This is our second newsletter this month, folks! Lot is going on and we have some exciting announcements, PLUS the final days for our Pie Fundraiser. Join the fun and get one of us PIED!

The Alliance for Self-Directed Education is planning an IN person gathering event for 2025 or 2026. We want to gather some information about the best places, dates, etc. for folks. Please share your thoughts on this 2-minute survey by Friday, October 18th.

What: We are in search of a young person (up to age 22) with experience in graphic design who will be responsible for laying out and designing ASDE’s “SDE for Youth, by Youth” resource package. This role will have access to a graphic design mentor, but will fit best with someone who is fairly self-sufficient and able to work independently to keep the project moving forward. The person who is right for this role is detail-oriented, able to be flexible with the timeline, and committed to finishing the project. The person must have computer proficiency and access to a personal computer and internet for creating the project and for check-ins with the mentor. The amount of time it will take to finish the project will be dependent on how much experience the person already has with the tools. Possible tools for creating this project are either Canva or Affinity Publisher 2 or potentially the Affinity V2 Universal License (reimbursed). Compensation is available for this role, which is TBD.

When: This role will start as soon as possible and is expected to continue through the beginning of next year.

How to Apply: Please send an email to janice@self-directed.org and include the following:

1. Name, age, pronouns, what time zone you’re in

2. Your experience with Self-Directed Education

3. Your experience with graphic design layout

4. Your experience with graphic design tools (Canva, Affinity Publisher, Adobe InDesign, etc)

5. Any restrictions on your availability this year through June 2025

6. Anything else you’d like us to know about you that feels relevant to the role

Local organizing for relationship-building, community support, and resource sharing are crucial to the success of any movement. The Self-Directed Education movement is based in grassroots organizing and community coming together to support one another. This is exactly the kind of organizing that The Alliance for Self-Directed Education (ASDE) seeks to support and be supported by through the SDE Efforts (formerly local SDE groups) initiative.

Our SDE Efforts meetings are now hosted on our Facilitators Community Discord. Join us there on the third Tuesday of each month, at 7pm Eastern/4pm Pacific.

Note: If folks from various time zones are unable to make the above times, we are flexible in moving things around. Just join the discord and connect with us to discuss options!

Please email us at bria@self-directed.org with any questions you have.

The long anticipated first episode of Learning and Liberation is here! This first episode is all about Flying Squads, an adventure program for unschoolers and homeschoolers. What happens when we provide teenagers with independence, autonomy, and trust? What needs does a program like Flying Squads fulfill for teenage unschoolers? We explore all of this and more in this episode.