Dive into Self-Directed Education this Season 🌻
Our July Newsletter
Newsletter Content:
The ASDE Compendium Individual Courses Available!
2026 Global Self-Directed Democratic School Conference
Meraki School of Democracy Unconference
VOLUNTEER CALL — ASDE Resource Directory
Featured Article
Follow us on Substack
There has been a bit of a slow-down in some SDE actions over the past month or two, perhaps influenced by seasonal shifts, but now the SDE Community has some exciting conferences you won’t want to miss! At ASDE, we have been planning our fall calendar of events, increasing access points for ASDE Compendium content (we have now released four separate courses for varying audiences — more details below!), and thinking about our goals for 2027 (welp! 2027!)
ASDE Compendium Individual Courses Now Available!
If you’ve been interested in buying The ASDE Compendium, but only wanted to purchase one of the four main sections that make up The Compendium, now is your chance!
The Compendium is also NOW available in four separate courses. So you can buy just one at an accessible price and go deeper into a specific topic.
You can learn more and buy individual courses here:
Intro to Self-Directed Education
Liberatory Practices for Parents, Caregivers, and Facilitators
Building Resilient SDE Community
Neurodivergence and Disability (ND&D) in SDE
2026 Global Self-Directed Democratic School Conference
A biennial opportunity for educators from Sudbury, Self-Directed, and Democratic Schools to come together in person and share their knowledge and experience, the 2026 Global Self-Directed Democratic School Conference comes to the Chicagoland area, hosted by Tallgrass Sudbury School!
This eagerly awaited conference will include breakout sessions on topics related to democratic schooling, networking opportunities with educators from around the world of self-directed education, and an exciting array of featured sessions and excursions. Featured events include a panel on SDE research, a presentation from Sudbury International, a unique optional excursion aboard a 150-ft tall ship, and is highlighted by Saturday Night’s keynote speaker, the author of “Free to Learn”, Dr. Peter Gray.
Get tickets and learn more here!
Meraki School of Democracy Unconference
Meraki School is hosting a one-day, local Unconference in Portland, OR:
“Join us to explore a different way to be in relationship with youth and how the youth liberation movement is tied in with our collective liberation.
The day will be primarily co-created, with a chunk of time in the morning dedicated to planning our sessions and topics around key interests and topics that folks want to explore together.”
VOLUNTEER CALL! — ASDE Resource Directory
ASDE is Searching for a Resource Directory Curatorial Assistant
The Alliance for Self-Directed Education is looking for a volunteer to assist the current curator in the management of our Resource Directory. Specifically, we are seeking someone who is able and willing to:
Familiarize themselves with ASDE’s values as they relate to SDE
Use Slack and email
Coordinate tasks with others
Assist in reviewing submitted resources as they come in (the amount varies from zero to several per week)
Deal with some amount of ambiguity and critical thinking when figuring out if a resource actually is SDE
Review and evaluate older resource entries for continued relevance or usefulness
Create new entries for resources discovered by the Resource Directory Curator or other team members
Ask for support from the rest of the team, as needed
Either join ASDE Organizing Team Zoom meetings or post Resource Directory updates to Slack before each meeting
If you are interested in potentially filling this role, please send an email to michael@self-directed.org and let him know your history with self-directed education and why you want the position.
Featured Article: Was It All Worth It? Reflections on Raising a School
“For years I have walked these sidewalks and streets… .And for most of those walks, the question running like water through my mind, swirling around as I processed whatever was currently happening in this school has been: Is it all worth it?” Read more here.
Thoughts on this article? Send us a response, or stay tuned to join in one of our future events about building and sustaining SDE centers!
Follow Us on Substack!
If you haven’t been on our Substack recently (or haven’t yet seen it at all!) you will have missed all the “From the Archives” content we are digging up from 10 years of publishing Tipping Points Magazine. 10 years! We are pulling up old gems that you may have missed so that we can revisit them together, witness how things have evolved, and explore the many stories and voices of Tipping Points Magazine over the years. Come join us over on Substack!
In Solidarity,
The ASDE Organizing Team