The year has been an exciting one, with the first year of the school going really phenomenally well (nowhere near perfectly, there are so many ways I'd like to see us improve, but for the first year of a democratic free school, with all the messiness that self-directed learning and fully participatory democracy tend to entail, our year was easypeasy compared to many), and I've been making great strides on the home front -- decluttering, organizing, getting routines in place that support our family priorities.

I've been missing the sort of slower, more reflective pace that blogs encourage.  The way they feel a little bit as if I've settled in for a visit over tea and scones.  FB feels more as if I'm running a gauntlet, with folks shouting at me from every side.

So I'm back here, inspired by a few articles on quitting FB, and a few friends who've been posting about their plans for the year ahead.  September has always been the start of a new year, for me, and now that I've finally given in and accepted my place in the teaching tradition, I expect it always will be.  I like the idea of coming back here now, feeling like the first page of a brand new notebook.

This year we'll be continuing to spend 2 days a week at the school, and I'll be working an additional 6 hours a week on school administration.  I've shifted to an admin position, but I'll be continuing to offer one class per session (I was pretty tickled that the kids felt so strongly about me continuing to offer classes.  Nice to feel appreciated).

Sarah and I were doing what we call unschooling during the school year (although our approach is always child-led, it's often more structured ("hey, Sarah, what do you want this season to look like?  What do you want to do/learn/focus on?" and then we make a plan and try to stick to it)) -- to me, since it's always led by her interests/priorities and it never involves grades or formal curricula, it's always unschooling, but we only *call* it unschooling when we mean "we're going to fly by the seat of our pants this month, and just follow whatever our whims of the moment are".  Which tends to involve more classes, oddly enough, but not a lot of "playing school".  

This summer she asked to shift back to "playing school", which is what we call it when we sit together for a couple hours every morning to read together or to watch Khan academy videos or watch documentaries.  This week we'll have our Back to School talk, to figure out which approach she wants to take this upcoming year.  I have to admit I hope we stick with playing school -- it's such a cozy routine -- but I'm pretty comfortable with whichever approach she chooses.  Seeing her grow in sophistication and independence and in her critical thinking and communication skills, this year, even as she's done very little mainstream academic stuff, helps me remember that I trust her -- trust her curiosity, her desire to engage with the world, her ability to plan for her own future.  Makes it a lot easier to go with whatever's working for us right now.  (I was so proud of her work on the hiring committee, this summer -- watching her learn to hold her own in serious conversations with adults is so much of what free schools are about, to me, but it's even more meaningful getting to see it happening.  And I absolutely love the friends she's making at the school -- such a perfect counterpoint to her homeschooling friends (the homeschool friends tend to fit well with her more dreamy, reflective side, and the school friends tend to fit well with her smartass side).)