Community inspirations
Hello! I hope you’re having a great day!
In my last blog post How distorted is our society I talk about how Jean Liedloff’s book The Continuum Concept has impacted me a great deal and still does. It has given me inspiration to make the experience for everyone at APTB even better:
Community of ALL ages
Organic way of building the community
BIG hammocks
Community of ALL ages
In the beginning I was focussing more on families and their children from 4 years onwards would roam around freely without the parent. However, I then met several mothers with newborn babies and thought that they would fit greatly into our concept as a ‘Mummy’s Club‘ so that they get the community support they need as we all know how intense the early months of being a parent can be. Many children will want to hold the babies, care for and play with them and this way they learn whilst the mother can get a little rest.
After finishing the book I realized that having people of all ages around, not just kids of all ages, adds even more benefits to our community - babies, kids, students, parents and the elderly.
Every person at APTB can participate in the activities that they value, no matter what age, sex, religion, background etc. If an elderly likes to do gardening or play cards or chess (excuse my stereotypical choice of activity) and some children want to join, then that’s what they’ll do. I imagine an 80 year old grandma telling stories and kids listening with great interest. I imagine the smiles on the elderlies faces when watching children play and how the mix of energy will feel like balancing the atmosphere.
In regards to the people in their 20s, I’m thinking of inviting student teachers to do some sort of informal apprenticeship where they can watch kids learn in a free and natural environment, get to experience what it’s like to teach (after they have been briefed about our values of freedom) and simply play along as well. I think it will be a win - win, especially for the teenagers because I know that they will enjoy and benefit from having slightly older people around who to talk to, play and learn with.
Organic way of building the community
Another idea I have had was that instead of offering a structured time-table of classes and things to do - even though any of the lessons will always be free to take or leave by all community members - I’d like to start off APTB by simply getting to know each other for the first few months and see what happens. What will the kids get up to, what will they build, create, ask for, get excited about and then give them more of it. Of course, there will be resources for all different areas of interest as listed on our Learning Environment page available but no classes yet. I’d like the kids to play around with what they find and use things the way they want. There’ll be mentors and parents around to help and answer questions.
BIG hammocks
Another inspiration out of the book are big hammocks to fit a whole family! Not sure whether I’ll buy them or we do them ourselves as a project with whoever would like to join but we’ll get them one way or another.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on these new ideas so either send me an email or leave a comment below.
Yours
Sylvia
Photo by Alexandr Podvalny on Unsplash
