Hands-On Homeschooling: Flying Squads

Homeschool Without Borders is putting on a series of 10 workshops at the Carbondale Public Library called "Hands-On Homeschooling."

Abbie had the first session, "Flying Squads for Self-Directed Education." Here are some resources on Flying Squads for anyone who wants to read more.

Flying Squads are NEW and a really cool concept for doing SDE as a group. It's not a democratic school. In fact, it's not a school at all. It has no dedicated physical location. The children utilize public spaces in their city as their meeting places and freely decide what they would like to do and explore during their time together. There is also an adult facilitator.

Abbie is interested in exploring how to bring this concept, which began in New York City, to a more rural environment. If your child is between the ages of 10 and 16 and you are interested, let me know and I'll connect you!

Resource List

https://www.flyingsquads.org
Flying Squads - Where Youth Rights Take Flight

some thought-provoking favorites from the Flying Squads blog

the post about dollar dares

the post with the year-end reports (2020)

the post about the fabric store

the post about anywhere without books

the post about building houses in Prospect Park

the post about what does it mean to waste a material?


Preparing for Outdoor SDE
blog post on the ASDE website by Alex Khost, founder of Flying Squads - what exactly he takes in his backpack when he's facilitator
Jul 23, 2020


Flying Squads: Back to the Beginning
blog post on the ASDE website by Bria Bloom
Dec 28, 2020


Flourishing Education podcast
"Flying Squads: Where Youth Rights Take Flight with Alex Khost"
Aug 2, 2021


The Child in the City
by Colin Ward


Rethinking Self-Directed Education podcast
"Flying Squads: Existing Without Expectations"
conversation with Flying Squad facilitators from several cities
Apr 20, 2022

More links I like:

• Playing in the Zone of Proximal Development: Qualities of Self- Directed Age Mixing between Adolescents and Young Children at a Democratic School (PDF)
• The Special Value of Children's Age-Mixed Play (PDF)
• Publications and Reports - Alliance for Childhood
• Changing Education Paradigms - Sir Ken Robinson
• Do schools kill creativity? - Sir Ken Robinson | TED2006
• Bring on the learning revolution! - Sir Ken Robinson | TED2010
• How to escape education's death valley - Sir Ken Robinson
• A school in the cloud: Sugata Mitra accepts the TED Prize at TED2013
• Why I created a school where children are free to do what they want - Ramin Farhangi | TEDxSaclay
• Transforming Schools into Democratic Communities - Ramin Farhangi | TEDxIHEParis
• Rethinking Schools, Genius, and Heroes - Jeff Sandefer | TEDxOKC



Free to Learn:
Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life
by Peter Gray
2015



Raising Free People:
Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Work
by Akilah Richards
2020

What Is Unschooling? blog post

Fare of the Free Child podcast

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!