Community Learning and Learning Alternatives RESOURCES

I'm taking a few minutes now to try to resurrect, collect and dust off, some great materials I have. Word is, lots of local young families are now seriously considering learning alternatives that don't involve enrolling in schools over the hill. That's where we have been. So here is a quick start of resources. Much more to come:

http://www.educationrevolution.org/ This is a huge resource of many approaches to learning, how to start a school, etc ... Also, I have cds in my library.

Purple Thistle Learning Center in Vancouver, BC http://blog.purplethistle.ca/about -

which was started by Matt Hern http://www.mightymatthern.com/?page_id=67, author of Deschooling Our Lives (an anthology), Field Day: Getting Society Out of School, and more.

Highly recommend Matt's writing, talks, workshops. I met Matt at the California Homeschooling Conference when my first two children were about 4 and 1. My sister, my mother, and I became instant fans. In the workshop I took with Matt, he started by addressing Jonathan Kozol's critique.

Three-part radio program Ruth Lopez and I did on KWMR - interview Matt Hern, Ronald followed by discussion about the school scene here and a meeting at the Dance Palace. I have this on disk will try to post. They were good interviews. Here is the outline:

WHERE DOES LEARNING TAKE PLACE?

Conversations about Learning and Community

Three consecutive Mondays at 5:30 pm on KWMR

Monday, August 29, 5:30 pm

A conversation with Ron Miller, historian, educator, and author of What Are Schools For? and Creating Learning Communities. We look at the history of schooling and how the purpose of schooling has changed over time. What are some of the cultural assumptions about education in America?

Monday, September 5, 5:30 pm

A conversation with Matt Hern, founder of an alternative learning center for teens in Vancouver, author of Deschooling Our Lives and Field Day: Getting Society Out of School. We consider educational opportunities as comprehensible only within local social and cultural fabrics and discuss how to design them to meet local needs. We examine assumptions about the ways that children learn, as we address underlying attitudes about authority and freedom.

Monday, September 12, 5:30 pm

West Marin residents discuss how to build community, family, and individual self-reliance through Community Based Learning. What is Community Based Learning and how can it engage learners, improve academics, and strengthen community? What can it look like here?

Article (http://www.marinij.com/fastsearchresults/ci_4373032) about one service learning project we did on Tomales Bay over many months. I have a powerpoint presentation with great slides, which we presented at College of Marin.

Series of articles I wrote titled Inventing Math published in the Sonoma Homeschooling Newsletter. Upcoming.