🙂 we didn’t cover as much as hoped but I felt that we covered a lot. I can address more here. For the record, our school is half charter half public, so I’m quasi-everything (since we unschool in our private family homeschool as well).

I noticed I didn’t finish answering the question on how I implement permaculture in English – I rambled – apologies. I use permaculture as an option often for solutions to problems that we are considering like Detroit’s collapse, the drought in California, etc. We watch excerpts from John D. Liu’s and Geoff Lawton’s documentaries like Green Gold & Greening the Desert. I use systems analysis from permaculture to analyze businesses we design in class as well. Often students get depressed when they hear about the world’s issues; I have permaculture at the ready to assuage their fears.

I meant to add that military is the only option for many kids to financially survive their college & graduate school education, so it is becoming more and more attractive for more students as the economy dips further and student loan awareness spreads – that’s why it is so critical that they know to choose a path, so they build skills through that experience.

I don’t mean to be exclusionary when I say “American” but I do mean to say that the American dream is the idea that our children will live better than we did (which is open to interpretation assuredly but I think the root of all the American dreams we’ve had is this idea of advancement for the next generation through the work and sacrifice of the current one). Again, it’s not necessarily American alone, but I do believe that it is core to the American dream.

Zinn fans: that opening chapter has noble savage written all over it. I love that book, but I must be balanced.

Kevin – THANK YOU FOR BEING A BACKER!!! YOU RULE!!!! On the public school thing: I don’t think it is that simple. I don’t support our current structure of public schooling at all in any shape or form. It is all wrong: standardized assessments teach kids to conceal weaknesses instead of demonstrate skill, grades are judgements rather than indicators of completeness, no one should be forced to go to school ever, it focuses on abstractions & myths instead of real-life problem solving and current events, a lack of ethics is teaching kids that the world has no compass ethically, & the very unsustainable fiscal structure of schools themselves. I’m working on creating a new kind of school that is small, sustainable & valuable such that communities will choose it over the current model. We will always have to have something for those who have nothing and no one to support them. I believe in using community abundance and time to do that, but I don’t believe in the state or federal control or funding of it. I think everything can be handled by local communities without question. I believe we can have wonderful community schools that generate a value for the community such that the community supports it financially.

Jose – the college system is broken as well. When the college & student loan bubble pops, the real economic hard times for those relying upon the state’s system will arrive. The student loans are in the trillions and our economy cannot currently repay that through the jobs available.

🙂 This was really fun! Thanks again Jack!