filled up the 5-gallon bucket with water and returned to the puddle and poured it out, and repeated the process over and over again. It was not long before I noticed lots of the little creatures swimming around again, but when I looked closer I was stunned to see that they had turned into frogs over the weekend! I immediately shared the update with the Learners on Discord and then let Ingrid and Ivan explore a bit, before returning in time for the afternoon roundup.

Tiny, cute, and most importantly, alive!

At the afternoon roundup, which had all three Facilitators but only four Learners present, I shared a video of the little frogs thriving. One of the younger Learners offered to lead the meeting and he asked how we all did with our intentions for the day, as well as what bird we were feeling like. One Learner felt like a vulture, one like a parakeet, and two said they didn’t feel like birds but they felt like a human. Next we shared announcements and then adjourned the meeting.

I felt great about my day in terms of getting most of my goals accomplished. I woke up early and got a run in, I interact with most of the Learners on either Zoom or Discord, I got to check in with the Facilitators, I had a formal check-in with a Learner, and I found out that many of the tadpoles had survived to become frogs! But I also missed the conversations that I could have had if we were meeting in-person. And I was disappointed that several Learners did not check in during the day. I continue to struggle with the frustration of remote or virtual gatherings being a poor but (in this case) necessary substitute for meeting in-person.

Day 14 of AY20-21: can outdoor learning work for adolescents?

Central to our vision of what makes Self-Directed Education work for young people (and one of the reasons conventional schooling does not) is age mixing. We do not segregate Learners by age, and can have Learners as young as four-years-old and as old as nineteen in the same space (currently our youngest is six-years-old and our oldest is eighteen). We have talked about and written about the many benefits of age-mixing, as have many others. It generally gives younger Learners people that they can look up to, mimic, and learn from. It generally gives older Learners the opportunity to see themselves as protectors and mentors, to practice leadership skills, and most importantly, to develop empathy. Mixed-age environments are much more likely to become dynamic learning environments as Learners more naturally fall into supportive roles for each other because of the acceptance of variable developmental stages, based on interests as well as capabilities, and because age-based comparisons are not omnipresent. And without the social pressure to outperform or have power over, peer bullying becomes much less likely, as well. There are very few downsides to mixed-age environment.

One of the few downsides to mixed-age environments, though, is that if there are too few Learners it can make it more challenging for some of the adolescents to want to spend their day in that environment. Adolescents, after all, tend to be hyper focused on identify formation and building relationships with others, and that is most easily done around other adolescents. That is why we have met far too many teens who have hated school, who were being harmed by school, who wanted nothing to do with school, but who still went to school just to be around their same-aged friends. Or worse, just to be around same-aged peers that they had hoped could become their friends, someday.

At Abrome, during this pandemic, we are meeting in small groups of four to seven Learners each, for three-week in-person cycles. This means that any given group may only have two or three adolescents in them. But one of the adolescents chose to be remote for most of the first cycle because of allergies and Covid concerns, while another went to Indiana to help the grandparents move, and another those to go remote until October to tie up some personal projects. With those teens out, mixed with the relative discomfort of being outdoors during Covid-19, something older Learners who have not spent a lot of time outdoors have had a more difficult time with than younger Learners, we saw that other adolescent Learners chose to stay at home far more than we anticipated in the first cycle.

On Friday, a day after we had a blast at the cookout together, only one Learner showed up at Abrome in my cell. Not an adolescent. One of the Learners was in quarantine after returning to Austin from Indiana, and another was unable to attend because they were staying with a different family member for the end of the week. But four others stayed home, and this was on the tail end of a week where attendance was spotty for each of the four (sometimes scheduled appointments, often not). It seems that when one stays home, the others notice, and then the others feel less of a need to show up because they don’t know if the others will show up. This challenging situation is made more difficult by the fact that two of them are new Learners who are still getting to know the other Learners. So I have been thinking about what we can do to change the situation so that we are coming together, building community with each other, instead of becoming a drop-in, add-on program for homeschoolers (something we never want to become).

Attendance is optional at Abrome. We have never demanded that Learners show up a certain number of hours or days a week because we want each to have the flexibility to travel, participate in community events, become an apprentice, take a community college course, stay home when they need a break, or more importantly, to stay home when they are sick. And we think this is a pretty critical feature of a Self-Directed Education community so we are not going to change that. But we need the adolescents to show up consistently.

We are still going to be outdoors. In the heat and cold, the sun and the rain. The pandemic demands that of us, as bringing them together indoors would not only put them, their families, and Facilitators at risk of contracting Covid-19, but it would also be a public health risk that potentially contributed to the spread of Covid-19. We chose to go outdoors this year so we could more safely come together in community with each other. And we are still going to be in small operating cells while (local) community spread of Covid-19 is still present. And looking at recent indicators it does not look like we are doing enough as a society to bring infections down.

Right now I am thinking that there are two things we can do to get adolescents to want to be at Abrome every day, instead of just on the most comfortable days. One is to ask for a firm commitment from the Learners of meeting remotely or in-person, as opposed to providing the flexibility to just drift in and out. That way most Learners will know exactly who is in their operating cell and who will show up. The second is, for the next cycle only, to break the cells up into age bands so that the adolescents all get to be in one group for the full cycle. Then hopefully they will create stronger bonds with each other and that will allow them to more eagerly show up for each other, even when we revert to mixed-age operating cells in November. Neither of these are certain, and I will be meeting with Learners and the Facilitators to discuss these options, but I am hopeful that this may help address the adolescent Learners’ needs.

So how did day 14 at Abrome go? Well, for the one Learner who showed up it was a pretty great day. First, he got the full attention of not just two Facilitators, but also a prospective Facilitator who shadowed for the day. I am pretty sure our 1:3 Learner-to-Facilitator ratio trumped the student-to-teacher ratio at any other educational setting anywhere in Texas, on Friday. I brought Cuddle Buddies Ingrid and Ivan to Abrome for the day, and he was attached to one of them, switching off between them, for almost the entire day. We started the day with a hike to the top of the park where we held our morning meeting. Then after spending a good amount of time at the top (where I logged into the morning check-in for remote Learners, and Facilitator Lauren broke out some sketching materials) we decided to go on a hike.

Our lunch spot on Day 14

The hike was intended to be shorter than the hike we took on Monday, but longer than the other hikes we have taken because we wanted to rediscover the waterfall and pool that we discovered on Monday. After a few wrong turns and detours we found the waterfall and pool and settled in for lunch. Facilitator Lauren made her way into the pool to a moss covered rock while the Learner looked on and contemplated joining. He didn’t, but he did practice throwing sticks across the pool toward the rocky outcrop that the water was falling over.

The tadpoles are doing alright

We eventually moved up over another hill and down across the same stream at a different point, and then worked our way back down toward the lake with a stop off to refill our water bottles. By the time we got to the lake there were a good number of people in the park. We did a lot of people watching, especially the people who were slackening on webbing that they strung across the inlet. The prospective Facilitator talked to the other Facilitators about what Abrome does, and also spent a good amount of time engaged in conversation with the young Learner. I checked on the state of the tadpoles (they were still alive, although fewer in number), and then I jumped in the lake a couple of times. Facilitator Lauren also jumped in the lake to cool down.

After my afternoon check-in with the remote Learners, the four of us made our way back to the pickup location. On the way, at 3:30 p.m., we stopped for our afternoon roundup. We not only reflected on the day but also on the three week in-person cycle we were wrapping up. We then did gratitudes which was a wonderful way to wrap up our day. By the time we returned to the pickup spot, the Learner’s parents were there waiting and he said goodbye and jumped in the car, and we were able to have a short conversation with them before they drove off. The three remaining adults stuck around for some conversation before the prospective Facilitator decided to take off, too. Facilitator Lauren and I wrapped up some loose ends in our conversation and discussed the virtual info session that would be held the next morning for prospective Learners and their families.

Day 13 of AY20-21: our first cookout day

This year I’ve been trying to do certain things to take care of myself so that I can better take care of others within the community. One of them is sleeping at least eight hours a night, and going to bed by 9p so that I can wake up by 5a. And I’ve done a really good job of that over the first three weeks of the new academic year. But Wednesday night that was difficult with the news coming out of Louisville that the police officers who killed Breonna Taylor in her own apartment were going to get away with it. Well, they did not completely get off. One of them was indicted for putting her White neighbors’ lives at risk by hitting their wall with bullets that were intended for Taylor. After spending much of the last eight years consumed with pushing back against police brutality and the police state, the outcome did not surprise me. But it still hurt and I could not sleep.

I woke up on Thursday morning hoping to make the most of my day, and I had a lot in store for the day. We had planned to make Thursday a cookout day in the park for our cell. So when I woke up I collected the items that I committed to bringing, some of which I got at the grocery store on Wednesday evening and some of which I had to prepare, such as boiling and cutting potatoes. I then settled in to write a quick blog post recapping Wednesday at Abrome. My blog posts do not typically get written quickly, but with so much to do that morning and not feeling as well rested as I have been recently, I had to really focus. I have also committed to writing with a friend of mine, so three times a week we log onto Zoom at 7a and we write. It has been helpful in terms of keeping me focused and honoring that time for writing.

By the time I arrived at our meet up location that morning, my mind was busy thinking about the day to come. Facilitator Lauren was already there when I arrived, so we began to discuss the coming day as we double checked the cookout supplies we had brought. And slowly the Learners began to show up, and unlike the prior few days lots of them showed up. And the Learners showed up with the foods and supplies they agreed to bring to support the cookout.

Prepping firewood for the fire

We agreed to move out as quickly as possible to our cookout location near the lake. Fortunately, one of the Abrome parents lent us a cart to help us transport all of the food and cooking gear, which made the hike much more manageable. When we arrived at the lake we did our best to hold everyone’s attention during the morning meeting where we shared two types of intentions for the day: what we wanted to get done, and in what approach we were going to take toward the unfolding events of the day. Some of us were focused on the outcome of the cookout, and some of us were focused on enjoying the process of it. It was nice to hear both perspectives. We talked about how we were going to handle food in a sanitary way (e.g., not mixing tools for meats and vegetables), particularly with regard to Covid-19 (e.g., only one person handles any particular utensil, no communal dipping of chips). We also discussed what it meant to participate in the process—do we just show up after others did all the work and make our s’mores and leave, or do we help collect firewood, tend to the fire, and clean up, as well? We also reviewed our awarenesses and practices and then jumped into the work of collecting firewood.

As expected, some Learners were quickly drawn into the idea of making s’mores while others really dove into preparing the space so that that was possible. After I jumped off my call with remote Learners I joined in on collecting firewood but then got into a brief discussion with a Learner on the efficacy of rioting in response to injustice. We had different takes on it but we were able to begin to work through what violence is, whether actions that don’t result in change are worthwhile, and conversely whether actions that do produce change are justified. Once we had the fire up and running we began the work of preparing the food, in addition to encouraging Learners to gather more firewood so that we could keep the fire going. A couple of the Learners did their s’mores and then stepped out.

Cooking kebabs and baked eggs in peppers

My focus was on making the home fries that I started on early that morning. I had never made home fries so I was not quite sure that they would turn out very well, as my first attempts at any new foods are typically less than stellar, if edible. But home fries seemed like a great cookout food with lots of room for error. I oiled up the skillet with olive oil (butter did not work for everyone), added the potatoes, liberally sprinkled on fresh ground salt and pepper, and then Facilitator Lauren gave me some peppers and onions to add to the mix. I mixed them until they were brown and was shocked by how delicious they turned out. When they hit other people’s plates it was topped with some Cholula sauce. The dish received positive marks from all that chose to eat it.

Look at that kebab (and the dog running in the background)

Meanwhile, Facilitator Lauren and another Learner prepared baked eggs in peppers and kebabs that would be cooked over the fire they made. Once these items were placed in the fire Facilitator Lauren also prepared guacamole. Another Learner then pulled out some hotdogs and buns and tried to cook them over the fire. Multiple buns were lost to the fire. I passed on the hotdogs and kebabs (I’m a vegetarian) but I did get to try the freshly made guacamole and it was delicious. No one seemed disappointed by the quality of the food we made and most of us were stuffed by the time that we put out the fire. Although one Learner did develop a stomachache from the large amount of chocolate and marshmallows that he ingested.

One of the Learners ventured off while we were cooking and positioned himself in the middle of the field. We were not quite sure what he was doing, but eventually it was revealed that he was creating a marshmallow shrine for a new marshmallow cult he was birthing. Last year at Abrome there was a cactus cult, so I assumed that the new cult would displace the old one. I was wrong. The Learner posted the announcement of the new cult on the Abrome Discord channel and it led to an immediate backlash from the older Learners in the other cell. Apparently the cactus cult was still alive, and a debate ensued on which cult was more powerful. I’m hoping the cult war does not extend beyond the server.

Shots fired on Discord

Aside from the delicious food and the establishment of a new cult and the ensuing cult wars it was a relatively relaxed day. The sun came out and people began to move toward the dock. I eventually jumped in the water to cool down, although no one followed me in. I pulled out some sidewalk chalk and the Learners began to tag the dock, with marshmallow cult messages, of course. And before we knew it our day was coming to a close. I jumped onto the afternoon check-in with remote Learners, and then we cleaned up the area to include clearing out the fireplace we made.

Once the site was clean, we began to walk back toward the pickup point and stopped at 3:30p for our afternoon roundup. I asked if anyone wanted to be the gamemaster and everyone passed, so I decided that we would sit in a circle for the meeting so we could give each other our attention. At that point one of the Learners objected to sitting so I again offered him the opportunity to be the game master, and this time he took it. He said for the meeting we would stand and we would jump in when we wanted to say something. I asked if anyone wanted to Facilitate the meeting and a new Learner volunteered. She asked the group how they did with their intentions for the day, and invited everyone to share their rose-bud-thorn for the day. It turned out to be a really great day for everyone, and the only downside to the day seemed to be the s’mores induced stomachache for the youngest Learner.

When I returned home I had to take care of Cuddle Buddies Ivan and Ingrid who were inside all day, and then prepare for a 5:30p call with a prospective family and then jump on my 6p Education Conversations book group call. It wasn’t until after the call that I had the time to once again think about Breonna Taylor and the deep injustices that are a feature of our society. And to think about all the energy and lives that have been lost in the never-ending struggle for liberation. And as I reflected on my day I felt good that at least in my little corner of the world we were practicing freedom.

Long live the marshmallow cult! (and the cactus cult)

Day 12 of AY20-21: the social challenges of small operating cells

Two of the younger Learners in our cell have been joined at the hip since we came back together on September 8th. But starting on Wednesday, one of them was scheduled to be out for the rest of the week. For the remaining younger learner, the only living organisms that can he wants to play with as much as the Learner who was going to be absent are the Abrome Cuddle Buddies (dogs). And because the weather was going to be perfect (not too hot, not too cold), I decided to bring Cuddle Buddies Ingrid and Ivan out with us.

Starting our day with a hike up the hill

Unfortunately, the Learner who informed us that they were going to be out for the rest of the week, and the Learner who is in a different state helping their grandparents were not the only Learners who were out on day twelve of the new academic year. Three of the Learners decided to stay home for various reasons, leaving our cell with only two Learners, again.

We have always valued Learners having the option to come and go as they please, so long as they are active members of the community. Attendance has always been optional, and we don’t have a minimum number of days or hours Learners have to be present each week. This gives Abrome Learners lots of flexibility to travel, take classes at the community college, participate in sports or other activities that tend to take place during after school hours, participate in an apprenticeship, or just take a day off when they need to recharge. It also helps promote staying home when a Learner is feeling sick so that they don’t end up making others sick—something that is particularly important during a pandemic.

But with freedom comes challenges, for Abrome. If the Learners are never around then they are not really helping us co-create culture nor are they really a part of the community. And then the question becomes, why are they not around? Is there something happening at Abrome that they don’t feel good about? Do their parents or guardians want them here more than they want to be here? Do they have social anxiety that makes coming really difficult, even if they want to be here? Or is it that they really want to be around particular Abrome Learners, but if those Learners are not available then maybe they should stay home, which could create an unfortunate feedback loop.

During this pandemic the challenge is complicated by our small operating cells. We limited the size of our operating cells to four to seven Learners, each, to limit our community’s exposure to Covid-19. Because we also believe in mixed-age environments, that means that any given Learner may only have one or two Learners in their general age range at a time. And if those Learners are inconsistent in their attendance, then the remaining Learner may be left wanting for peer interaction. And now that we are outside, some Learners, especially older Learners, have been less eager to come every day, especially if the weather is not great.

I am not sure how we are going to deal with this challenge. Should we try to organize the cells by age bracket? Or do we group cells so that Learners are more often with the Learners they most want to be around? Do we trust that as the Learners get used to being outside they will show up more often? Do we mandate attendance? No, of course we don’t mandate attendance, but if someone never shows up it is worth wondering if that spot is better filled by someone who will show up. I have also had all the members of the community fill out an exposure survey, and we will be reviewing that, and that may permit us to have larger operating cells which could certainly help. Although that is by no means certain. I will be revisiting this issue over the ‘off-week‘ with the other Facilitators so we can figure out how to best support everyone in the community.

A panoramic view from the top, with Cuddle Buddies

Remote turnout was good, though

For the Learners who did show up, we had a good morning meeting and then we agreed to take a hike uphill toward the top of the park with the Cuddle Buddies. I absolutely love hikes to start the day and I hope that this becomes a regular practice. Of course to do so as a group requires that everyone has the ability and willingness to do so, which we had on Wednesday. When we got to the top of the hill we had an absolutely gorgeous view to match the perfect weather, and we settled in for some conversation while I prepared for the morning check-in with the remote Learners. There was a good turnout of remote Learners which allowed for a healthy discussion on the new game a Learner just downloaded to her phone.

After the remote meeting ended I tuned back in the conversation with the Learners and Facilitator Lauren at the top of the hill. Lauren introduced a riddle to the older Learner and he struggled with it for a surprisingly short amount of time before cracking the code. He has always enjoyed a good riddle, and it would be a good idea to continue bringing riddles to challenge him this year. Unfortunately the hike to the top was without backpacks for the Learners, so we couldn’t spend our day up there as their lunches were in their bags. So we eventually headed back down toward the meeting area, collected the bags, and then headed back to our usual location near the lake.

Another challenge of operating in small cells, especially when attendance is low, is that there can be a limitation on interest to do things together. In Self-Directed Education environments we benefit from each person added to the environment because they bring with them all their unique experiences, interests, knowledge, and skills. But the fewer people who are present, the fewer opportunities to marry one person’s interest with another person’s curiosity. And on this day, when we pulled out our foldable chairs and set them up, we anchored ourselves into position for much of the rest of the day. We were around each other, and available for each other, but the dynamism that typically flows through an SDE space was absent. This led too quickly to looking at the phone instead of at each other and at the amazing things that were happening around us. And to be honest, it did not feel that good. I later reflected that in the after action review with the other Facilitators at the end of the day.

A non-native Egyptian Goose

Fortunately there was nature around us to pull us out of our phones and into the world around us. Like the Egyptian Goose who was hanging out near where we set up. Or the fish that were jumping in the lake behind us, and the large catfish that a nearby fisherman caught. There was also the young Learner rediscovering a feather of a woodpecker that they had been looking at on Tuesday, and then the discovery of a bunch of holes in the tree the feather was found under. Holes that were clustered in horizontal lines around the tree, and that were presumably created by the same woodpecker.

The slower day also allowed me to present a Self-Directed Education offering so that Facilitator Lauren and I could discuss how to facilitate in more difficult situations. We also held a meeting for the cookout we planned for Thursday. It was during this meeting that a group of young people from a homeschool pod came into the park. Drawn in by the dogs, they approached us but they did not have their masks on. I was pleasantly surprised to see our Learners create distance for themselves from the young homeschoolers who were not wearing masks.

As the day came to a close we checked in with the Learners at the afternoon roundup. While I felt the day was challenging because of the smaller numbers and the more sedentary afternoon, the Learners were feeling pretty good. The weather and the Cuddle Buddies clearly helped. I also later learned that a Learner got hit in the chin with a rock in the other cell, and I reminded myself that slower is not always necessarily bad.

Day 11 of AY20-21: working on honoring boundaries

On Tuesday the weather looked to take a turn for the better, although it was still forecasted to rain through the morning. I anticipated more Learners showing up on day eleven than on day ten, but our numbers decreased. Two Learners chose to stay home because of the weather, two others stayed home to order clothes better suited for rainy and cold weather, and another is still out of state. Meanwhile, the other cell started the day with more Learners than we did, although they didn’t finish the day that way. More on that later.

We believe in play at Abrome—lots of it

With so few Learners in our cell on Tuesday we had lots of flexibility to entertain the wants of the Learners. During our morning meeting we shared what we were excited to do during the day, we reviewed our awarenesses (five of them) and the practices we are working on this week, and then we played a game that we made up that morning. Everyone was really into the game, and we had been playing for over thirty minutes when we finally got tired (some sprinting was involved for the more eager participants) and decided it was time to move on with our day.

Picturesque, indeed

One Learner said they wanted to move back to the lake (which they had not been to since last week) while Facilitator Lauren said that she was hoping to go on a hike instead of going straight to the lake. We found a good compromise is taking what we assumed would be a short detour down a path that we found on Monday. And it was a beautiful, short hike. Along the way we came across a bunch of ants frantically working, a picturesque tree and grapevine that framed the trail, and a rusted metal frame of some sort that was certainly out of place along the side of the trail. One of the Learners and Facilitator Lauren talked about magic and superheroes during the walk.

Because of the longer game we played in the morning meeting, I was rushed to set up the zoom room for the remote Learners when I arrived at the lake. And after the morning meeting we checked on the tadpoles we had been helping out. We were thrilled to see the puddles were larger than we had ever seen them before, and the remaining tadpoles bigger and much more lively than they were last Friday.

Digging a “baby trap” is hard work (play)

While we were not surprised to see so few people in the park on Monday, because of the weather, we were surprised to not see many people in the park on Tuesday. Rain was forecasted in the morning but it never materialized, and the weather turned out to be quite beautiful, if not sunny. Throughout the day we didn’t even see any boats on the lake—noticing only one person going by on a jet ski. And although getting wet was a problem the day before for the Learners, they had no problem getting wet on this day. Specifically, they began digging in the sand on a small inlet on the shore of the lake. They said they were digging a “baby trap” (no babies were harmed), and it required some frantic efforts that splashed water all over their shirts and their pants. In addition to the weather being more welcoming, they appeared to be dressed in clothing that pulled the water off the skin, as opposed to holding it agains the skin as cotton does.

The most challenging part of the day was addressing boundaries; a challenge for my cell and the other Abrome cell. In my cell there was some throwing of small sticks, tossing of sand, and kicking water at others in a joking manner, but without consent. We raised the awareness multiple times and that helped modify the behavior. But addressing the issue of boundaries and consent seemed to leave one of the Learners a bit embarrassed or insecure, and they reverted to insulting me. The Learner received direct feedback from me and Facilitator Lauren about this, and we pointed to our principles, agreements, and the practices we were working on that addressed why the behavior was problematic and how we were working together on it to improve the culture at Abrome.

Shortly thereafter the Learners ran up the hill to hang out at a favorite spot. But because of the recent rains and occasionally strong wind gusts we asked them to not hang out under the pecan trees. The young Learner who was having difficulties with the boundaries previously mentioned began yelling over us asking them to please move away from the pecan trees. This led to a conversation about how when it comes to safety boundaries we will be directive if we need to be to protect everyone in the community. I was then told by Facilitator Jennifer in the other cell that the day was ending early for some of the younger Learners because they had ventured off beyond an agreed upon distance. The Learners, one of who needs support for spatial awareness, had been reminded multiple times to honor the safety boundary and had been told that if they couldn’t honor that that they would need to go home for the day. So Facilitator Jennifer called their parents for an early pickup and had a conversation with them about why safety boundaries are important to us as a community, even if we are far more willing than most to allow them to engage in risky play. One of the Learners replied, “Jennifer, I like you, but you just ruined my day.”

Post-difficult boundaries conversation at our cell, the Learners were back at playing in the water, talking to the Facilitators, and hanging out on the dock. One of the Learners focused on a fairly large rock and decided to see if he could lift it. He could not, but he could roll it into the lake. We decided to bring the rock back out of the lake so that I could see how big of a splash it would make if thrown in the lake from overhead. I don’t know if it was bad form on my part or the angle of the rock face when it went in the water but I got soaked in the process.

Meme shared by the South Austin Unschoolers

Side note: Facilitator Lauren took a video of me throwing the rock into the lake, and in my phone when I went to look at the photos and videos for this blog post, I saw next to it a picture I got from the South Austin Unschoolers group on Facebook about the stress of e-learning coming at parents who have their kids in conventional schools while unschooled parents look on, untouched. I think I could make a meme where in the video I am conventional school leaders, the rock is their (indoor) school reopening plans, and the water splashing back on them is Covid-19 cases.

Talk about a cute baby turtle

Facilitator Lauren later found a feather and took it to the Learners to see if they could identify the bird it came from by comparing it to the images in a field guide she pulled out. And then I found the cutest little baby turtle floating in the lake that we pulled out and looked at. One of the Learners was quite concerned about the welfare of the turtle and suggested that we put it back in the water and let it alone, so we did.

I then stepped away for a quick afternoon check-in with a remote Learner. We discussed the upcoming Scary Story offering that they are hosting, and I received updates on the creepy decorations she was adding to her Halloween themed bedroom. After the remote check-in, I joined the afternoon roundup for everyone present at the lake. We each shared the best thing about our day, the worst thing about our day, and the second best thing about our day. We also played a drinking game of “never have I ever” so that each Learner and Facilitator could get more water in them. We ended our day with a short walk back to the pickup location where the Learners rides were waiting for them. It was a good day, with great weather, and very needed conversations about boundaries. It was one of those days that will help make future days even better.

Day 10 of AY20-21: a commitment to outdoor learning

Another one of the beautiful things about Self-Directed Education is the novelty that comes with living our lives in the world, and having the opportunity to enjoy and explore the opportunities that come our way, or that we create. At Abrome we don’t have to adhere to a standardized curriculum that limits those opportunities to a tiny sliver of what is possible, as determined by some board of education. And going outdoors this year has given us multiple such opportunities each day. On Monday that was being outdoors in the rain, all day.

I woke up at 5:00 a.m. to go on a run, and after I got back and took a shower I checked the weather forecast for the day. The forecast was rain all day, but because the temperatures were going to be hovering around 70 degrees with no sign of thunderstorms there was no need to cancel Abrome for the day. We made a commitment to outdoor learning so that Learners and Facilitators could safely come together and practice building community with each other during this pandemic, and that means even when the weather is not great. We are also lucky to be in Austin, TX, where cold and miserable here is laughable to folks in many northern states. But, we acclimate to the climate that we live in and we all want to be comfortable, so I get finding 70 degrees and wet in Austin in September to be uncomfortable.

When I arrived at our meet up location I found Facilitator Lauren and we debated how many Learners would be with us on our first rain day. We already expected to be missing some Learners as two had previously scheduled appointments and one is still out of state. Of the other four, only one decided to sit out the rain day. The other cell was not as fortunate, with every Learner opting to stay home for a variety of reasons or needs.

Jumping for joy? Or jumping on a flower?

After the Learners arrived we asked them what they wanted to do. One Learner wanted to go toward the lake, but we asked if they would be willing to go on a hike that morning. Facilitator Lauren and I discussed the benefit of going on a hike to get physically active early in the day, and to prevent everyone from getting stuck just sitting in the rain. Each Learner agreed that a hike would be worthwhile, and that we would head uphill first, with the caveat that the hike eventually took us to the lake.

Scaling down a steep slope

The hike was great fun, challenging, and wet. The rain soon started to come down on us as we were scaling the first hill, and by the time we reached the top we each had started to develop our personal opinions on the merits of wearing raincoats, ponchos, or going without. Some of us enjoyed the views from the top of the hill, while one was eager to get moving. We eventually headed out by moving laterally at essentially the same elevation along the edge of the park. This then took us down some steeper slopes where we practiced various techniques of movement such as walking sideways to increase friction with the ground, or scooting down on our butts, or turning around and holding onto branches.

Along the way we took time out to enjoy nature and beautiful settings. For example, we found some mushrooms that looked like perfectly cooked pancakes (just brown enough), some moss coated trees, and occasionally really beautiful vistas when we came through a clearing. We also came across a really lovely waterfall that one Learner wanted to get a picture in front of so I could share it with her mom. It was at that site that one of the Learners slipped as they were crossing over some rocks and partially fell into the water. While he was already wet from the rain, that only increased the degree of wetness for him.

Scaling back up

After that we scaled another hill, and then had a more gentle descent until we found a stream crossing that led us back to a more familiar location that we had all been to before. This led us back to the drop-off location, where we arrived two hours after we started our hike, and everyone quickly settled in for lunch.

Even though the temperature was around 70 degrees, now that we were stationary, and wet, we began to feel the cold. One of the Learners was particularly wet (the one who fell in the stream) and was visibly cold. We asked him if we could give him a coat or a poncho to warm up, and he eventually let us know that he had a raincoat in his bag the entire time. Facilitator Lauren asked him if he would be willing to trade out his wet t-shirt for the raincoat and he said no, but eventually Lauren convinced him that it was worth trading out.

Wood carving as a group for the first time this year

I had just gotten a bunch of wood carving knives sharpened so I asked the Learners if they wanted to carve some wood. One indicated an interest in it, so Facilitator Lauren found a Ligustrum (privet) tree, an invasive species, and took a branch so we could practice carving. We have an awareness about knife safety on our community awareness board right now, and two practices we are currently focused on, so it was great to be able to take advantage of the rainy weather to work with the knives.

Some of the Learners took cover at the end of the day

When we were done carving I asked the Learners what they wanted to do next. The answer was basically to sit there, in the rain. We talked about the benefits of being able to sit with discomfort, but I wondered if it might be better to do so where we had more cover. So we all agreed to move to a place that had an awning to set up at. With about two hours left in the day, most of us sat there (masked up), some of us talking, one collecting various plants, another proving to us that he didn’t mind standing in the rain. We played some word games to pass the tie and we talked about ways that we could make rainy days more interesting. By the end of the day the conversation turned to how we were going to warm up when we got home (e.g., drink hot chocolate, eat hot soup, get a hot shower, wrap up in a blanket).

All in all it was a wonderful day for those who showed up, although they may tell you differently. There was some disagreement on what was the best and worst part of the day, with three of us agreeing that the hike was the best part of the day, and two others agreeing that it was the worst part of the day. It was also a great way to learn the lesson that being wet can make us feel cold, and that there are ways that we can dress to help protect us fro that feeling. I shared the following in an email to families in the evening for the benefit of those who did not get to learn the lessons first hand, and for the guardians:

Some of the Learners had a tough time with the weather today because of clothing issues. Many outdoor schools have a saying—there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing choices. Fortunately, our first wet day was on a relatively warm day (70 degrees) as opposed to a cold day, so the learning was uncomfortable but not dangerously so. When we are wet we can easily feel 10 degrees colder than the outside temperature, so it is important that we do our best not to get wet, and that we dress for that possibility. 

… Wet cotton on the skin can feel nice on hot days because it sticks to the body and stays wet, and does a great job removing heat from the body. Unfortunately when it gets colder this is a dangerous situation. There’s another saying that is popular with those who spend a lot of time in the outdoors—cotton kills. Here is a short article which explains why that is. So if you can get your Learner to wear wool, polyester, nylon, silk, or the other fabrics mentioned in the article that would be great. This goes for underwear, socks, and pants, as well. Jeans are not a good option, either.

I also updated our planning document for the year to make more explicit the importance of not wearing cotton against the skin, and I added a suggestion of bringing some extra clothes in a ziplock bag that Learners can change into if they do get wet and want to change into dryer clothes.

The forecast for Tuesday starts out similarly wet and cool. And I can’t wait to be outdoors again, and I hope lots of Learners join us.

The waterfall we found provided the best shot of the day

Day 9 of AY20-21: supporting others

Week two of our entirely outdoor, pandemic, not-schooling experience is in the books at Abrome!

This week the Cell 1 did some exploring. I- and J- found a looooooooong tunnel that opened to a giant reed forest, which I- used to build a house complete with wind-chimes. L- created watercolor paint out of sidewalk chalk and created a new language that is a hybrid of sounds and motions. A- spent much of the week hiking and finding some excellent chill spots. There were also several up close encounters with spiders, snakes, and bees (ouch), and the outdoor learning is off the charts for Cell 1.

Cell 2 had one constant theme this week—save the tadpoles! We first noticed hundreds of tadpoles in two puddles by the lake last Friday, and each day we have attempted to replace the water that had evaporated away between visits. When we arrived on Friday, after the remote day on Thursday, we had go all out to quickly add water to the muddy remnants of the puddles to save the ones that were borrowed in the mud, clinging to life. Fortunately many of them survived and we left on Friday having overfilled the puddles in the hopes that it can get the tadpoles through the weekend. But tadpole saving was not all we did. Some Learners enjoyed painting with water colors, especially A-, and J1- spent much of her time crocheting. We got to meet an African Grey Parrot who visited with her human, and some of us let it rest on our arms or shoulders. A- and J2- tried to make pottery by collecting clay, forming pieces, collecting firewood, starting a fire, and heating up their pieces with the fire. Antonio and M1- went on several hikes to the top of the park, with M2- joining us for one of them. Lauren, M1-, and A- also explored a part of the park none of us had been to before. William brought binoculars to boat watch and he shared pics of his cats and his dog Hunter with others. J1- talked with the Facilitators about how to apply to jobs and how to apply to college and is going to be researching that a bit more. And both M1- and M2- stepped out of their comfort zone to do a flocking activity with the Facilitators. Finally, multiple Learners dipped their toes in the cold lake and J1-, Lauren, and Antonio all took the plunge.

We had three Learners who were primarily remote this week and we miss their presence, a lot. G- is apparently spending a lot of time coding while K- is still in Indiana helping his parents move into their new place. R- has been scheming for Halloween and will soon have a published book that will be added to the Abrome library. All the Learners went remote on Thursday as we had another thunderstorm rainout. We had four offerings on the day, including a Scary Story offering led by R-. What a wonderful surprise it was that L- is also into scary stories and was able to contribute a story to the offering as well. Turnout for the “I’m thinking of a thing” game was strong, and 10 Learners dropped in for the afternoon roundup. 

If I could summarize what day 9 was for my cell it would be supporting others. Two sibling Learners arrived in unhappy moods and were carrying with them a conflict that started at home. In small communities like ours, the attitudes of any individual can have an outsized influence on the rest of the people in the space. With a heaviness in the air, we started our day and worked through the morning meeting without being able to realize the benefits of a community coming together and connecting. But sometimes that happens and that’s okay.

Facilitator Lauren and I talked after the meeting as we all began to walk to our agreed upon destination, and we decided that each of us would try to find time to connect with each of the sibling Learners separately to see if we could support them. One of the Learners quickly came to me to tell me some of her struggles with the morning and with her relationship with her brother. I listened and validated her feelings, and asked some questions about how I might be able to be of service to her.

When we arrived at our destination we settled into our weekly Check-in and Change-up meetings where we raise awarenesses and develop practices that allow us to improve the culture of Abrome so that it supports everyone. Among the new awarenesses raised were the difficult topics of teasing and Learners not feeling like they fit into the group. Some of the practices raised seemed like great ways to begin to address the awarenesses, and thereby the needs of the group, and I left the meeting feeling really good about how we were co-creating culture together.

This was one of the puddles soon after we added the first couple of gallons of water

After the Check-in and Change-up, three Learners began putting together their foldable chairs, a couple ran off to play, and I headed toward the puddles to see how the tadpoles were doing. Except the puddles were now just mud, and it looked as though there were no live tadpoles left. We jumped into action and began ferrying water from the lake to the mud which soon became puddles again. To our relief many of the tadpoles seemed to come back to life and began swimming around. Although many of them died and their numbers were decidedly smaller than they were on Wednesday.

I asked the other sibling Learner if they wanted to do another hike that morning after the remote meeting, and he said yes. So after trying to save as many tadpoles as possible and meeting with the remote Learners, the Learner and I headed out on our hike. The Learner was also eager to share some of his frustrations from the morning, and I was able to give him the space he needed to share, and I asked a few questions about how they could move forward in a way that met everyone’s needs. There were no clear answers but at least the questions were out there.

The view from the top after we attempted to run up the hill

On our previous hike we debated how long it would take to run up the hill, and on this day I decided that I would try it out. It turns out that I grossly overestimated the time it would take to get up the hill. And I also underestimated how wrecked I would be at the top of the hill. We spent probably 20 minutes at the top of the hill just catching our breath and chatting. We decided to explore a new area of the park on our way back. We came across what looks like would be a pretty nice waterfall during heavy rains, some prickly pear cactus that was fruiting, and some interesting insects that were hanging out with the prickly pear fruit that made us choose to leave the fruit be instead of harvesting some of it.

A fruiting prickly pear cactus

When we returned from the hike I ate my lunch. The older Learners were lingering nearby, one Learner was further away watching something on his phone, and the younger Learners were hanging out at the dock. I invited the Learner who was on his phone to join in on our conversation by asking if he wanted to talk about Star Wars and the appropriateness of eating rats. He said yes and came over.

One of the older Learners was interested in talking about getting a job at a nearby grocery store so Facilitator Lauren began to discuss what the process looked like. They looked up what the application requirements were, and they roped in the Learner’s guardian to help provide some information that would be necessary for the application. That process led into a conversation about college for the Learner, so I joined in on the conversation. Instead of focusing on the steps needed to get into one particular college, I stepped back and asked why a degree from that school was necessary. It turns out that the Learner was interested in several particular career tracks so we talked about finding out what the requirements were to get into those careers, and how that would shape the college search process.

We then called in other Learners for a planned conversation about a cookout that several Learners had been talking with Facilitator Lauren about. Over the course of a half hour we decided that we would cook food outside during the coming week and that each Learner would have the opportunity to contribute food from the list we collectively came up with.

We left the tadpoles with lots of water at the end of the day

After the cookout meeting I jumped on a call with remote Learners to close out their week. Then I took off for a quick jump in the lake, and so did Facilitator Lauren. We then held our afternoon roundup as a cell. We reviewed our community awareness board, we did rose-bud-thorn for the week, and we also shared gratitudes with each other. Finally, we went back to filling up the puddles so that the tadpoles could survive the weekend. We filled the puddles up with more water than we had seen at any time since day one, so we left feeling pretty good about our efforts. I also left feeling really good about the many different ways that we supported the members of the cell through our meetings and interactions throughout the day.

Day 8 of AY20-21: thunderstorms again

Another rainout thanks to thunderstorms

On Wednesday night I sent Abrome families the following message by email: “Currently the forecast tomorrow is all day thunderstorms. I’ll wait until tomorrow morning to make the call but if the forecast then is similar to what it is right now we will need to have our second remote day of the year. I’ll be in touch by 7a.”

When I woke up it was the same as it was the night before—another all day thunderstorm forecast. I contacted the other Facilitators, updated our family resources page on the website, I sent out a community email, I sent texts to all families, and I updated the internal Facebook group. I lost about 90 minutes dealing with cancellation related issues, but because my start time was now 10:00 a.m. instead of 9:00 a.m., I gained an extra hour on the back end to write a blog post. Side note: if Abrome was a school I’d present that as a word problem and demand that students identify the problem with that logic and ask them how much time I lost or gained. But we are not a school so I think I’ll just bring it up sometime today in conversation.

Our experience with being remote last year taught us that we do not need to fill the schedule with offerings, but that having some offerings was a great way for interested Learners to interact with each other and the Facilitators. One Learner had already scheduled a Scary Story offering on Discord, and then each Facilitator added an offering of their own: Crossword Puzzles, Artists Studio Hangout, and the “I’m Thinking of a Thing” game. Those offerings are in addition to the morning meetings that are broken out by operating cell, and the afternoon roundup that we planned to do as a community. I also had two check-ins with Learners planned.

The day for our cell started at 10:00 a.m. with five Learners and two Facilitators at the morning meeting. One Learner slept through the meeting and another Learner missed it because he thought that we were checking in remotely at 11:00 a.m., but on days that the entire group is remote we host everyone at the same time. Without being able to write their own intentions out like they do when we meet in-person, I wrote down each Learner’s intentions for the day on post-it notes that I added to our daily log. Included in some of the intentions were attendance at all of the offerings, eating food, playing Minecraft, exercising, making rainbow crochet, spending time with pets, writing music, editing wiki, making art, and reading.

After the morning meeting I hosted the crossword puzzle offering, of which one Facilitator and one Learner joined. But the Learner didn’t want to do a crossword so we went for simplicity and played rock-paper-scissors. After getting bounced from the game before anyone else, I began trying to figure out what the other two members’ strategies were so I could beat them the next time around, assuming they weren’t just randomly choosing rock, paper, or scissors. But after the game the Learner left and Facilitator Lauren and I finished a crossword puzzle.

With an hour until the next offering I got on the phone with an advertising company to begin a campaign to let people know that Abrome was meeting in-person during the pandemic so that we could grow our community. Then I drank some more coffee, and then I logged onto Zoom to support the Artists Studio Hangout offering. We had some technical difficulties with that offering so I did not get much of my to-do list done during that time, and then I rolled into a Learner’s Scary Story offering at 1:00 p.m. The Learner who was hosting it had some difficulties finding the Discord channel that everyone was meeting at so I retold the one ghost story I know for the Learners who were there. And since my story is a true story I think it held their attention. Once the host Learner plugged in she shared two stories, and then another Learner decided that she would also share a story. That Learner also told us that she had previously started a scary story group when she was living in Brazil! I think these two Learners may hit it off fabulously. The offering was only slated for 30 minutes so we said our goodbyes and moved on with our days.

I ate a nice hot bowl of soup for lunch and then did some minor email tasks while waiting for my meeting with a Learner. Unfortunately my meeting with the Learner was at the same time as Facilitator Jennifer’s “I’m thinking of a thing” offering, but it was great to finally catch up with the Learner who is in a different operating cell than me. After that call I planned on moving into my second call but there was confusion over the day that we were meeting so we planned to meet at the same time on Friday. I then used my little bit of time before the afternoon roundup to get some more emails in.

At 3:30 p.m., much of the community came together for the afternoon roundup. The prompt for the meeting was: what was the best thing about your remote day, what was the worst thing about your remote day, and what can make future remote days better? Some of the answers for the best thing about the remote day included sleeping (and we start our day at 10:00 a.m., unlike most schools!), mowing the lawn (an out of state Learner), drawing, more time for Minecraft, Scary Story offering, coding, breathing, came up with an idea for Halloween, rested, and cooked a warm lunch (not me, but I agree). Some of the answers for the worst thing about the remote day included getting rained on, being at home alone (without other Learners), couldn’t sit on the dock at the lake, kinda bored, didn’t do much, can’t be together, missed out on the Artists Studio offering, and being inside. The few answers for making remote days better were all pretty much the same—more offerings.

Checking in with each other at the end of our remote day

For me it was a so-so day. I am glad that we could be together in some way, even if it was remote. I missed the opportunities to just fall into conversation with Learners just sitting around on the dock or going for a hike, but I was glad to be able to talk to Learners who are not currently in my cell. I was hoping to be able to get some more administrative work done, but just like last year I found the day frustrating because there’s not much that I can get done when it is broken up so much. Which makes my morning work routine (5:00-9:00 a.m.) all the more important.

After we adjourned the meeting many of the Learners left, but several stuck around to talk. As soon as we adjourned the Learners just let loose on chatting, laughing, and telling stories. That’s the vibe that is largely missing on remote days. That spontaneous conversation is something that naturally happens when we are together in-person, but on remote days it takes a called meeting with the time and space to linger afterwards. Something to remember.