THREE main features
Self-Directed
Community-Focused
Self-Directed
- Choosing what, when and how you learn based on what feels right to you.
- Learning how to listen to and trust yourself to explore the world in a way that is meaningful to you.
- Letting go of social conditioning as to what is (or is not) important to learn.
- Being responsible for your own time, your own path, your own education.
Consent-Based
Community-Focused
Self-Directed
- Understanding your own agency and autonomy, and the freedom and boundaries that come with that.
- Learning to say an authentic yes, no or maybe, and respecting the consent and boundaries of others.
- Being responsible for expressing your thoughts and feelings in a way that is clear and helpful.
Community-Focused
Community-Focused
Community-Focused
- Making use of the resources and opportunities available, while respecting others’ rights to make use of them.
- Developing different friendships with people of mixed ages and from diverse backgrounds.
- Understanding and navigating risk and conflict together in an open, honest and empowering way.
- Learning to respond to the needs of, and influence changes within, the community.
A Day At Group
SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING ADVENTURES
We believe that each individual is best placed to find out what is of value to them and their future.
As a self directed learning group, our members decide how they invest their time and can opt in or out of every activity. Each day will vary depending on the individual’s mood, interests, ideas and inspiration.
There is no such thing as a ”typical day”. At 9:30am we meet to plan the day.
Our structure is entirely flexible, with facilitators presenting opportunities, running activities or just being ready to help when needed.
The activities we undertake could be considered to fall under six categories, although naturally these overlap and are just examples or glimpses of the wider learning that is naturally taking place.
examples of recent projects
Understanding Yourself
Understanding Yourself
Understanding Yourself
- Our high facilitator-to-child ratio allows for children to have plenty of individual as well as group attention.
- We offer all our young people regular one to one mentoring sessions with a facilitator.
- Our daily meeting provides opportunities for group discussions and consent-based agreements.
- Conflict resolution and peer support are
- Our high facilitator-to-child ratio allows for children to have plenty of individual as well as group attention.
- We offer all our young people regular one to one mentoring sessions with a facilitator.
- Our daily meeting provides opportunities for group discussions and consent-based agreements.
- Conflict resolution and peer support are a natural and important part of learning at Group.
- Projects are self-directed and self-managed: young people have the opportunity to be bored and create their own motivation and direction.
Science
Understanding Yourself
Understanding Yourself
- Using the microscope to view objects up close and learn about the parts of flowers and insects.
- Cultivating our own pollinator-friendly, fruit and veg beds, learning about pollinators.
- Creating Marble Runs and learning about how to build more stable and efficient systems.
- Testing and comparing different household liquids with pH test
- Using the microscope to view objects up close and learn about the parts of flowers and insects.
- Cultivating our own pollinator-friendly, fruit and veg beds, learning about pollinators.
- Creating Marble Runs and learning about how to build more stable and efficient systems.
- Testing and comparing different household liquids with pH test strips, and used tables and graphs to compile and compare the data.
- Using our scrap paper to make paper pulp, and using the mould and deckle to turn that into new paper.
Creativity
Understanding Yourself
Communication
- Creating tiny houses in clay, cardboard, mud and mixed media, and imagining the lives of inhabitants.
- Exploring centripetal force with an electrical art spinner.
- Using pairs of compasses and rulers to create intricate geometric patterns and turn them into mandala images or other artworks.
- Sketching outdoors to practice our pencil ski
- Creating tiny houses in clay, cardboard, mud and mixed media, and imagining the lives of inhabitants.
- Exploring centripetal force with an electrical art spinner.
- Using pairs of compasses and rulers to create intricate geometric patterns and turn them into mandala images or other artworks.
- Sketching outdoors to practice our pencil skills and look at nature up close and at a distance (insects,wildlife, plants, cloudscapes, landscapes).
- Exploring a range of media including powders, paints, clays, pencils, pens, graphics pad.
- Baking and cooking.
Communication
Physical Development
Communication
- Using story cards to create our own collaborative modern fairytales.
- Creating stop motion animation videos.
- Devising our own dramatic interpretations of the Wizard of Oz, mini zombie movies, and working on plays written by members.
- Devising Dungeons and Dragons scenarios and taking part in games.
- Word games such as “Poetry For Neand
- Using story cards to create our own collaborative modern fairytales.
- Creating stop motion animation videos.
- Devising our own dramatic interpretations of the Wizard of Oz, mini zombie movies, and working on plays written by members.
- Devising Dungeons and Dragons scenarios and taking part in games.
- Word games such as “Poetry For Neanderthals” focussed on getting meaning across with single syllable words.
- Writing stories, poems and articles and scripts.
- Using Minecraft: learning the words for the passwords, finding a world, choosing an item and using the laptop keyboard.
Physical Development
Physical Development
Physical Development
- Marco Polo in various versions, always negotiated and renegotiated.
- Chaos tag and other running games.
- Variations of ball games, climbing, skipping, running, jumping.
- Exploring the outdoor space and using the rope swing.
- Gymnastics challenges.
- Yoga sessions.
- Dance choreography and creating dance shows.
- Twister games.
- Balance challenges.
- Obstacle courses and hurdling races.
Strategy & Logic
Physical Development
Physical Development
- Logic puzzles, chess and board games
- DnD and other role play games designed by the young people.
- Gathering data from science experiments and presenting it in table and graph form.
- Collecting names for start up games, and taking votes.
- Measuring ingredients for baking, working in fractions and converting.
- Measuring time and distance
- Logic puzzles, chess and board games
- DnD and other role play games designed by the young people.
- Gathering data from science experiments and presenting it in table and graph form.
- Collecting names for start up games, and taking votes.
- Measuring ingredients for baking, working in fractions and converting.
- Measuring time and distance eg in long jump tournaments or hurling competitions.
- Using pairs of compasses to create mandalas and other geometric designs.
- Building understanding of shape and directional and geometric language by creating origami.
- Applying geometry in woodwork and junk modelling creations.
The children have been attending for a year now and, if anything, we feel even more positive about it. It’s been wonderful to see them grow in confidence, skill and maturity over this time - all without the traditional top-down methods of mainstream schools.
Parents of Flower, 8 and Seano, 5