Ed Zed Omega - Reimagining Education

This public media "authentic fiction" sought to crowdsource perspectives about education today. The Zed Omega teens, played by actors, "dropped out loud" from high school -- catalyzing open discussion about the structures and purpose of traditional education and its alternatives. The arc of each Zed Omega character was unscripted: they responded to ideas that people presented. The collaborative thought experiment and "interactive documentary" was live on social media during fall semester 2012. (-Learn more-) (-Credits-) (-Facebook-) (-Twitter-)

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On School and Socks

hithertokt asks lizzie: how's trial dropping out from h.s. going?

hithertokt asked:  You said that this is a trial dropping out period for you. How is it going? What's good about it? What's bad? I'd love to hear an update!

lizabethdavis:  It’s going well. I’ve had time to do things I haven’t been able to do in H.S. I drove to California with my cousin. I’ve been able to read books that I enjoy. I’ve picked up the guitar I haven’t played since I started H.S. For a while I was upset that I didn’t see my friends as much, now I’m fine with it. The only way I would go back to high school is if they changed it. -- via Lizzie, http://lizabethdavis.tumblr.com/post/36156962652/you-said-that-this-is-a-trial-dropping-out-period-for

Tags high school unschooling freedom lizabethdavis Lizabeth california road trip

Anonymous writes: I love your blog! I’m looking towards unschooling (and hopefully graduating from college)…got any tips? Clare responds: hey thanks! that’s great that you’re actively seeking out other methods of getting your education. Unschooling looks like a great option, doesn’t it?? And that’s awesome that you KNOW you want to graduate from college because that will help motivate you to REALLY learn the stuff you need to to get there!! As of right now I really have to say I don’t have any tips…I’m in the same boat as you are!! I’ve been thinking about unschooling and although I’ve gotten great advice from people around me, I am unsure about all the specifics…The best thing I could tell you is to find a community of people (maybe check out my friend Nora’s FB or Tumblr—you can find the links on the edzedomega.org website) that are or have been unschoolers/homeschoolers and ask them for advice. The biggest thing I think is to stay motivated. Remember your long-term goals (graduating from college) and KEEP AT IT! Even when it gets tough. Thanks for checking out my blog! Good luck!!

Anonymous writes: I love your blog! I’m looking towards unschooling (and hopefully graduating from college)…got any tips?

Clare responds: hey thanks! that’s great that you’re actively seeking out other methods of getting your education. Unschooling looks like a great option, doesn’t it?? And that’s awesome that you KNOW you want to graduate from college because that will help motivate you to REALLY learn the stuff you need to to get there!! As of right now I really have to say I don’t have any tips…I’m in the same boat as you are!! I’ve been thinking about unschooling and although I’ve gotten great advice from people around me, I am unsure about all the specifics…The best thing I could tell you is to find a community of people (maybe check out my friend Nora’s FB or Tumblr—you can find the links on the edzedomega.org website) that are or have been unschoolers/homeschoolers and ask them for advice. The biggest thing I think is to stay motivated. Remember your long-term goals (graduating from college) and KEEP AT IT! Even when it gets tough. Thanks for checking out my blog! Good luck!!

Tags clare claremorgan unschooling ezothread unschool advice

Free Online Education Is Now Illegal in Minnesota

norarosie:

Take a look at this article. It’s so silly. MN Office of Higher Ed, you can’t tell people not to learn things just because the instructor isn’t paying you! 

I didn’t even know about Coursera before (the site that has lots of free college courses), but now I might sign up!

My mom showed me this article and this is what she said, “Funny thing is, Minnesotans are just told not to use it, there isn’t a physical/technological restriction. I bet this just increases the use by folks in MN!!!” I agree. Check it out!


Tags against the law norarosemelendy online courses silliness mooc self education uncollege unschooling

Reblogged from Prairie Rose 

“Life is learning, learning is life. Unschoolers simply do not think there are times for learning and times for not learning. They don’t divide life into school time or lesson time versus play time or recreation time. There is no such thing as “extracurricular” to an unschooler - all of life, every minute of every day, counts as learning time, and there is no separate time set aside for “education.”

Pam Sorooshian (via naturalmomma)

No segregation for education….

Tags unschooling lifelong learning unschool self directed learning self learning

Reblogged from Adventures in [Natural] Parenting 

“I’m completely library educated. I’ve never been to college…. I discovered me in the library. I went to find me in the library. Before I fell in love with libraries, I was just a six-year-old boy. The library fueled all of my curiosities, from dinosaurs to ancient Egypt. When I graduated from high school in 1938, I began going to the library three nights a week. I did this every week for almost ten years and finally, in 1947, around the time I got married, I figured I was done. So I graduated from the library when I was twenty-seven. I discovered that the library is the real school.”

Ray Bradbury, in Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 203 (via sailorbaby)

Tags library self education self directed learning unschooling

Reblogged from embody your own ecstasy 

Clare Morgan and I at the park a couple weeks ago. We had a great chat about unschooling, it was fun. Nicole Dovant decided to film us haha ~Nora 

Tags norarosemelendy claremorgan video unschooling

Clare’s TOP TEN!! Following are the top ten (or so) posts that really stuck with me throughout the whole semester. ENJOY! http://edzedomega.org/post/29560292577/tisiwoota-questions-for-clare Laurel’s video to me with some questions about how to proceed with the semester really helped kick off the project for me. It brought up some good questions that I have kept with me throughout the semester and still think about. http://edzedomega.org/post/29979020944/derik-back-at-clare Derik’s facebook message was GREAT because he seemed so passionate about not only just education but HIGHER education. It made me really think about COLLEGE which is something that’s honestly, NEVER on my mind. I’m still trying to decide if I want to go to college or not…I’ll just see where life takes me! http://edzedomega.org/post/30100466078/if-you-design-a-dream-school I’m sure I share this favorite with the other zed omegas too…This message from Valeria asking what my dream school would look like really made me sit down and think about what I REALLY want from a school. What I think might actually WORK rather than just dwelling on what DOESN’T work. It was also really fun to make a presentation video explaining what an ideal school would look like to me. http://edzedomega.org/post/31318846550/learning-resources Brandie has had TONS of things to say throughout the course of the semester. We’ve even had some one on one conversations that were really helpful to me! I think this was the first post that I saw from her. It really got into some of the logistics of unschooling/self-directed study (like what are the resources you can use to learn?) and it helped me on my path to my final decision to unschool.  here’s another post from Brandie that was helpful about students teaching other students and resources for that. Another great idea that really sparked my interest! http://edzedomega.org/post/31463188352/students-teaching-students http://edzedomega.org/post/30520759351/lisa-i-felt-duped Lisa wrote this great post about where I can find other people who are just like me when it comes to their ideas about school. She also shared a girl named Leah’s blog-(http://leahmiller.typepad.com) Leah is an unschooler and also an actress just like me! This post helped me to feel supported in my decision to want to leave school and it DEFINITELY helped me feel less alone. http://edzedomega.org/post/31745344400/why-kids-hate-school This article was really entertaining and pretty true (in my opinion) I posted about it on my facebook page and got a pretty good discussion going… It’s about the courses in school that are “pointless” and why. I think this article can be a bit controversial and that’s why I like it. It can really spark a good discussion. http://edzedomega.org/post/28323219108/things-i-never-learned I liked this post a lot. It’s about the courses school SHOULD offer. Like a “life 101” course where you learn to do your taxes, how to vote, how to balance a checkbook etc. I THOROUGHLY believe that schools (especially public schools) should offer a course like this. I think it would be IMMENSELY helpful to many many students. http://edzedomega.org/post/33428272422/clare-and-shauna-converse recently I made a blog post about finally breaking it to my parents that I’m serious and want to continue on the unschooling path. I asked for advice from all my followers on tumblr and posted it to twitter. Shauna (who follows me on twitter) saw it and wrote me this WONDERFUL email. She’s a “life long learner” and has been an unschooler since preschool! She had so many great bits of advice for me. Here’s another post about Shauna from earlier in the semester: http://edzedomega.org/post/30045499034/unschooled-by-shauna-edson She really makes me feel like I CAN do it. I can unschool successfully and become a smart well rounded person.  So there they are! My top ten (or so) posts! Let me know if you have any questions! And KEEP THE GREAT POSTS COMING! By the end of next month I want my top ten to become a TOP TWENTY! or even a TOP THIRTY!! Everyone’s advice is INVALUABLE to me at this point. Thanks to EVERYONE who continues to offer their advice/support to me and all the other zed omegas! -Clare

Clare’s TOP TEN!!

Following are the top ten (or so) posts that really stuck with me throughout the whole semester. ENJOY!

http://edzedomega.org/post/29560292577/tisiwoota-questions-for-clare

Laurel’s video to me with some questions about how to proceed with the semester really helped kick off the project for me. It brought up some good questions that I have kept with me throughout the semester and still think about.

http://edzedomega.org/post/29979020944/derik-back-at-clare

Derik’s facebook message was GREAT because he seemed so passionate about not only just education but HIGHER education. It made me really think about COLLEGE which is something that’s honestly, NEVER on my mind. I’m still trying to decide if I want to go to college or not…I’ll just see where life takes me!

http://edzedomega.org/post/30100466078/if-you-design-a-dream-school

I’m sure I share this favorite with the other zed omegas too…This message from Valeria asking what my dream school would look like really made me sit down and think about what I REALLY want from a school. What I think might actually WORK rather than just dwelling on what DOESN’T work. It was also really fun to make a presentation video explaining what an ideal school would look like to me.

http://edzedomega.org/post/31318846550/learning-resources

Brandie has had TONS of things to say throughout the course of the semester. We’ve even had some one on one conversations that were really helpful to me! I think this was the first post that I saw from her. It really got into some of the logistics of unschooling/self-directed study (like what are the resources you can use to learn?) and it helped me on my path to my final decision to unschool. 

here’s another post from Brandie that was helpful about students teaching other students and resources for that. Another great idea that really sparked my interest!

http://edzedomega.org/post/31463188352/students-teaching-students

http://edzedomega.org/post/30520759351/lisa-i-felt-duped

Lisa wrote this great post about where I can find other people who are just like me when it comes to their ideas about school. She also shared a girl named Leah’s blog-(http://leahmiller.typepad.com) Leah is an unschooler and also an actress just like me! This post helped me to feel supported in my decision to want to leave school and it DEFINITELY helped me feel less alone.

http://edzedomega.org/post/31745344400/why-kids-hate-school

This article was really entertaining and pretty true (in my opinion) I posted about it on my facebook page and got a pretty good discussion going… It’s about the courses in school that are “pointless” and why. I think this article can be a bit controversial and that’s why I like it. It can really spark a good discussion.

http://edzedomega.org/post/28323219108/things-i-never-learned

I liked this post a lot. It’s about the courses school SHOULD offer. Like a “life 101” course where you learn to do your taxes, how to vote, how to balance a checkbook etc. I THOROUGHLY believe that schools (especially public schools) should offer a course like this. I think it would be IMMENSELY helpful to many many students.


http://edzedomega.org/post/33428272422/clare-and-shauna-converse

recently I made a blog post about finally breaking it to my parents that I’m serious and want to continue on the unschooling path. I asked for advice from all my followers on tumblr and posted it to twitter. Shauna (who follows me on twitter) saw it and wrote me this WONDERFUL email. She’s a “life long learner” and has been an unschooler since preschool! She had so many great bits of advice for me. Here’s another post about Shauna from earlier in the semester:

http://edzedomega.org/post/30045499034/unschooled-by-shauna-edson

She really makes me feel like I CAN do it. I can unschool successfully and become a smart well rounded person. 


So there they are! My top ten (or so) posts! Let me know if you have any questions! And KEEP THE GREAT POSTS COMING! By the end of next month I want my top ten to become a TOP TWENTY! or even a TOP THIRTY!! Everyone’s advice is INVALUABLE to me at this point. Thanks to EVERYONE who continues to offer their advice/support to me and all the other zed omegas!


-Clare

Tags cm claremorgan unschooling submission topten