Hey, I’m Madi Zins. I’m a writer and I’ve been hanging out with kids trying to figure out how education could be a little less boring for 6+ years. I dove deep into many different avenues of learning in NYC—charter schools, private schools, democratic schools, agile learning centers, self-directed education, homeschooling coops, intentional communities. In that time I learned how to listen to kids, adults, people, in deeper ways than I ever had in my life. I learned how to trust peoples’ inner ability to direct their own learning/lives and how to recognize when I myself, other people, or systems of power enforced some doubt or questioning on a person’s own self-determinance.

I went on a sabbatical when the pandemic hit to listen fully to my own curiosities and desires for a while, which led me back into writing and eventually back into learning spaces as well. These days, I’m sharing both of these aspects of myself—writer and facilitator—by jumping around and checking out/creating lots of different opportunities for learning for folks of all ages in different places in the world and writing about them on this blog.

Why might this blog interest you? You probably already know something about self-directed education (if not, please do check out the alliance for self-directed ed’s website), but perhaps you’re curious about what happens inside multi-age, self-directed learning communities. Perhaps you’re interested in using some of these approaches in your parenting or talking with your kid about attending one of these spaces. Perhaps you’re considering becoming a facilitator in one of these communities or you are one and you want to know the ins and outs of it in other centers. Perhaps you’re wanting to learn more about compassionate communication. Perhaps you’ve met me and you want to know more about how I talk with people (youth, adults) in ways that build trust.

Whatever the reason, I invite you to dive in, read on, and share in the comments your own thoughts/challenges/questions to what you read. I look forward to this blog also being a space of liberated learning for whatever community comes to it as well.

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