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Advocacy
In addition to serving Boulder County as a school community, we are committed to extending ourselves to a wide circle of educators, parents and organizations. Our advocacy work is motivated by our desire to challenge traditional thinking in education and to support those who are committed to engaging with children in a manner consistent with their rights and personhood. We are advocates in a variety of ways:
Patchworks Inc. Projects The nonprofit Patchworks Inc., in addition to running the schools, has several main projects that further our vision towards changing how people think of education and how we support our larger community.
Workshops, Articles, and Public Speaking Directors Michele Beach and Elizabeth Baker have both been pleasantly surprised to discover that they enjoy public speaking! Through offering workshops to parents, graduate students and the community over the past few years, they have had the welcome opportunity to share their experiences of starting and running a democratic school, as well as their reflections on topics such as: the art of parenting, how to build a community and the importance of co-teaching. We have given various talks at conferences, a few of which are available for viewing online.
Service Learning We have also engaged in various Service Learning projects to provide the children with opportunities to truly be agents for change. Some of these projects include:
Education Consulting Elizabeth Baker is available for education consulting, specializing in issues of classroom democratization, whole school reform, teacher training programs, conflict resolution strategies, emergent curriculum development and group decision-making with children. Please contact us to set up an initial consultation.
Parenting Consulting Michele Beach is available for parenting consulting, specializing in conflict resolution at home, strategies for improving parent-child communication, creation of functional & manageable play areas, unschooling/homeschooling, and balancing freedom with limits. Michele says, "In no way do I claim to be the perfect parent, but I have done a lot of research on the topic, and have had quite a bit of practice with my own two 'spirited' boys, so I wish to share what I have learned with others to help you along your parenting journey. Sometimes, all you need is to talk with someone who understands what you are going through!" Please contact us to set up an initial consultation.
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