NCACS -- News: NCACS Learning Circles

Learning Circles: Small groups working toward educational change for all

The NCACS has teamed up with Paths of Learning to support a grassroots outreach program called "Learning Circles." In this article, we share information being given to the general public about Learning Circles, as well as inviting you, as NCACS members, to get more involved.

Schools as both private and public institutions are historically slow to change. Engrained in a culture that narrowly defines learning, the institutions educating our children have calcified in their approaches. Despite the success of some educators and homeschooling families in finding exciting ways to better teach our children, most schools do NOT change. Curriculum and teaching styles that were decried in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s as ineffective or destructive to learning remain the norm today. Like our own bad habits, they just don't go away. They are safe and they are comfortable so they stay. Anything different is too scary or idealistic.

As many NCACS members, you probably realize that it doesn't have to be this way. We can and should expect something more for our children, and we have the power to get it. Education and schools can and do change for the better when parents, teachers, and students begin to ask the difficult questions and face their bad habits that have stagnated our personal and community goals. What is it we really want for our children? What is holding us back? What do you envision for our children's future? What kind of schools do we really want and need for our children, and for ourselves? These are the kinds of critical questions addressed by a growing number concerned people in a grassroots outreach project called "Learning Circles."

As NCACS schools and homeschooling families have been on the leading edge of change for over twenty years, and we invite our members to serve as "Learning Circles" facilitators for groups of parents, youth, and teachers who are on the edge of seeing their way to a new paradigm for understanding education. Learning Circles are small, free, local study groups that represent, reflect, and respect the specific values of each of its members.

In a Learning Circle...

You can feel at ease sharing your personal experiences and struggles about what you really want for your children.
Teachers, parents, and students can talk about real issues and connect in meaningful ways without feeling threatened or judged.
As community members, you can share your hopes for connecting your local schools to the local community.
You can converse with others about leading-edge ideas and page-turning books that you have found successful or your children have loved.
You can learn more about the educational alternatives that exist in your area, or how to create new ones.

As mentioned, the coordination of Learning Circles is sponsored by the NCACS and Paths of Learning. NCACS provides the foundational networking support, while Paths of Learning (via the Foundation for Educational Renewal) provides online support and coordination as well as discounts on Foundation books that are used for the purpose of Learning Circles.

Also, if you already have a group that meets regularly within your community or organization to reflect on such issues, you may join "Learning Circles" simply by sending an e-mail to Robin@PathsofLearning.net, or leave a message at (530) 477-5648 and I will call you back to get the details about your group. We want to list as many small study groups as possible in our Web pages--that are meeting on a regular basis, open to the public, and discussing alternative and child development topics in education. This is an outreach effort to help schools and creative learning communities team up to promote small public dialogues in education, around the world. The more we can piggyback on the efforts of each other, the more power and credibility we gain in our efforts to be acknowledged by mainstream educational systems.

VOLUNTEER NEEDED: Also, we could use an NCACS volunteer to assist Robin in coordinating Learning Circles. We need someone with the time to translate the text of the current Learning Circles web pages designated for a worldwide audience into web pages specifically for NCACS members.