Day 79 of AY20-21: cycle six starts remote

Morning meeting

Monday would be the first day of cycle six but it would not be the first remote day to start off a cycle during this pandacademic year. Just like last cycle, Austin is in risk stage level five for Covid-19 so we will be meeting entirely remote until the risk stage level drops back down to four. Facilitator Lauren opened the cycle via the morning meeting with a review of last cycle’s awarenesses and practices, and then opened up the meeting for announcements. Next we all shared what our intentions were for the cycle: prepare myself to go back outdoors, make most of remote time for connection, committed outreach time each day, animation I want to get done, breathe, focus on minimizing apps, get very good at video game, fix my sleep cycle, be prepared if we can be back in person, figure self out, pop up to meetings. Several Learners did not answer the prompt but hopefully hearing others share their intentions will help them think about their own.

High fives after the 7-minute workout

Next we quickly went day by day through the week for the Set-the-Week meeting. Each of the Facilitators had offerings they were sharing, but a couple of Learners also included their own, to include a Learner who invited everyone to join her for a 75-minute workout later that day, on Wednesday, and on Friday. After the meeting the usual crew immediately went into the much shorter 7-minute workout which was not that easy after a five-day break since the last workout. Each of the attendees at that workout said they planned to go to the 75-minute workout that afternoon, so I wished them luck and gave them all a virtual high five.

After the morning workout both Facilitator Ariel and I had competing offerings. He invited Learners to just drop in and hang out at a breakfast chat, while I hosted a free write. One of the older Learners dropped in on the breakfast chat, while the adolescent who often joins me dropped in for the free write and made some great progress on her book. I admitted that I was a bit distracted and did not make as much progress as I had hoped. Perhaps it was because I had finished another blog post earlier that morning and I was just a bit tired.

At 12 p.m. another Learner hosted his Among Us offering but on this particular day he did not seem to get folks to join him, or at least they did not join him in the Discord voice channel. Likewise for Facilitator Lauren, no one showed up at her yoga offering. Each Learner and Facilitator seemed to be off doing their own thing as has become the norm during our remote experience.

Rocking the 75-minute workout

With a lack of attendance at the other offerings of the day, particularly from Learners, I did not expect many folks to show up for the 75-minute workout. But what I had forgotten was that the Learner hosting the 75-minute workout had asked for commitments from people who would show up, and everyone who committed showed up.

Mostly thumbs up on the 75-minute workout

I was not able to make the workout as I had a conflict that afternoon, and will all week, but I got feedback that it was more difficult than the 7 minute workout, which made sense as it is a magnitude of order longer. I heard of some sore abs and glutes, and I told the Learner that I would try to rework my schedule next week so I could join in. Everyone who showed up gave the workout a thumbs up. Well everybody but one.

Yarrow harvest

Facilitator Lauren trekked outside during the day to harvest some yarrow for her plant medicine offering on Friday. She also posted a picture of the harvest on Instagram, the third IG post of the day for us. Facilitator Ariel posted a picture of the Facilitators at socially distanced and masked up at our professional development day at a park in Wimberley, TX, while I posted a picture of the new Murder of Crows game we just got in the mail from Brooklyn Flying Squad. Go check out our Instagram account to follow along with us as we navigate through this pandemic and a world that does not recognize the rights of children.

Afternoon roundup

The afternoon roundup consisted of a small crew. Facilitator Ariel had us all reflect on our practices and then he pulled up the calendar so that we could see the offerings that were planned for later in the week. Using popcorn to respond, each of us then said what offerings we were interested in for the week: comic book reading, The Giving Tree reading (with alternative ending) Facilitator Lauren’s mystery plant offering, 7-minute workout, [Learner’s] 75-minute workout, yarrow salve offering, breakfast chat, medicine offering, Facilitator Lauren’s plant offering, goofy drawings, “I don’t have one,” free write, [Learner’s] 75-minute workout, Minecraft, “I might try [Learner’s] 75-minute workout,” Facilitator Lauren’s plant ointment thingy, none, [Learner’s] 75-minute workout. It seems the two most anticipated offerings are Facilitator Lauren’s plant medicine offering (said five different ways) and the three 75-minute workouts organized by one of the Learners. We will see how turnout turns out.

Day 78 of AY20-21: remote cycle five comes to a close

Day 78 of the pandacademic year would be the final day of the cycle for the Learners, while the Facilitators would be meeting for an all-day professional development on Wednesday. This fifth cycle was our most challenging one of the year as it was our first entirely remote cycle given the uncontrolled spread of Covid-19 in Central Texas, and there was nothing we could do about that (other than ignore it as most schools in Texas are doing).

Facilitator Ariel led the morning meeting with a quick review of practices that we were working on and announcements. Then everyone shared what they enjoyed doing with friends: creating art, playing video games, talking, conversation and travel, playing Minecraft, breathing, playing video games, shred mountain bike trails, playing video games, talking, talking and hanging out, and play games. As a follow up, folks then commented on whether they could do that at Abrome. Most said that they could host or show up at more offerings, and be sure to attend the meetings, as well. Some said that they already do what they like to do with friends at Abrome, with one Learner saying that their only friends are at Abrome. A couple of people came up with ideas for new ways to share with the Abrome community, such as more outings and field trips post-pandemic.

After the morning meeting on the last day of the week we usually have our Check-in and Change-up meeting. But because we just had one on Friday it did not make sense to have another one, so we adjourned the meeting and folks went off in various virtual directions. At 10:45 a.m. I held my final 7-minute workout of the cycle with the usual crew showing up for it.

Coffee and read

At 11:00 a.m. Facilitator Ariel hosted coffee and read. I was the only person who joined the offering but this has become a Facilitator favorite for us. We both continued to read books that have really captivated us, The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther by Jeffrey Haas for him, and Progressive Dystopia: Abolition, Antiblackness, and Schooling in San Francisco Book by Savannah Shange for me.

Catapults offering!

Like it always does when engrossed in a book, the time quickly passed. I was hosting a catapults offering at 12:00 p.m. so I muted and turned off my Zoom camera and relocated to the main room that had plenty of space for shooting projectiles.

The catapults offering was inspired by our friends at Bungalow Lane ALC. At the Set-the-Week meeting I shared what the offering would entail, and then I asked for firm commitments from anyone who wanted to participate. I then sourced the materials and early on Tuesday morning I dropped off all the materials needed to make the catapults.

When we came together I asked if folks wanted to experiment with making catapults their own way, or if they wanted me to lead them step-by-step on how to make the catapult. The asked for the latter and we all did our best to make the catapults look the same. Then we shot our projectiles and were uniformly disappointed in their mostly upward and slightly forward trajectory. Then we all began tinkering with our designs. Some of us moved the fulcrum toward and away from the projectile. Some of us stacked additional popsicle sticks at the fulcrum. And then we tried stacking sticks underneath the far end of the bottom stick to create a more forward trajectory. It was a lot of fun and it may inspire some fun offerings for us in cycle six.

Although it was not placed on the calendar in the Set-the-Week meeting, one of the Learners proposed playing Among Us. It can be hard enough to rally folks to show up for an offering when it is placed on the calendar, but it is even harder when it is not. This day the Facilitators were fully engaged, so the Learner was looking at an even smaller group of possible players than usual. But by reaching out to Learners on Discord, and with one of those Learners also joining in on the recruiting effort, two Learners who typically do not participate in remote offerings joined in on the game.

Art and fart (and late lunch)

Meanwhile, Facilitator Lauren was hosting her art and fart offering. Only Facilitator Ariel joined for the offering. While it was initially disheartening to the Facilitators to have no Learners showing up for offerings at the beginning of this remote cycle, and from March through July of last year, we have reminded ourselves that our job is not to entertain Learners or to pressure them to show up, but just to hold space for them. Further, we are really enjoying hanging out with each other even when Learners do not show up. Nonetheless, we are still hopeful that Learners will show up a bit more often in cycle six while we are still stuck in remote. Following art and fart, I hosted free write which only Facilitator Lauren dropped in on.

At 3:00 p.m. all the Facilitators jumped on a call with the parents of a Learner to discuss how the remote experience is working for the Learner, his participation in meetings and lack of participation in offerings (which we made clear was perfectly acceptable), and future plans. Some families have schedules which make it really difficult to connect with them and it was really great to be able to carve out time in the middle of the day to make the meeting work.

Wrapping up the cycle with a final afternoon roundup

At the afternoon roundup I led with a review of our practices and then opened up the meeting for announcements. Then we took turns sharing one thing we each wanted to do for ourselves over the long weekend: sleep well, try to get out more, breathing, less screen time (go on a social media break), decorate room more, hike every day and spend more time outdoors, have fun. Then we shared what we would do for others: hang out with brother more, help my mom, spend more time with family and pets, make sure they’re breathing properly, talk to mom more, let them spend time with me, and go camping. While folks were still sharing, one of the newer Learners (who joined just in time for us to be fully remote) sent me a private chat message asking if he could leave the meeting since he already answered the prompts. I encouraged him to stick around for everyone else, and he did.

Day 77 of AY20-21: family workshop day and comics

Monday would have normally been the first of our two remote days at the end of the cycle that allows us to have a nine day break from meeting in-person between cycles, but since we are still in risk stage level five in Central Texas it was just another remote day in a fully remote cycle for us at Abrome.

Each morning we review the practices from the Community Awareness Board that we are working on, and then we often say which practice we are going to focus on that day. One of the Facilitators had noticed that many Learners were repeating the same practice each day and were not working on other practices, so they suggested that everyone identify a focus that they needed to focus more on. This exercise worked out pretty well as it brought more intentionality into the meeting.

Next we answered how we could create connection with someone at Abrome during the week: talk to ppl on Discord; participate in the Among Us or comic book reading offerings; check Discord more often; catapults offering; being present on Discord and the family workshop; Among Us; connect with Lauren for a one-to-one check-in; join meetings; teach Ariel how to play Minecraft; showing up to meetings; Discord; Among Us.

After the morning meeting I had some time to slowly set up for the 7-minute workout where the usual crew worked out and then briefly hung out. Then I moved into the free write offering where a Learner was waiting for me. She continued working on her book while I worked on a blog post, but then I got distracted by the upcoming family workshop and did a final check of the slides. As with the final hour before any type of scheduled presentation the time quickly passed. I checked in with the Learner to see how she did with her writing and she said that she was feeling really good about her writing.

Family workshop

I then transitioned back to Zoom to welcome the family members who would be joining the family workshop. Once per month we host a two-hour family workshop where we come together with Abrome parents and guardians to think about, discuss, and identify actionable steps that we can all take to help support young people in their journey toward greater freedom and liberation. We had been holding the workshops on the weekends or on weekday evenings, but some of the families were struggling to attend at those times, so this was the first time we scheduled the workshop in the middle of the day. We told the Learners they were free to join us or free to set up their own offerings, but that we would be fully engaged with the workshop between the hours of 12 and 2 p.m.

Family workshop

On this day we talked about aligning practices at home and at Abrome. In addition to the three Facilitators, the guardians or parents of six families showed up, and a Learner showed up. One parent of a newer Learner indicated that he was committed to making Abrome work for his kid. During the conversation about culture co-creation, a parent asked if awarenesses had to be negative in nature. It was a great workshop. We are so fortunate that the families at Abrome recognize the importance of both autonomy for children and the necessity of psychologically safe communities. It was a two hour workshop, and I was pretty exhausted by the end of it.

Comic book offering

Facilitator Ariel had a comic book offering immediately following the workshop where an adolescent Learner showed up. Facilitator Ariel is a fan of comic books and decided to create the offering as a way to support a Learner he had talked with the prior week at length about their mutual interest in comic books. But that Learner did not show. Facilitator Ariel asked the Learner who did show what type of comic book she would like him to read, and they started to look through the options. She said she wanted to read one with a strong female lead, which greatly limited the possibilities and that led to a conversation of women in comic books and the portrayals of women in comic books. In addition to Facilitator Ariel reading the comic book, conversation between the two moved through various other social justice issues.

Facilitator Lauren has been hosting a yoga offering from her living room each week while we are meeting remotely. These short, mid-day yoga breaks have been really fun and energizing, and on this day she decided to take a time elapse video of it to encourage other Learners to join sometime. At the family workshop I shared a deschooling resources link that Facilitator Ariel dove into leaving him to miss out on the yoga offering.

Afternoon roundup

In large part due to the two-hour family workshop, the day flew by. Eleven total joined for the afternoon roundup. We reviewed how we did on the practice that we more mindfully focused on for the day, and then we jumped into a great prompt that Lauren shared: Describe a way in which you were generous toward someone, recently, and how did it make them feel? And if you do not know, how did it make you feel? Several Learners were not ready to answer the prompt but the answers that were shared shed some light on how folks are interacting with each other during the pandemic: I went hiking with a friend and she found a huge piece of driftwood that she wanted to keep, but it was too heavy for her to carry so I helped carry it out; I have filled a bag with stuffed animals I am going to give to Goodwill; I did not get someone a birthday card on time so I found a great card that I was able to give them a week later; I took cheese and bread to friend; I was nice to a friend and we both felt good about it; I tried to build up relationship with my non-live-in parent (but it did not work); started talking to my grandma and she’s happy about it; in a game I was supposed to publicly execute someone but I didn’t because I thought he was innocent. Yikes to that last one—I guess being generous to someone in a game is a bit different than being generous in real life.

Day 73 of AY20-21: autonomy and the option to not show up (or leave)

This past weekend we hosted a virtual information session and open house. Five families dropped in to learn about Abrome and Self-Directed Education, and one has already followed up with some admission specific questions. We were thrilled to have so many families interested in liberation attend. Unfortunately, we spent more time than we would have liked talking about how the pandemic is preventing prospective Learners from shadowing ahead of enrollment because we need to be fully remote during this period of unmitigated community spread of Covid-19.

Morning meeting

We did not meet on Monday as we were celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, so we came together on Tuesday morning for day 73 of the pandacademic year. At the meeting everyone shared one fun thing they did over the weekend: a 14-mile bike ride, hiked with her dog, 4.1 miles of walking with his dogs, played on his Kindle, slept and ate, Minecraft, hung out with friends, dealt with his cat who decided to not be in a good mood, breathed oxygen, training with crew, went to a safe outdoor restaurant, spent most of her time on her tablet all day, finally completed Jurassic difficulty (a game on Friday), hung out with mates in Houston (and is now quarantining).

During the meeting, a younger Learner kept talking over others. In response, I muted him several times and we discussed the need to honor the practices we are working on. Facilitator Ariel had shared the practices at the beginning of the meeting which includes each member focusing on active listening during meetings so that we don’t talk over each other. He also received feedback from the Facilitators and an older Learner. Upset, the Learner left the meeting early. Facilitator Ariel then reached out to his mom to get help scheduling a 1-on-1 with him that morning. When they linked up later in the day for the 1-on-1 Facilitator Ariel tried to talk about the difficulties with meeting, but the Learner did not want to discuss it. Facilitator Ariel recognized that this was an opportunity to just spend time with the Learner instead of forcing a discussion he did not want to have, so they hung out over a video chat while the Learner talked about a dinosaurs and video games.

After the morning meeting Facilitator Lauren hosted the Set-the-Week meeting where we scheduled in our meetings and offerings for the four days of this week and the last two days of the cycle next Monday and Tuesday. We had hoped that Learners would fill the schedule with offerings, but only a couple of offerings were proposed. Both Facilitators Antonio and Lauren posted offerings that required commitments from Learners to attend because they would require us to deliver supplies in advance of the offerings. Unfortunately, only a couple of Learners committed to attending. If we were a school that did not value the autonomy of children and adolescents we would simply demand that the Learners stay engaged with us all day on Zoom, and that would certainly make adults more comfortable about what we are doing, but we cannot sacrifice their autonomy for adult comfort. With offerings being optional, each Facilitator had at least one offering that went unattended on Tuesday: 7-minute workout, coffee and read, free write, yoga.

Among Us

One offering that did draw a couple of Learners in was Among Us. It did not receive the heavy turnout that it has received other times this cycle, but it was scheduled at the same time as an offering and a 1-on-1 check-in. In addition, the Learner hosting the Among Us offering was 15 minutes late, which may have deterred some Learners from joining in. Those who joined in still enjoyed the offering, and hopefully the Learner who organized it walked away with some lessons learned about organizing.

At the coffee and read offering only the three Facilitators showed up, but we really appreciated our time with each other. I was reading Progressive Dystopia again, and I just couldn’t help but share with the other Facilitators some amazing excerpts from chapter three. In particular, I was really drawn into Savannah Shange’s discussion on the way that the school-to-prison-pipeline framework helps highlight the carceral impact of schooling but how it fails to fully explain the carceral nature of schooling.

Facilitator Ariel and a younger Learner checking in on each other, one of three 1-on-1 check-ins during the day

I came back together with Facilitators Ariel and Lauren at 3:00 p.m. for our continuing discussion of Raising Free People by Akilah S. Richards. The conversation was in many ways a spillover from our coffee and read offering as we talked about liberation work when working with children.

At 3:30 p.m. I said “meeting started” to begin the afternoon roundup. First we reflected on the favorite thing we each did that day: read, hang out with a Learner on Discord, an amazing yoga practice, taking a nap, making Valentine’s Day cards for kids with cancer, Minecraft, exploring Google maps, wrote a horror story and it is just about to get to the good point, and played with mates on VR. Then we shared what we want to do by the end of January: newspaper article, mountain biking, more creative cooking, find a way to make a good income and have a good life, find a source of income, Minecraft, breathe, work on a project on Minecraft, practice driving, go to Altitude again, and watch the first Jaws movie.

One of the most interesting things I noticed on the day is the eagerness with which some of the older Learners want to take on more adult responsibilities. One Learner plans to get his permit on Wednesday, another Learner is starting her job on Thursday, and a third Learner is looking for a sources of income. It will be interesting to see how they leverage their freedom to pursue their interests.

Day 72 of AY20-21: Check-in and Change-up day

The pandemic blues continue

Friday morning came and I checked the pandemic numbers and they are getting no better, but at least they seem to have plateaued, even if temporarily. It’s pretty apparent that we are not going to have any hope of meeting in-person as a community in January and I seriously question whether or not we will be able to meet in-person in February. I am thankful that we are in a community of people who take the pandemic seriously, but I am so disappointed that so few other communities are doing the same, leaving us doing the right thing be being entirely remote, while all the local schools continue to bring students, teachers, and staff indoors.

A lightly attended morning meeting

The morning meeting on the last day of our second week of the fifth cycle of the pandacadmic year had light attendance. It seems as the remote experience is drawn out that some of the Learners are less eager to get out of bed and log in, even though we have a most reasonable 10 a.m. meeting time. At the morning meeting we pointed out that in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, that we would not be in session on Monday. So we discussed ways that we might be able to focus on supporting our communities, serving others, or engaging in racial justice.

Next, Facilitator Lauren led her first remote Check-in and Change-up. The awarenesses raised during the Check-in were that sometimes people were not showing up for all the meetings, and people sometimes complain about the length of the meetings. While all Learners agree to stick around with the Check-in to propose awarenesses, sticking around for the Change-up is optional. The Change-up is where we decide whether or not an awareness should be added to our Community Awareness Board, and then we identify the relevant needs for the awareness, and come up with practices that we will use to co-create the culture together. Three of the Learners stuck around for the entirety of the Change-up, which felt good. The six of us decided to add both new awarenesses to the board, with two new practices for each awareness. We also decided that we felt good about the awareness of keeping an eye and an ear for weird creatures.

Post 7-minute workout conversation

The Check-in and Change-up is the longest meeting of the week, so we jumped right into the 7-minute workout as soon as we adjourned the meeting. The usual crew showed up for the workout, and afterward we had a short discussion about how the workouts have been treating us. We are all doing well.

Getting ready for kitchen fun

After the 7-minute workout I jumped right into the daily free write where an adolescent Learner once again joined me. I said I would use the block of time to work on a blog post and she said she was going to continue writing her book. 50 minutes later we checked in with each other to see how we were doing. I told her how I was just trying to keep putting out recaps of the days at Abrome during this pandacademic, and that the daily free write would help me do that. I then asked her how her writing was coming along. She told me that her writing was going really well, and that if she keeps writing regularly that she believes she can meet her goal of finishing the book by June!

In progress …

Next up Facilitator Lauren was hosting an exciting offering called kitchen fun. Facilitator Ariel and an older Learner decided to join in on the offering, although they showed up mostly as spectators. Facilitator Lauren was in the process of making two types of biscuits—vegan cheesy garlic biscuits and cinnamon walnut raisin biscuits. Facilitator Lauren said that the former turned out disgusting, but the latter were pretty good, especially when they were slathered in almond butter. And although the Learner who showed up planned to be a spectator, she did eventually leave her room and head to the kitchen.

A culinary delight!

Facilitator Ariel hosted an online gaming offering which has not drawn in as many Learners as expected. When Facilitator Ariel was on he did see that the newly enrolled Learner who has not been showing up for any meetings was online playing a game, so Facilitator Ariel sent him a message. Unfortunately the Learned did not respond. We will continue to hold space for the Learner in the hopes that he will drop in at some point while we are remote, so that when we come back together in-person he will feel right at home.

There was a much better turnout from the Learners for the afternoon roundup. Most of our time in the afternoon roundup was spent in reflection via rose-bud-thorn, except it was for the week and not the day, and the bud was forward looking focused on the coming weekend. The roses for the week included reading and writing, working on my bike, natural dyes, I got a job!, played Tradelands, breathing, playing Minecraft, got a couple new projects to work on, getting my phone fixed, playing Among Us, getting a lot of work done on my book, finally completed Jurassic World Evolution, playing a creatures game on Roblox, and I got a lot of music work done.

Afternoon roundup

The thorns for the week included not enough outdoor time, not enough players for Among Us, the final products in natural dyes were not great, not having much to do today, dungeons bot doesn’t work, not breathing enough, playing (too much) Minecraft, didn’t go out enough, not being able to talk to an important person in their life, we cannot be in person because of Covid-19, I’m getting sick, I drank a big smoothie and feel bloated, having to stop playing video games, and not going outside much.

Looking forward to the weekend the buds were the info session and open house scheduled for Saturday, playing soccer, spending as much time outside as possible, getting dungeon bot to work, breathing, playing Minecraft, working on the new projects, having my nana over, natural dyes, having a plan to publish my book, eating pizza tonight!, and going to Houston. One of the Learners then asked if we could do gratitudes to end the meeting. We adjourned the afternoon roundup and invited folks to stick around for gratitudes. The Learner then expressed that she was grateful for “going down a better path in life.”

Day 71 of AY20-21: a good day

As we entered into the second half of the cycle we noticed that Learners were beginning to fall off of some of the calls. At the morning meeting only eight Learners joined the three Facilitators. Facilitator Lauren started the meeting off with a review of the practices from the Community Awareness Board, set the conditions for the meeting via game shifting (one of our practices), and then asked everyone what practices they would focus on. An adolescent Learner typed in the prompt in the chat (one of our practices). Most of the practices focused on not speaking over others: active listening, mute when not talking, being prepared for the meeting, mute when not talking, n/a, none, mute when not talking, mute when not talking, being prepared for the meeting, keeping eyes out for weird creatures and mute when not talking, and staying muted.

Morning meeting

Facilitator Lauren then asked how they are getting connection with others during this remote period. The ways in which the Learners are getting connection with others while we are remote were more diverse: phone calls with friends and marco polo with sister; Discord; roommates, offerings, and discord; text people on Discord; IDK; IDK; meetings and Discord; meetings and Discord; Discord and hanging with friends; offerings and facetime with grandma; activities, meetings, and doing stuff with mom and dad.

After the morning meeting I had my weekly one-on-one check-in with an adolescent Learner. Facilitator Ariel would have a check-in with another Learner later in the day. Both check-ins were really nice conversations with Learners who are not always up for much conversation. After the check-in I led the daily 7-minute workout and was feeling pretty good about myself and the remainder of the day that lay ahead.

Coffee and read offering

I joined the other Facilitators for the coffee and read offering. Each of us continued to read books that we had previously read in this offering. The book I have been reading, Curious, has turned from interesting to very disappointing. The deeper I get into the book the more I want to write a book just calling out everything that is wrong with the author’s conceptions of how learning happens, and what happens in schools. But because this is a book that we are reading for the Education Conversations book group, I will suffer through the rest of it. Each of the other Facilitators are enjoying their book much more than I have been.

At 12:00 p.m. there were competing offerings, with an adolescent Learner hosting a game of Among Us while Facilitator Lauren hosted her second natural dyes offering. Facilitator Ariel and I both joined the Among Us offering, with Facilitator Ariel downloading the game before the offering and playing around a bit with it so that he knew what to do. Unfortunately, for some reason, the version on my phone would not work and after troubleshooting for about 15 minutes I left the two of them to play.

Natural dyes offering

The natural dyes offering was quite popular though. Three Learners showed up for it, two of who did not show up for last week’s offering, and by the time I dropped in to see how things were going there was a lot of activity going on. At one point one of the members of the call asked a Learner who had her camera off if she’d be willing to turn her camera on to show everyone how her tie-dye was coming along, and she turned on her camera and left it on. We honor the Learner’s desire to have their camera turned off, but Facilitator Lauren did comment that it was nice to see the Learner on screen.

Bike project offering

At 1:00 p.m. there were again two offerings, with Facilitator Ariel hosting a bike project offering and Facilitator Lauren hosting a nature connection offering. Several Learners have expressed their interest in biking, so Facilitator Ariel created the bike project offering as a way for them to work on bikes together. Unfortunately no Learners joined on Thursday. Facilitator Lauren created the nature connection offering as a way to get Learners outdoors so they could connect with each other and with nature, but the offering lured no Learners into it. Although no Learners showed up for either offering, because both Facilitators created the offerings as a way to invite the Learners into something they were interested in, they still found value in doing the offerings solo.

Nature connection offering

At 2:00 p.m. the only offering was free write, which one of the adolescent Learners showed up for. It was the second time I got to speak with the Learner that day, so we skipped over checking in with each other and just stated our goals for writing for the hour. She was going to continue working on her book, while I took on a much smaller task of writing a blog entry recapping the Abrome day from earlier in the week. We each settled in and focused, and when we checked in 50 minutes later the Learner said that she had made great progress on her story, and I had finished my blog post.

The Facilitators then came together at 3:00 p.m. to review another two chapters of Raising Free People. The chapters were titled “Recognizing Unschooling as a Communal Model for Collective, Long-Term Liberation” and “Leadership: The One-Word Bridge between Learning and Liberation,” and we probably could have done four sessions covering these two very important chapters. We discussed our own liberation journey and work through Abrome, the fears that some White parents have of raising racist children, and resources we could potentially create to help young people who don’t get to attend Abrome but who still wish to be free. We also talked about the practices and culture of Heartwood ALC, and Agile Learning Center outside of Atlanta that is referenced repeatedly in the second of the two chapters we covered.

With not enough time to discuss it all, we needed to jump off the call to go right into the afternoon roundup. Only nine Learners showed up for the afternoon roundup, but one of the families did send us a note that their young Learner was going to miss so they could spend time together outdoors as a family, which I felt was a fabulous reason to miss the meeting. Facilitator Ariel asked everyone what their favorite month of the year was and most everyone responded with the month their birthday was in: March, April, June, September, October (four times), November, and December (two times). Two of the people who chose October don’t have October birthdays, and I am pretty sure that one of them chose October because of Halloween, her favorite holiday.

Reviewing practices at the afternoon roundup

Facilitator Ariel then asked what people would do after the Abrome day ended and there was a mix of online and offline activities: take dog for hike, cook dinner, and relax; write a bit more and have a call with one of the Abrome guardians; either go on a bike ride or lay on ground outside; work on a scarf; play Minecraft, play Super Mario Odyssey and walk dog; play on the computer; let the chickens out and watch YouTube or play Minecraft; origami; Roblox; hop on VR with mates. Then we reviewed how we did on our practices for the day and then opened it up for announcements. Our oldest Learner shared her job search progress and expressed how eager she was to begin working full-time.

When the meeting adjourned the Facilitators had their end of the day check-in. We discussed outreach initiatives, some finance issues, our Covid-19 concerns for the Learner who is about to start a new job, getting N95 masks for that Learner and the rest of the Abrome families, and some photo and video initiatives that we could put in place. It was a good day, not a great day. We miss being with the Learners, and although we had a few moments of wonderful connection, we want to seek out even better ways of holding space for connecting with Learners.

Day 70 of AY20-21: hump day for the week and cycle

Wednesday was day 70 of the pandacademic year, and the halfway mark (day 8 of 16) of the cycle. As Learners and Facilitators oined the call there was a fun conversation about flamingos. At 10:00 a.m., Facilitator Ariel opened the morning meeting with a review of the awarenesses and practices we are working on to co-create our culture. One of the practices we are working on is not speaking over others, and one of the Learners got quick feedback on that when he began talking over others.

Morning meeting was better than the picture suggests

Facilitator Ariel agreed to split the morning prompt with a young Learner who asked everyone how long their wingspan was. An adolescent Learner typed the prompt into the chat as that is also one of our practices. The answers to the prompt ranged from quantifiable lengths to comparative lengths with other animals: 5’2”, 5’6”, 5’9”, 6’5”, 7’, 16”, a barn owl, and somewhere between that of a red-tailed hawk and a bald eagle. Then Facilitator Ariel asked where everyone would go if they could go on a trip anywhere in the world. Some mentioned states, some mentioned countries, others mentioned continents, while one chose a Norwegian archipelago: Arkansas (romantic interest), Florida (Disney World), Arkansas or Florida (family), Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Dubai, Germany, Africa, South America, and Svalbard.

Daily 7-minute workout

When the morning meeting was adjourned I stayed on to have a one-on-one check-in with one of the recently enrolled Learners which lasted about ten minutes. Next up was the 7-minute workout which all the Facilitators and one guardian joined in on.

Simultaneous free write and Roblox offerings

After the 7-minute workout I quickly jumped over to Discord to join the daily free write and was thrilled to see one of the adolescent Learners was there to work on the book she is writing. I also noticed that a 14-year-old Learner dropped in for a game of Roblox with an 8-year-old Learner who really looks up to him. During this timeframe, Facilitator Lauren checked in with a 16-year-old Learner who has been spotty in terms of showing up regularly for meetings. She had a really great conversation with him and he even turned on his camera during the call.

Appreciating the finished product

At 12:00 p.m., Facilitator Ariel went out to a local park to build some cairns in a rock stacking offering. The offering was targeted at the one new Learner who has not been showing up for meetings, as he and Ariel really connected over building cairns and moving rocks during the last cycle. Unfortunately, that Learner did not show up, but Facilitator Ariel is doing his best to continue to hold space for the Learner for when he is ready to show up. Nonetheless, it was a great exercise for Ariel as he got some great hiking in to get to the place where he was going to build the cairns, and then he got to build three large cairns.

Facilitator Lauren was keeping things moving with a yoga offering the next hour that also turned into a solo offering. The great thing about the Facilitator offerings is that they are always something that the Facilitator wants to do, so even if no Learners show up, the Facilitator continues on with the offering.

The following hour, Facilitator Ariel hosted his online gaming offering. The Learner who showed up for that offering has been eagerly joining or leading online gaming offerings, but does not show up for any other offerings. We are lucky that Facilitator Ariel continues to show up for the gaming offerings that allow that Learner, as well as some of the other Learners, to have some connection with a Facilitator during the day.

afternoon roundup

At 3:30 p.m. we all came together for the afternoon roundup. First we discussed our favorite offering or experience of the day: constructing three cairns, free write, 7-minute workout (because of the crew that keeps showing up), I don’t know, socializing with mates on virtual reality, playing Super Mario Odyssey on Nintendo Switch, hiking (because I saw peacocks), talking with friends and [a younger Learner] on Discord, talking to apple support so that I can download apps again, starting a new Jurassic World Evolution game and doing well with it, and playing Nintendo. Yes, there is a strong bias toward gaming, as would be expected when the Learners are stuck at home because we are in a period of uncontrolled community spread of Covid-19 in Central Texas. And all but one of the Learners is eager for us to put this pandemic behind us so we can be together again.

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