If you're reading this, you may fall under one or more in these areas:
You're curious about Self-Directed and/or Unschooling learning approaches with a desire to learn more
You're a parent exploring learning pathways outside of compulsory schooling for your children
Your child(ren) is/are currently enrolled in school (pubic, private, charter, alternative, or virtual) and feeling discouraged by the current state of education
You're an educator who desires to shift your own practices in ways you engage young people
You represent a learning center, school, or group with a desire to bring anti-racism work to your community
You're a parent with children who are now adults and/or desire to support ways young people can tap into the best of themselves sooner rather than later
Whether you connect with one or more of these areas, your openness to explore is appreciated!
Why become Patron?
If supporting any of the below initiatives resonates with you, consider becoming a monthly supporter of ELN TODAY!
Exploring respectful and equitable ways to center the voices of our young people and oppressed communities
Providing access to committed individuals and families without the heaviness of finances to engage this work
Offerings that disrupt the generational, trauma-filled seeds of schoolishness and pervasive whiteness
Tapping into ways that shift our practice toward relationships built on racial equity, liberatory centered, and ancestral healing
As a monthly sustainer, you assist ELN in walking their words in this work. To continue to provide resources and offerings that center BIPOC communities and voices through workshops, training, and programs for individuals and groups who are committed to this work, without the unfortunate barrier that finances often bring. Plus, perks are dope!
In natural unschooling fashion, Eclectic Learning Network has shifted in and through ways to support communities but not it's vision.
To respectfully explore and disrupt the harmful impact that exist in and between the intersections of education, parenting, and race by offering resources, training, and workshops that shift awarenesses toward liberation-centered and ancestral healing through unschooling and self-directed learning approaches.
Community. Connection. Awareness.
The intersections between parenting, education, and race impact all aspects of our daily living experiences. Sometimes we (adults) lose sight that we were once young people with perceptions and experiences that plant the seeds for who we are today. Every bit of it sets the stage for the levels of conditioning and baggage we all carry. From young people to other adults, those experiences from our childhood, create the foundation for how we engage relationships in all its forms.
Whether we've attended "school" or not, schoolishness is all around us and the layers and wounds run deep. Compulsory schooling can begin between the ages of five to eight, depending on where you reside and play a primary role in how we step into adulthood.
From the moment we can hold a pencil, sitting at full attention tethered to a desk, in a classroom with dozens of other classmates and teachers throughout, becomes business as usual. We grow to accept the "do as I say, not as I do" model while simultaneously demanding us to acquiesce. From language to actions displayed, schoolishness extends well outside the walls of a classroom, ripe with harm that impacts us for generations to come.
When paired with the direct experiences learned from our parents and community members, the depth of our understanding and conditioning can bring feelings of permanence in our movements. The role of parent beautifully brings all our known and unknown areas of who we are, together in support of raising our children. It's relentless and joy-filled, stretching and restrictive, all at the same damn time. We do the best we can until we unpack, acknowledge, reflect, pivot, and practice to shift our awareness levels, aka Deschooling.
For BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities, race further adds to this labyrinth of experiences for how we engage ourselves and the people in our lives. But the work surrounding anti-racism, racial bias and equity is not exclusive to BIPOC communities, it's work we must all do, if we want it. Exploring the impact of racism between the intersections of education and parenting brings deep questioning and exploration into the foundation of institutionalized education and ways it continues to oppress BIPOC communities; specifically Black/African American/Pan-African/African communities.
Extending support to all adults and young people outside and within brick-n-mortar learning institutions that span their emotional, social, and cultural needs through providing:
Resources
Aligned, virtual and physical spaces that assist you and ways to deepen your practice around raising free people through visiting ELN's website, quarterly newsletter, social media pages and for those desiring a deeper look into the behind-the-scenes of this work, Patreon!
I.O.T.A. (It's Okay to Ask) - A monthly video segment that model's partnership-based parenting relationships through an honest Q & A that focuses on a daughter asking her mother questions.
Year-end Portfolio Review & Evaluations - Exclusively for families residing in Philadelphia who desire an evaluation process that models self-directed and unschooling learning approaches
Training
Shifting Your Practice - Exploring the intersections of racism, education, and parenting, its impact and ways to shift our practicetoward "the work" we can all do for ourselves and in raising brilliant, whole people.
Developing A Disruptor's Ear - A self-guided workbook for learning how to listen (despite schoolishness and pervasive whiteness) and what to do with what you're hearing.
Workshops, Retreats, & Programs
Strewing (W) - Through “strewing” (scattering objects that spark interest and curiosity), participants will connect in real-time with all the feels and begin unpacking what arises, its impact as well as tools that center respectful parenting when connecting with your young people, yourself, and beyond.
Gear-Up (W) - A layer peeling experience that explores how conditioned language, actions, and behaviors experienced from childhood to adulthood become a blueprint for your parenting style, learning practice, its impact and ways to interrupt this harmful cycle.
F.A.R.M. (Fill. Accept. Restore. Model.) (R) - A 7-part series identifying and exploring how overt and covert indoctrination of colonized language and behaviorsbuild the foundation for how we understand ourselves, engage relationships with others and its impact.
US2GPS - Experiential Learning + Cultural Awareness Family Program (P) - Intergenerational cultural awareness and connection through experiential learning and travel through two South African provinces, Gauteng (Johannesburg) and Mpumalanga (Graskop, Pilgrimsrest, and Sabie).Coming 2021
Chat Sessions
Shedding Your Sh!t - For adults committed disrupting schoolish mindsets and harmful parenting practices that we ceremoniously hold within ourselves and pass to the young people in our lives. Deeply exploring how these actions and behaviors show-up within ourselves and in relationship with the young people in our lives, its impact, and ways to shift our awareness toward owning your sh!t, respectfully.
ELN who along with the collective efforts of individuals and local organizations has provided over 300 offerings (and counting) for families in the Philadelphia area. In 2019, ELN officially became an international resource for liberated learning to ensure that all interested families can gain access to the support needed throughout this journey of liberation. All we have to do is open the door.