A Sneak Peek at Chapter One

 Note from Maria: We had several volunteers here again this week, which gave me the luxury of extra time to finish writing the first chapter (only twelve to go) of my book Exploring the Possibilities: Challenging Cultural Norms to Support Young People on Their Self-Directed Learning Journey. I have continued the format from the Introduction—italicized excerpts from thirteen years of blog posts are interspersed within a narrative to tell the Deep Root Center Origin Story in this chapter.  In the book, those excerpts will be indented. This blog format will not let me do that, so I am inserting dividers before and after to separate them visually.  

​This week includes the first quarter or so of the chapter. It is much too long for just one post. This is a first draft; if you are willing, please send feedback.  And for those who have been along for this amazing ride from the very beginning, let me know if my memory of the sequence of events matches yours. Enjoy! 

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A Peaceful Morning in the DRC Backyard

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Chapter One
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The Deep Root Center Origin Story

Saying 2013 was a rough year isn't my attempt to begin this story with dramatic flair. It really was a year wrought with heavy emotion, turmoil, and an immeasurable amount of tears.

First, after a trip to Puerto Rico in March 2012 for a democratic education conference with seven teens and the director of the alternative school where I taught, I found myself solidifying my personal educational philosophy while working in that environment—a place I had considered home for ten years. On the surface, it looked like self-directed education; however, in actuality, it was a progressive school (defined later) that did not follow the principles of self-directed education I had come to consider essential.

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Excerpt from Reminders, written September 30, 2018.
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It is amazing what you find when you pack for a move. Last week, I was emptying the huge, four-drawer, 1950s-era file cabinet that has held my (decidedly not) secret stash of office supplies (tape and hot glue sticks) and random info from over four years. Among the hanging files, I found the journal I kept during my trip with several students to an International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) in Caguas, Puerto Rico, in March of 2012, randomly slipped in with a bunch of 3rd- and 4th-grade reading comprehension exercises.

That loosely tied bundle of 4"x6" paper, covered in my nearly illegible scrawl, instantly brought back the pure pain, confusion, conflict, exhaustion, inner turmoil, grief, and unending tears—as well as the transformational discoveries and decisions—of the 18 months that followed that trip.

That neglected and forgotten documentation of my innermost feelings and observations is the very reason DRC exists. For several days, while shivering in the overly air-conditioned conference center (silly me, packing summer clothing for a trip to a tropical island), I sat and listened to the vanguard of an educational revolution—people from all over the world who worked tirelessly to bring the concept of Democratic Education into the awareness of educators and the general public.

That IDEC was, beyond a doubt, where I discovered that I had always, without realizing it, subscribed to the philosophy and practiced the methods of fully Self-Directed Education. At the same time, I realized I was working in a place where the administrator's methodology, despite superficially using the language, did not come close to matching the true definition.

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After several months of trying desperately to reconcile those differences, both within myself and with the school's leadership, I left the position on April 19th, 2013—coincidentally my son's 19th birthday—ten years, four months and eighteen days after I'd started there as an intern. 

Almost a month after my resignation, my father, of nearly 80, died. I believe I was already so firmly embedded in grief that I was numb to his passing, and to the pain the rest of my family was enduring. I barely remember his funeral and the reception afterward. And I certainly wasn't there emotionally when my mom and three siblings needed me, as the eldest child, most.

A month later, I traveled to Long Island with my second child, then sixteen, to attend the AERO (Alternative Education Resource Organization) Conference.  While there, I met Ken Danford, founder of North Star Self-Directed Learning for Teens in Amherst, MA (now in Sunderland, MA). I should mention that I had already discovered North Star before meeting Ken, through my ongoing Google searches—conducted through streams of tears—for educational alternatives that weren't schools.

I was adamant about not starting a school. My negative experiences over the previous year and a half at the alternative school had solidified that position. Schools, especially alternative ones, are most often a form of progressive education, which, as Dr. Peter Gray—author of Free to Learn, my personal self-directed learning bible—describes it, is based on a benevolent teacher's brilliance, not the child's.

Once I learned more about North Star's philosophy, I knew that was exactly what I wanted to create, right here in Northern New York.
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Ken, along with Joel Hammon of Princeton Learning Cooperative (the first replicator of North Star), set up Liberated Learners, a not-for-profit that streamlined replication. Becoming a member of the network—and gaining access to Ken and Joel's help and resources—required a one-time start-up fee. It was an open-source arrangement: anyone who joined the network could access and use any intellectual property they had created over the years.

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Excerpt from: This Ain't New—written January 12, 2015

While Deep Root Center is relatively new (we opened our doors almost exactly a year ago), the self-directed learning model is not. We, along with eight other Centers in the US and Canada, are members of the Liberated Learners Network, which replicates North Star: Self-Directed Learning for Teens in Hadley, MA.

North Star has a proven track record, since 1996, of assisting over five hundred teens in the Amherst/Northampton area to leave school and, as Ken states, "get a life." That is nineteen years of mentoring and advising kids who are miserable, disenfranchised, and who want to engage with the world on their own terms. Nineteen years of providing an individualized, non-coercive education to youth who choose to leave school. Nineteen years of proclaiming: Learning is natural. School is optional. Nineteen years of listening with compassion to teens who are bursting to tell their story. These kids are so grateful to North Star that they are delighted to share their stories with others considering the self-directed learning path, at open houses and info sessions for North Star and the other Liberated Learner Centers.

In truth, however, this method of educating children has been around much longer than nineteen years. In fact, it has been around since anatomically modern humans have roamed the earth. As big-brained primates, we are designed to learn over a long childhood. How could we survive to pass on our genes if that weren't true? And despite current cultural beliefs, that desire to learn does not turn off just because a child turns 5, 8, or 13. It remains with us our entire lives. Personally, I am not entirely happy unless I am in the midst of a learning experience. Think of all the stories on NPR or CBC (for those of you in Canada or on the border), or on the Internet, that capture your attention; you are engaged, thinking, and learning. My beloved Grandma used to say, "It has been a wasted day if you didn't learn something new."

Ken Danford and Joshua Hornick, the founders of North Star, simply took the concept of self-directed learning that has been around forever and built this "new" educational model. I would contend that this form of education only appears revolutionary, unfamiliar, and scary because our society accepted compulsory education as the norm a little over 100 years ago. Public education became the law of the land as a way to combat child labor in factories and mines and to create a pliable, obedient industrial workforce for the future—not necessarily to promote learning. But even then, up until 50 or so years ago, discretion and common sense ruled. For example, children who lived on farms were excused during important seasonal work essential to the livelihood and survival of the family.

Common sense is what the self-directed educational experience encompasses. Each individual is empowered to make the most logical choices based on their own needs, desires, and interests. I'll say it again: it ain't new and it ain't rocket science—we humans have been doing it for a few millennia. These visionaries in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts just brought it into the modern age, and we are very fortunate they decided to share their model with the rest of the world.

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After visiting North Star for a replication conference in June, an additional two months of grieving, and following potential leads that weren't right at the time, I decided in August 2013 to jump in and start a learning center using North Star's guiding principles, sooner rather than later, with January 2014 set as our trial opening period.

DRC was one of the first to join Liberated Learners. The process has changed over the years, but the concept of sharing ideas across all the Centers remains the same.
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The St. Lawrence University library became my unofficial office. I set up my computer at a table by a large window overlooking the historic Gunnison Chapel every day. I was very conscious about taking phone calls outside so as not to disturb other library patrons—which meant lots of trips up and down the stairs. It wasn't ideal; however, access to reliable wifi was essential, and I am grateful it was there for me when I needed it.

My second kiddo was also homeschooling for their last year of high school (doubling up to skip a year, like their big brother) and was a regular at the SLU library as well—setting up in one of the double-decker study carrels (known colloquially as "treehouses" on campus) every day to work on an extensive research project, create art, and watch a fair bit of Netflix. They definitely felt a sense of ownership over that particular "treehouse," despite not being a SLU student.

During those first few months, I made my way through the long checklists of everything required to start a not-for-profit. Knowing we needed a board of directors, I held a gathering at the local Cornell Cooperative Extension building to vet potential board members. We had a few folks who were supportive but didn't want to take on a board role. In the end, our first board consisted of myself, my husband, and Paul, a long-time friend and neighbor. Meeting with a counselor from the SBA at SUNY Canton to build a comprehensive business plan was at the top of the list. Registering the business name and DBA with the county; setting up a mailbox; asking for help, and then eventually figuring out on my own how to build a drag-and-drop website; setting up social media accounts and posting regularly; meeting with Seedcorn to ask for fiscal 501(c)(3) sponsorship while figuring out how to apply for our own (they said "yes"); setting up a bank account; and learning accounting skills—these were just a few of the thousands of tasks I completed, all while searching the NoCo for a space to call home.  

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DRC News

DRC Weekly Round-up

The DRC Crew had another very chill week.  We hosted seven volunteers throughout the week.  

Monday. Hudson & Raven, our SLU CBL students, came in to volunteer. Hudson played Monopoly, and Raven continued making a cardboard gauntlet with K. K created another Bob Ross-inspired painting.

​Enormous thanks to volunteer and DRC Board VP, Kris R., for coming in on Tuesday to teach a metal art class. The Crew thoroughly enjoyed the project. In Geography class, C gave a presentation about Angola. We talked about the effects of colonization and missionaries on the people of African Countries.

Huge thanks to Pete for volunteering to lead the crew in remodeling our treehouse on Thursday. After meeting for an hour to discuss logistics, they decided the entire structure needs to be moved from the tight space it occupies to accomplish their goal of adding stairs and other improvements. There was lots of brainstorming and problem-solving going on out there. And thank you to Ryan for coming in with his fancy chessboard to play. He introduced two kiddos to the game

On Friday, we had our first Kitchen Sink Science (KSS) class of the year. We tore up green leaves into tiny bits and put them in rubbing alcohol - filled beakers, which we then placed in a pan of hot water. After they “marinated,” for 45 min., we put a strip of coffee filter paper in to see if the color under the chlorophyll would appear. It did not. We wondered if it would have been successful if we had used leaves whose color change is more dramatic, such as sugar maples. That is something to test another day. B made a delicious apple cake. During the afternoon, Debora and Sara, two of our SLU CBL volunteers, helped begin the process of planning a mural for the art/music studio. They may have gotten sidetracked showing the intricacies of a game that they play and painting a landscape. At the end of the day, Digby Doo took over E's lap for an afternoon snooze.

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Our Home
Eight years ago, on September 26, 2018, I wrote a few really big checks, and 48 Riverside Dr. became Deep Root Center’s permanent home. After the closing, I went directly to the house and ate my first of many lunches standing in that kitchen. It is a space we are so grateful for—but also curse every day. It is poorly designed, the floors are beat up, and it's way too small for our crew, but mostly functional; we make and eat good food together, do awesome science experiments, and hang out having amazing conversations. 

The dream is to remodel it to be a space that effectively serves its many functions; until that becomes reality, we will deal with what we have with gratitude, even when we grumble about tripping over each other.