Family-Centered Learning Communities (in progress)

Family-Centered
Learning Communities ...It's neither "home" nor "schooling!" For decades, a growing number of families and communities have been conducting a series of
loving
long-term
unrestrained
qualitative experiments commonly known as homeschooling.
Researcher point of view
But... There do exist exceptional experimental classrooms and institutions.

...Family educators are ready to report on what it takes to succeed Now that more communities are ready to listen...
...And what it takes is:
Key components Loving care
of
decision-makers Economies
of
commons Local grouping
by
social ties Global networking
by
values Rapid prototyping
of
everything Learning groups come together for 2-12 weeks
Every family and group remixes, chooses, compares, designs curricular materials daily or weekly
Families and groups hold "planning parties" for events, classes, curricula
Online think tanks solve day-to-day pedagogical problems within hours
Ease of joining and leaving, no entry and exit barriers for group activities, conscious avoidance of formal gatekeeping (tests)
Disintermediated administration and logistics leads to fast and agile decision-making Barter of books and tutoring, carpooling, shared workspaces
Gift economies with classes, childcare, pass-me-down materials
Long-running coops of 5-50 families co-producing materials, exchanging services, and pooling resources
Free crowdsourced online materials and communities of practice
Monetary exchanges based on supporting livelyhood of community members, rather than profit-making Family love motivates highest possible care for educational well-being and success of children
Teachers and group activity leaders love the content passionately
Learners expect to find deep personal meaning and significance in their activities Relations among members of small classes: relatives, friends, or friends-of-friends
Tight groups: 1 or 2 degrees of separation within coops and local groups
Invitations to activities either through friends or through tight groups
New participants' first task is to make these close ties
Groups form by topics of interest, location, desired workload, and existing friendships, rather than age or ability
Internships, apprenticeships and events with local professionals who have community ties Strong flavors and styles in learning philosophies and worldviews
"Named" approaches with high level of passion and loyalty among followers
Learning materials tagged not only by topic and level, but by multiple value-based variables
Complex vocabularies for sharing personal educational values within networks "Loving one another in the context of Perl" - Clay Shirky "Named approaches"
Montessori
Reggio Emilia
Charlotte Mason
Waldorf
Thomas Jefferson
Image by Clover 1 on Flickr High-order tasks for everybody
"Focus on dreams of each child." "Package deals" with multiple long-term classes are extremely rare. Meaningful learning experiences:
Autonomy
Complexity
Fruitful effort Rather than reducing the complexity of the environment by filtering, breaking down into pieces, and otherwise simplifying information for the individual... Amplify the knowledge of the individual to where it can meaningfully
connect to the complex environment. Economies of:
Reputation
Permission
Care
Trust ""I never know until the second week of class who will be in the class. Some people come once and not again (not many) and many appear at the second week only." - Science Jim Homeschooling does not lose success rate when the practice spreads.