Dileepa: Websites, Apps, TV, and Radio

Liz: Asking them what they need

Stephanie: online access to stuff

Carl: make natural spaces accessible

Anna: Service animal

Allison: access to spaces that accommodate the range of physical differences

Allison : audio books and resources

Allison : Sign Language Interperters

Allison: Making field trips accessible

Allison: Accommodating need to rest

Kate: Resources (books, websites, etc) that are captioned

Kate: A community of people who understand their needs and are committed to assisting them

carollnash: Your idea of an App is the right direction, except for those who can’t access the internet

Izzy: audio.

Nikki: Text to voice and voice to text technology

Putri: walkway or pathways that is suitable for them to move around

Jordan: People!!! People to help - mentors, facilitators, a center with other children to help.

Peter: access to internet and computer technology

aannnn: There is no universal solution before getting know this person’s learning aims.

Chris: Tobii eye tracking device

Andrew: may require extra funding/support for accommodations

Walker: Having a variety of resources, including physical, recreational, technological, and educational.

Ella: as a disabled self directed learner, it is much more expensive to attempt to cover my needs from home - it can be a financial barrier, though the services in school aren't great, in public school at least they're somewhat free

Max: Time

Allison: Multiple ways of presenting information

Allison: Being open to different ways of communicating for those who communicate differently

Allison: If a learner struggles with their physical behaviors (such as hurting themselves or others) one on one aide or mental health resources

Caroline: Experiential learning

Caroline: Outside play and classes

Caroline: Taking away grades and fear

Reem: safe, well equipped places

Rita: Are services for needs in PS continuing in the home?

Carl: public schools becoming more open learning centers open to all learners

Carl: making sure we are sincerely asking for needs of all people - especially oppressed people.  honoring strengths, instead of addressing weaknesses

Carissa: Well-training learning facilitators, including occupational therapists

Nicholas: multiple ways to provide feedback/answers

Jordan: Parents’ time

Walker: doing away with coercive methods of punishments and rewards

Chris: A web of support systems (ie. parents, educators, counselors, supports for individuals who provide services)

Taryn: i cant imagine how sde could not work with someone with cognitive disabilities

Stephanie: changing the way people think we learn - doesn't have to be TAUGHT.

aannnn : Not a challenge if someone's courage is enough...

Peter: White privilege and racism impacts ALL types of accessibility. We need to talk about “the elephant in the room.”

Peter: If you only have time to watch one panel discussion this month, this is the one to watch.

Bettina Love, Gholdy Muhammad, and Dena Simmons have a powerful message for all of us about “Abolitionist Teaching and the Future of our Schools.”

carollnash: Very true that those who attend self-directed public schools are primarily white

Jordan: Online communities

Carl: the Unschooled doc we watched last night

Carl: sincere listening

Carl: Akilah Richards also has a book out

Carl: https://www.pmpress.org/index.php?l=cart_view

Danielle: partnering with black associations

Anna: lawful in ones country

Caroline: multiple texts from writers of multiple backgrounds and races

Luba: My Reflection Matters group

Kate: Race isn’t a barrier so much as racISM is a barrier. For example, Black and brown kids are more frequently seen as disruptive, “problem” kids, etc

Kate: One of the important points one of the parents in the Unschooled documentary raised, which is really important, is that Black kids in the US don’t have the same safety net to rebound from “failure” that white kids have. The ability to fail and learn from that is important to SDE — but does perceived failure have the same consequences for all youth?

Walker: I find it personally ironic how schools preach “failure, discomfort, and taking risks,” yet schools themselves butcher the meaning all together by making all three NOT WORTH failing, cause if so you start the year all over again.

Allison: More spaces for children whose parents cannot stay home or home lives are difficult

Allison: Free unschooled schools

Allison: Listening to what communities of color need

Allison: And every industry privileges white folx. So it is not as easy (in our current society) for people of color to always pursue whatever interests they have

Richard: Elimination of block scheduling allows for students to get to know each other better, which helps to break down barriers.

Taryn: deschooled podcast

Taryn: sorry deschool yourself podcast

Liz: Alternative ways of knowing being and doing by Four Arrows and Bell hooks community and learning (can’t remember exact title)

Walker: honestly I’d see SDE working beautifully for neurodiverse students

Jordan: The Fare of the Free Child

Carissa: Yes @Allison!

Rita: Bettina Love, "We Want to Do More than Survive"

Rita: @fareofthefreechild

Anna: societies/communities/individual response to young people being out and about during “school hours” on “school days”

Allison: Interesting, I feel like there are more male presenting individuals in self-directed education

Allison: I hear this a lot even in the self-directed community but how the education discriminates against boys. Maybe let's frame it as the education system discriminates against children who are more active and need to move to learn

Anna: “you are female you’re not supposed to be interested in this topic”

Caroline: Teachers and adults need to stop always greeting with “hello boys and girls”. It’s gender polarizing. Take out gender identifiers in the classroom

Jordan: Women have historically been more often supported financially than men, so it may be that girls are more willing to take risks with their education than boys are.

Putri: gender: i think sdl allows boys and girls to grow according to their gender needs

Holly: Our library is full of so many opportunities and resources!  Physical location and online resources

Danielle: zoom closes the gap for geographic barriers

Liz: Only have they have reliable wifi @Rita

Peter: In the U.S., we have a long history of “red-lining.” It created segregation throughout our country.

Caroline: We need public wifi

Kate: Universal, free broadband access

Kate: Well funded libraries in all communities

Kate: Accessible public transportation

Carl: making internet univerisally available

Carl: encouraged sdl learning centers at workplaces so parents can have their children nearby

Carl: universal basic income

Rita: Using the environment as the context for learning

Stephanie: overnight camps like Not-Back-toSchool camp

Stephanie: the low residency type of model that places like Goddard use. A little bit of in person contact can make online or phone contact more meaningful.

Thousand & Carmen : online resources

Thousand & Carmen : hub of resources

Thousand & Carmen : churches too 🙂

Anna: through devices such a smart phones and tablets and computers

Anna: Device is made available to individuals who have no cost availability on their own

carollnash : Better maintained roads

Walker: This might seem out of place, but in context to food deserts and SDE centers, having gardens promoting Permaculture, a sustainable method of agriculture in harmony with nature, could pose both a cost efficient, environmentally friendly means of providing kids in food deserts abundant and even nutritious foods grown at the centers.

Allison: Providing free or low-cost HEALTHY food. Food affects how we feel and learn so much

Kate: Language as an accessibility issue is important too — in the US, for example, a lot of parents don’t speak English, so having resources available in the languages spoken in homes is crucial

Kate: Multi-lingual SDL centers

Max: Subtitles

Jordan: Google Translate

Caroline: Google translate

Rita: The Granny Cloud as a model for kids teaching each other

Max: deepl.com

Emma: Learn quickly with Supermemo/anki

Emma: Access to media! Books, movies, tv shows, video games, anything!

Thousand & Carmen : DeepL!!!

Chiao ling: Leo

Holly: video only based lessons

Carl: refocusing how we enable learning facilitators - relying less on formal training and more on talents and abilities that are diverse and inclusive

Carl: guerilla learning

Micki: I have my school on the Learn Worlds platform because they’re international and I can have all my classes translated in to several different languages.

Stephanie: If you speak a language other than English, then create literature review (website, podcasts, etc reviews) in your language.

Stephanie: Unfortunately, in terms of language, google translate only helps if you have enough English to recognize that an article is something you want to read!

Chris: Would appreciate it if people could also share resources that are also printed or published in other languages

Max: Homeschooling is not technically illegal in Germany...

Chris: Urging and petitioning international organizations to place pressures on governments

Allison: Petition to change laws

Carl: changing public schools

Carl: parents and kids have power to change public schools if they band together

Kate: Self-directed learning spaces that work outside of school hours, for those who want to experience SDL but have reasons that they can’t leave public school

Max: Very exact knowledge about the laws and know the difference between regulations and laws for example. Know the penalties. For example in Germany not complying with school attendance is actually just like fall parking

carollnash : Using documents supporting self-directed learning from the past that haven’t been rescinded.

Stephanie: "personalizing the law" is another way of thinking about it!

Micki: Collectively study the law and figure out how to get what is needed/wanted with out technically “breaking” it

Emma: I wish there were workarounds in China

Liz: There are homeschoolers flying under the radar in China. There is an article about it in Economy magazine. Ill try to find it.

Caroline: Bikes!

carollnash : Idea, use all the buses for SDL instead of transporting them to schools

Allison: Online schools

Kate: Robust, FREE, well-maintained public transportation networks are important

Kate: I know of several communities that used their school buses in creative ways (as Wifi hotspots, to distribute meals and books and packets of schoolwork) during COVID-related school closures. This could work even when schools aren’t closed!

Stephanie: volunteer drivers

Stephanie: Dandelion Dance Company connects participants who can't get to practices with volunteers who drive them. It 'S a win win - the volunteers have time and love the connection with the kids and th dance company and the kids can participate!

Allison: Carpools

Allison: Access to other families homeschooling or unschooling

Jordan: Bicycles

Jordan: Other SDE families can help to carpool, but finding those families is an accessibility issue

Kristy: Sri Aria, Malaysia : online

Peter: More community schools are needed.

carollnash : Transform the buses into public unschools

Kristy: Sri Aria, Malaysia : online learning

Sidney: Geriactivists (older/retired folks who want to do something to make the world better) volunteering to host self-directed learners in their backyard playing/learning spaces.

Max: Free Public Transport (Luxembourg Public Transport is free since March 😉 )

Carl: neighborhood learning centers in walking distance

Kate: Parents as a barrier is another reason why SDL centers in the afternoons or weekends could be helpful — so that youth whose parents aren’t supportive of them leaving public school can still have access

Allison: True free access for youth to attend weekend or afternoon self-directed spaces

Chiao ling: especially in Asian area

Andrew: "The Gardener and The Carpenter" by Alison Gopnik is another good book

Dileepa: Free to Learn by Peter Gray

Dileepa: Khan Academy

Dileepa: Futurelearn

Dileepa: Coursera

Dileepa: Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Nicholas: Broken homes, latch-key kids without parental guidance — parent/student kits, outreach

Allison: More youth rights

Max: Make SDE an option in public schools

Holly: Proof of concept. The more we share GIna Riley's and others' data on the legitimacy of SDE. The more we can create social proof, the more accepting.

Luba: Intros to parents who are ok with SDE and their grown offspring who turned out ok

Thousand & Carmen : virtual classroom experience simulation for parents

carollnash : Even if you do provide the resources to people whose parents don’t support SDL the young person ultimately feels guilty and goes back to what their parents want them to do.  This happens in most cases

Walker: Although he doesn’t support SDE, Alfie Kohn is a great resource for parenting.

Jordan: Why Are You Still Sending Your Kid to School? By Blake Boles

Emma: Put a proposal together and try to have a calm talk with them. If it doesn’t work, you can try to convince them gradually while you nature your own patience and figure out how you can manage your own time best

Kate: Transforming public schools to incorporate at least some aspects of SDE will definitely make it WAY more available

Luba: Teenage Liberation Handbook

Carl: Grace Llewellen's books. Peter Gray's Free to Learn

Carl: the asde website

Stephanie: Parents block it often because they are afraid. Afraid their kids won't "succeed" without a diploma. We can talk ALL the time about SDL can result in a "good" life to start normalizing that. Judy Arnall'S books...Unschooling to University is helpful for sure

Luba: AlternativesToSchool.com

Thousand & Carmen : SDL youtuber/ channels

Chris: Bringing SDL into parents' professional places (ie. During PD) as a potential way to navigate the "parent" barrier for their children

Holly: The Dip, by Seth Godin

Sidney: Childcare, finances and concern about kids’ prep for the future seem to be the big three parental concerns we have to address to free the kids.

Caroline: Newer, better teacher continuing education

Luba: Seth Godin’s manifesto, Stop Stealing Dreams

Carl: Ken Danforth's book and liberated learners website

Rita: Genius Hour - although it's not enough.

Luba: I am calling it independent learning

Walker: I don’t mean to selfishly promote my work, but the Academia Manifesto:  https://www.youthrights.org/blog/the-academia-manifesto/

Nikki: Finding online community with similarly minded people who are also unschooling (peer support)  <<< (check peerunschooling.net)>>>>

Liz: Carlo Ricci calls it Willed Leraning

Liz: The new term is school leaver—an empowering term

rogerdennis : or school refuser

Ella: when I left school I had some teachers tell me I was throwing away my future, because I was doing "well" in school

carollnash : Yes, even teachers who support SLD can get upset with young people don’t do what they tell them.  They then resort to punitive control measures.

Rita: Many teachers believe that if they don't teach kids, kids won't learn!!!!!!!!!!   I have this conversation a lot!

Kate: Teachers themselves face so many barriers — research shows that over the last couple of decades teachers have increasingly less autonomy over what and how they teach. The systems themselves (especially standardized testing) are such a barrier.

Holly: I think there are teachers with so many good intentions that want to teach critical thinking and SDL, but the system gets tighter and tighter and holds them back

aannnn : such a thing always happens in human history while new things occur....

Holly: Be a living example of a confident person who is different. Talk about why you are proud of being different.

Reem: Why School? Micheal Rose

Thousand & Carmen : likeminded friends

Thousand & Carmen : community

carollnash : Yes, not having friends is often a reason for people to return to standardized education

Liz: @ carolnash…it is the main reason and it is the price that some are willing to pay to socialize

carollnash : @Liz Yes, wanting to be with friends is definitely a really important reason people leave unschooling.  However, parent pressure (just thinking your parent wanted something else for you) is still the greatest pressure.

Caroline: We need to get rid of state testing so teachers are freeer

Max: Give them the possibility to network with other unschoolers / self directed learners   << peerunschooling.net >>

Jessica: public places for children to socialize

Allison: Yes more media that shows even homeschoolers favorably. Most media shows kids in schools

Kate: Making public spaces more youth-friendly — especially for Black and brown kids who are more likely to be harassed by law enforcement for “hanging out” in public spaces” — is important

Luba: Other families see unschooling as cool; depends on how you talk about it

Liz: Instead of asking children how old they are or what grade they are in start asking, what are you passionate about?

Max: If you can be as public as possible about it and invite people to experience SDE themselves

Reem: Sports unite

Stephanie: online / in person small groups that build relationships

Micki: Supporting adults in their own personal process of growing up, in my experience a LARGE part of adults who are causing problems are adults who have not emotionally and spiritually grown up

Stephanie: Micki - yes. Deschooling is more for parents and other adults than for kids.

Chiao ling: Play group

rogerdennis: Remind people that walking into a library is (usually) self-directed learning

carollnash: Young people try to say that it’s their own choice, but it’s their own choice to leave because they feel their parents think they are not doing enough.

Ella: find community! other youth who hve left school to connect with, as far as support :)))

Liz: @Carol. Yes, and it might be that the parents have issues with their own confidence and feel they are not enough. If parents experience SDL and recognize they are enough, they may be more inclined to let go of control.

Carl: Fear is an obstacle to living life

Rita: kids not becoming enough is a fear parents have and it keeps them from taking their kids out of school. There are so many, "What ifs"

Iris: I think can help for some parents to see that colleges want unschoolers.

Jordan: Encourage all kinds of unschoolers to share their stories - through platforms like PUN

Jordan: Or other places   <<grownunschoolers.com>>>

Allison: Stories from unschoolers of all backgrounds

Richard: Environments that create a sense of belonging are critical to SDL.

Caroline: We just need to “mainstream” the language of the fringe

Luba: Yes, mainstream the language. It matters a lot how things are framed. (Example: I tried to make my hub’s website as welcoming and understandable/relatable as possible: www.thehub.community)

carollnash: It is true that the group of early adopters turns off some people.  Initially, our unschool had a number of scientists who wanted time to investigate their theories.  When they saw most others were artist types, they thought the unschool wasn’t for them.

Allison: Particularly let's uplift the stories of non-white and low income unschoolers

Taryn: my family had to climb over the culture bridge in order to pursue sde. we could have chosen to let it be a reason for inaccessibility for us or take the leap of faith- it takes a lot of courage.

Jordan: I’ll be starting a Q&A series of Grown Unschoolers for PUN

Andrew: I've been spreading awareness on TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/JdLj4HS/

Allison: ooh yes continuing to support unschoolers after the age of 18. How to help make college accessible to them if that is their choice

Thousand & Carmen : youtube ad is very effective

"LEAVE SCHOOL" BILLBOARD BRAINSTORMING

Caroline: Omg, I love this idea. The billboards.

carollnash : Great billboard, but maybe show some diversity and show that minorities can leave school too.

Liz: Go fund me?

Jordan: GoFundMe is a great idea!

Allison: Feeling iffy on billboards. Some places do not allow them for good reason.

Liz: That’s what I was thinking, Carol. Maybe more than one student on billboard

Reem: Billboard 👍🏻

Richard: Good point Carol.

Liz: There are also smaller ad places at the Tim Horton’s drive thru in Canada. Probably something similar elsewhere.

Thousand & Carmen : Just a thought Jim, billboard and highway mostly seen by parents who are the drivers. They probably not are the main users of the app and not so receptive. But if the kids able to see them say in the youtube ads!! much cheaper too! fb or tik tok. I really think that they need to know and start to research/ ask questions before they can start talking to the parents I guess...

Rita: How about placards for cars?

Iris: Need parents not to have to know about it and search.

Richard: SDL boot camp - Great idea. Probably a big market for it.

Micki: Let’s take this to Roger James Hamilton’s international GeniusU entrepreneur’s community!!

Rita: Kids want connection!!!!!

carollnash : My daughter’s friends are people she has met all over the world.  The problem is that her friends are inaccessible most of the time.  Yes, making friends accessible is hard!

chenyuwen : From parents' perspective, is unschooling costly?

Anna: chenyuwhen... Completely depends on what the student desires to learn and cost of materials cost of mentor cost of transportation… Looks like it comes down to cost and accessibility

carollnash : The only thing missing from being part of PUN and using it for unschooling is that it doesn’t automatically give access to public school resources.  The reason I cofounded a public unschool was that I thought it was important that public funds went to unschooling.

Holly: So how do you get access to Public Funds through this??

carollnash : Why should those students not get their funding for education from public funds the way others do.  It’s great to learn how to fund what’s important to you, but society should support this.

Holly: I agree Carol, I am wondering how you get access to it through what you cofounded

carollnash : We were fortunate in Toronto that our board used to support self-directed learning in a document created in 1968.  That document was never rescinded, so we just appealed to that document to get funding.

Holly: That is awesome!

carollnash : It took a lot of effort and communication with the board but it only took one school year to convince them.

Luba: Single-parent families

Allison: Foster children

Sue: jail

Iris: Barrier: parents needing to work and needing their kids to be monitored/babysat

Allison: Another barrier to access: Public school children often receive free lunch or breakfast. This needs to be accessible to all regardless of school choice

Ella: SDL for younger kids where all parents need to work is another financial barrier, especially because alt. schools tend to be private (more expensive)

Elaine: Finances can be a barrier in general

Carl: how do we make sdl accessible to oppressed people?

Dileepa: Barrier: The Academic achievement “certificate”

carollnash : It’s even more frustrating that schools are publicly funded and can’t be used by unschoolers!

Carissa: Depends on the library management probably, in terms of how rigid/flexible they are for how people use them

monica: Yes, @Carissa. Here in Calgary, they are so accommodating.

Stephanie: We need combinations of libraries and community centres.

Anna: Pod Share is a membership-based housing solution for young people traveling through certain cities. I see it as a model for many many potential solutions. Education is one arena

Allison: Also think about how funding would be different if we defunded the police. More of those funds could go to making self-directed learning accessible to all through libraries, transportation, affordable housing, etc.

monica: It would be a great to put energy in petitioning the city to let people use community spaces like the library.

monica: Maybe community members could rent a space there for free.

Carissa: That’s awesome @Monica! @Luba, do you think it could be possible to meet with your DC library’s management and explain/demonstrate how their collaboration would bring so much good for your groups of SDE learners? I’m thinking you’ve probably already done that, but if not maybe could help––if they see the good it would do hopefully they would realize they’re hindering learning, and no self-respecting library would do that (again hopefully haha)!