So.....I couldnt afford the two local alternative schools (250 euro a month), and I was not going to put my creative and active son into a local 'prison style' school, Because he needs to play with other kids (mum gets boring!) and enjoys being in nature and being wild I decided that I would start a small free school in our valley for our local kids that me and other parents could afford!.. the story below...
The above photo is from our first school trip up into the snow 2 months after starting the school 4 years ago.
My plan was that I knew there were many amazing kind creative talented wonderful people out there who would want to volunteer to spend 4 hours a day 4 days a week, living simply in a straw bale house off grid high in the mountains in our (anarchistic?!) community/village, there wouldn't be a whole lot of money, but enough to have a good life while they lived with us. I had build a cob, a cob tee-pee (the volcano!) and another straw bale house modeled on my own first build (see previous steemit post/blog) for teacher accommodation, and a sort of solid yurt for the school. With another great team of generous volunteers we built another straw bale house for the third teacher, (4th teacher has her own house in the valley)
One of the reasons I was sure those people were out there was that I'd recently done three eco builds and for each build around 50 people wanted to take part, (could only take first 5 for each team) also I'd had many amazing helpx-ers and woofers hang out with my son in my house while I handmade boots beside him to provide the money for the builds and for the free school project, I am a firm believer in that I shouldn't be the only adult to influence my son and there are many with great skills to share with him!, and also that heart and energy are more important when hiring someone for the job then qualifications, which is how we ended up with Luke (who was actually very qualified!) Jade and Maria for our first year, all heart and a strong passion for alternative child led education made this a very special team, the kids loved them and that was the most important thing :-). parents paid a suggested 'donation' every week per child and we all took responsibility to help clean and fix the school in turn. We also do fund-raisers and organize fun school trips.
So we built the yurt with local materials both recycled and donated, we had our team of great teachers and 15 kids!
Now in our fourth year, we have 4 teachers and 25 kids, Child led, there are creative, fun or interesting projects and activities offered every day but no one has to do anything, so some play in and around the school, art room the new adventure playground while others get busy painting, building, writing, drawing and recently making music and music videos! There is plenty of mountain to play on, a stream and even a zip wire! also tree houses and an art studio built on 2 years ago to the back of the main yurt. The kids have full access to tools, art materials and there are lots of books and story time, the kids can 'make a deal' to study a subject such as writing, science or maths for an agreed amount of hours if they choose, many do. There are after school clubs where the older kids can have a more quiet environment to do projects such as robot building, puppet making or recording raps/songs they have written themselves, they also recently made a school magazine
4 years ago to start the school I advertised on every alternative education website I could find, and with 15 applicants that first year we were so lucky to have Luke, he turned my dream into a reality and made the school even better then I ever could have imagined, We feel very blessed to have had him for 3 years, and now we again have an amazing new team with some teachers returning and some new ones too, as always the kids vote on which teachers should stay. More on our 'Kids Space' later :-)
Wow! You really took the bull by the horns with that one!
Very impressed!
I've had the pleasure of seeing this free-school in action, and I must say that what you all have done for those kids is beyond brilliant.
Thank you for opening up peoples eyes to yet another alternative to the state run consumer machine!
Bless.
Thank you Mark, I may have got the ball rolling but big thanks goes out to the amazing teachers who have worked so hard to make it the super project that it is :-), Luke, Camilla, Jade, Anna and all the part time volunteers, thank you!
That's super awesome. I have been growing increasingly frustrated with the very expensive preschool I have been sending my son to.
There may be a group of like minded parents in your area looking to make an alternative :-)
What an amazing person you are. Very brave and very motivated. You strive forward and achieve impossible things. So impressed with what everyone i know is writing about here. So proud of you. How do you write with that baby on your knee?
awww thank you shivvi, to be honest its really a struggle to get time to write, today it was kinda thanks to you as when you were teaching silks/arial to Naia her mum was walking with Baby B!, So I got an hour to write and try get my head around markdown! xx
So much creativity and hard work. More grease to your elbow
I have the passion to teach but cant afford to establish a school, with much appreciation of your good act, God always bless you.
thank you :-) If you find a space, you can find wonderful volunteers on helpx and workaway, it could be possible :-)
Wow, great work! Such a nice idea and it looks like your hard work really paid off.
Amazing labor, hope to keep reading things like that!! you're changing that kids' lifes and viceversa.. Greetings from Venezuela.
Gracias, un abrazo!
Yeah kids space! you were really great in organising and getting all those people together to build this amazing space, which is no easy task, especially with a little one.(Big shout out to Patrick seen up there in action).
This is such an amazing project that my kids have been involved in and still are. The freedom and creativity is boundless. If children could choose how they want to spend their time I imagine quite alot would be happy there. I know anytime I go up there I want to get involved with whatever they have created. And yes how lucky you were to find Luke, the whole community has benefited from him being there.
The kids and parents also make it what it is, such a beautiful (if sometimes a bit disorganized!) group effort :-), thank you ashlinn xx
thats true xx
Indeed another world is possible! Thank you @steemama for writing this beautiful article and giving us an example on how to live life by action! You are an amazing mama! Your friends must be very happy to have you around! :)))))
Beautiful photos also!!! Would love to read more on the subject on how the school saw developed. Maybe you can do a 4 parts article to explain it more!
Resteemed! So that my beautiful followers can reach out and touch faith! xx
thank you sister xx
Well done😊👍🏻
thank you Heidi for your support :-)
Simply incredible! I just wonder how government gave permit kids not to continue government-based schools instead yours? You have had took some kind of permission haven't you? I don't want this beautifully creative place shut down by state authority.
It would be impossible to legalize this kind of school, we would need to 1-build a high cement wall around it, have flush toilets not compost and ohh yes a large indoor gym for exercise! All costing around half million Euro to start with! So what schools like this do in this country is we all as individual families/parents take responsibility to say our kids are home schooled, and that the 'kids space' is just a meeting place for those home schooled kids. So its the only way at present unless one is rich and likes lots of cement ;-), We have looked at all possible alternatives, but we stay like this for the moment, thank you for your positive encouraging mail ;-)
Oh, i haven't had thought home school term :) What a wonderful way to get rid of cement-made scools :) Hope all children enjoy what you created for them :)
That was a very bold ,challenging and innovative step taken.
Motivates me to think laterally too, to follow the same old straight route might boring .
Lateral is good! thank you for your comment ;-)
This is so beautifully awesome! So is it like a boarding school or do the kids come in the morning and go home at night? How far are you from the nearest town?
hey! thank you, The kids all live in the valley or nearby, no boarders, nearest village is 8 km away. city 60km away, we are on the edge of a large National park rising up to 4000m
great