I wrote a post about small, self-directed groups for supporting each other with learning. I've spoken to others who find it hard to make progress on personal projects. I know it is a challenge for me. I think we may have a better shot if we band together. Given the various crises happening now, I think it is more important than ever to learn and to do creative work. https://davidbruffner.com/2025/04/11/self-directed-small-groups-for-learning/

#smallGroup
#learning
#selfDirectedEducation

"How people behave under one set of circumstances does not predict how they will behave under a very different set of circumstances."

This is from The Learning Cooperatives website, https://learningcooperatives.org/guiding-principles/, in the context of kids who struggle in school. In a different environment those same kids can thrive.

I find this encouraging. If I am struggling with something, it's probably not because I'm deficient. Maybe it would help to change my environment.
#selfDirectedEducation
#unschooling

I often see adults claiming that kids are "resisting learning" or "wouldn't learn unless forced to" and what they ACTUALLY mean by that is that kids are not learning or would not learn exactly what the adults demand that they do.

This is an expression of frustration with children's noncompliance, because even a lot of "progressive" and "radical" folks think that, as long as they insist that its for their own good, children should obey them.

This is not only subjugation and thus completely unacceptable as a way to treat other people (children are people), it's also completely counterproductive.

People naturally resist compulsion. It actually feels like shit to have someone with far greater power than you attempt to control almost all aspects of your life, including what you think about, focus on, and do. We KNOW that. YOU know that.

If you make what you call "learning" into something forced, you introduce it as something to be resisted.

If adults are to stop attempting to coerce kids into "learning" (sometimes better termed "memorizing") what they want them too, that necessitates coming to terms with the fact that children (being people and all) have their own unique interests, passions, and goals, their own familial, cultural, and geographic contexts... In short? They're going to want to learn wildly different things, the same way you and I, as adults, choose to focus on very different topics and build very different skills.

The ethical necessity to stop perpetuating adult supremacy means confronting a whole lot of harmful beliefs about what "education" is supposed to be and what it's supposed to look like. It also means actually creating anti-authoritarian, anti-hierarchical places for kids to spend time in, because limiting their options to either the authoritarianism of State schooling or nuclear families, regardless of what those families are like, is such a miserably constrained set of options.

#youthliberation #selfdirectededucation #schoolabolition

Had no idea about the liberal arts definition. Love this - meshes what I love about #selfdirectededucation, what I don't like about coercive schools in an article and from someone not in my bubble...

https://hachyderm.io/@inthehands/110390739226017146

I'm interested in connections between how humans learn and how machine learning/AI systems learn. In particular, I've been fascinated by unschooling and how people can thrive when they are give autonomy in a loving environment. What would giving a machine learning system autonomy in a loving environment look like?

#machinelearning
#unschooling
#learning
#autonomy
#selfdirectededucation

#introduction Hi I'm David (he/him), and I've been enjoying this network for a little while now, and slowly getting the hang of it. I'm married and a dad. We have two boys, 5 and 2. I'm a #physicist into #software and #machinelearning. I work at a early stage company, Spheryx, developing new ways to do #particlecharacterization. Recently I've been interested in #unschooling, #ecology, #permaculture, #connection, #economics, #opensource, #foss, #selfdirectededucation, #elixir, and, #puns. 😀 🦕 🌳

Imaginings for 2023: What if they could choose to be there? #consentbasededucation #selfdirectededucation

https://naomicfisher.substack.com/p/a-thought-experiment

Love this collaboration between Naomi Fischer, clinical psychologist and writer on #selfdirectededucation with Missing the Mark Eliza Fricker's illustrations (who illustrates about being #autistic in the education system:

https://naomicfisher.substack.com/

If you are looking for #bicycle fetish posting, parochial #baltimore #maryland interest, #labor #union and #WorkerCooperative boosterism, #parenting exasperation, and earnest efforts at understanding democratic #SelfDirectedEducation . #democracy #Education. Give big jash a boost on this #FollowFriday

@matbury @gerard_mazza #selfdirectededucation has plenty of people learning from those with more expertise. It's not all discovery learning.

@JennyAnyDot I also would love to find as robust a community of people wrestling together with how to understand, articulate and live the values of #unschooling / #selfdirectededucation in the broadest sense.

I am going to say Hi again in hopes people find me. I really would like to rebuild my online #unschooling community. I have 4 #unschool #homeeducated kids of my own and facilitate #SelfDirectedEducation for another 26 who attend the #AgileLearningCenter I co-founded with friends. Children are people.

I love hearing from other people navigating this culturally weird and awesome way of being in relationship with children and one another.

My 15 year old wrote an Ode to her bestie cousin, and I am still laughing. Just a magnificent stream of inside jokes she turned into a clever poem. I wish she would allow me to share it! #unschooling #SelfDirectedEducation

@matbury @gerard_mazza as Mazza already said and for me too, it's about consent. So #unschooling #democratic #selfdirectededucation is not about lack of guidance or instruction. Young people can and do choose to seek out that guidance and instruction.

@matbury but this study doesn't take into account where the motivation is located for the students. Are those students learning Spanish just for the research or did they choose to and did they get to choose the method as they would in #selfdirectededucation ? I wish there were more studies where students get real decision making power/responsibility for their learning. Not just 'choices' amongst some predetermined few. Also wonder how much metalearning they get from doing that over the longterm.

Today we #unschool in community at the ALC I cofacilitate, Bungalow Lane ALC. I will be tinkering in the garden and hopefully replacing some defunct lights in the teen space. Some kid usually gets curious & joins me as an assistant. My cofacilitator is queen of crafts, so I’m sure she has some messy holiday crafting up her sleeve. And there’s usually a group that wants to walk to the corner store for junk food. Another ordinary day of #SelfDirectedEducation .

Today’s #unschool adventures mostly involve driving the 2 teens for me. 15yo needs rides to high school (a thing unschoolers sometimes choose to do!) & gymnastics. The other needs rides to & from class at community college. Somewhere in there I need groceries. The younger two will mostly take it easy doing their own things at home. Lots of device play with friends I’m sure. Just another extraordinary ordinary day of #SelfDirectedEducation

This week’s #unschool adventures at the central California coast were dominated by tide pool treasure hunts. #SelfDirectedEducation moves back home this afternoon.

@HIH_Homeschool @orbifx @Liveotherwise I'd like somewhere to connect with other #HomeEducation people, bit of activism for HE e.g.#notoschoolsbill, support, ideas, local community sharing maybe eventually, place for starting community projects, talking consent in education and reimagining education, raising awareness of HE (myth busting) with non HEers, alternative options to school, #selfdirectededucation, networking and getting excited about in person events to share stories and inspiration.