ASDE News

Link to orginial newsletter.

RIGGED, Tipping Points Press’ first SDE Novel, Available Now

This young adult novel follows seventh-grader, Fisher Haskins, also called Little Fish, as he navigates life in Key West. For Fisher Haskins, school is a torturous waste of time, and not just because he can’t shake his reputation of nice-but-dumb kid. After his evening job washing boats on The Row, he barely has time to scarf down leftovers, get through his mind-numbing homework, and catch a few ZZZs.

Until recently, staying busy had worked just fine to distract Little Fish from facing life’s big quandaries, like, are some people destined to be eternal losers? Who decides what “winning” even means? And why does he feel like a walking magnet for every asshole on the island? If his dad were around, maybe he’d have some answers. Or would he be too wasted to care?

From RIGGED – Author Q&A with Hazel Smack:

How does this story relate to self-directed education?

Hazel Smack: IMHO, it’s a story about self-direction in a thoroughly and senselessly schoolish world. The truth, however frustrating, is that most young people today still have to attend conventional schools for reasons outside their control, no matter the harm. I hope that every reader from hardcore, confident unschoolers to the schooled but SDE-curious, will relate to our flawed and very human Fish (or Greg, or Mom, or Captain Bonny, or Big Joe, or Isla, or Shrimp, or, or, or. . .) in a way that feels hopeful. Young people can and do find ways to work through and around barriers, with or without a perfect support system in place. And sometimes a perfectly beautiful support system looks nothing like a conventionally perfect family.

Tipping Points Magazine Open Call

Accepting submissions May 1-31. We invite you to use this prompt to create a piece of artwork to be published together in a collection. Shed the schoolish notion of perfection, and submit writing, drawing, painting, video, or audio that embraces:

• Imperfection
• Process over product
• Good enough for now
• Not having all the answers

Tipping Points Magazine is currently looking for original works of art related to the theme: “A World Without School.” This could include written work, paintings, drawings, videos, audio, etc.

How do you imagine a world without school? Maybe some of you are already trying to live as if that were the case. How would it look for others to join you? What absence would you feel? What would have more space to thrive? What would the world feel like? How would the world smell differently without schoolish ideals?

We have some limitations to what we can publish, but we will do our best to work with each artist to include their artwork in the collection. This means, we may contact you for a different format or file size, depending on the discrepancy. Submit your artwork here: https://www.self-directed.org/tipping-points-submissions/ or email janice@self-directed.org directly. Please put “A World Without School” as the working title or email subject.

We can’t wait to see what creations emerge!

Local Group Meetup

The next Local SDE Group Organizers meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 17th at 7:30pm ET. We will be chatting about possible shifts for this monthly meeting, as well as catching up with one another’s projects, supporting new folks with questions, and sharing whatever is coming up for our groups.

If you are interested in joining, please check out the page talking about local SDE groups, for information about what it is and how to join.

See you then!

Save the Date

June 10th from 3-4:30 pm ET – ASDE Organizers “Ask Me Anything” Event

Several ASDE Organizers, including Domari Dickinson, Daveed Jacobo, and Bria Bloom, will be available for an open-ended chat. Participants can ask them questions (anything!) related to SDE, ASDE’s work, conscious/partnership parenting, etc.

ASDE Organizers are a mix of parents, facilitators, founders, and activists who have dedicated much of their passion and energy to working with young people and advocating for Self-Directed Education and collective liberation.

More information, including links to sign-up for the event, will be coming later this month. Follow us on Instagram for the most up-to-date information.

All the best,

ASDE Board + Organizing Team