Viva la docu!!! a little update...

OkAY. so i think it would be a nice time to post a summary of my Free schooling quest so far, cuz..I'm really stoked about it, and i hope that maybe somewhere out there someone else will be too.
In life we are always learning, and no teacher, grade, class, or exam should ever discourage you into feeling otherwise.
Love*Live*Learn
To briefly explain my journey through the wonders of alternative education, here is part of my initial statement for the documentary which outlines my intentions for the project...

check it out:
http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=b4c8d8ec3e&realattid=f_ffgwn2zp1&attid=0.2&disp=vah&view=att&th=119862816a0ee708

I planned a few visits to some of these inspiring free-learning spaces before leaving, and find myself continuously stumbling upon new and exciting ones as I roll along. Here are a few of the ones I have discovered so far...

PARIS: After a few days of feeling lost in seas of tourists, museums, and pretty cafes I finally came across an area of Paris chockful of community resources, leading me to le centre Cerise, a beautiful community cultural space offering activities such as after-school arts classes, language courses for recently immigrated families, day-care and homework tutoring for young kids, and much more. One of the head coordinators of the centre was this inspiring man with the widest, most welcoming smile you've ever seen, named Abdellatif who really believed in finding the most creative ways for kids to spend their free time...

PARIS:Le lycee Auto-gere..sadly I did not get to visit this one since it was a holiday week in France:(

LONDON:56a Infoshop/Freedom Books in Angel Alley, two great grassroots activist centers with a bike workshop, excellent library, and a truly impressive squatters resource network. By scanning through their message boards & zines I was surprised to find how popular the squatting lifestyle was in London( they also had A.S.S.-Advisory Service for Squatters)

LEISTON, SUFFOLK, UK: SUMMERHILL FREE SCHOOL! i didn't want to leave.
I think it deserves a thorough portrait, so i'll save this one for later...

WERKENDAM, NL:Vincent Loosjes. WOW-this man is an infinite fountain of wisdom , courage, and integrity. I randomly contacted Vincent from chatting with a girl in Rotterdam, who excitedly told me that this man was the perfect person to learn from about education in the Netherlands.

HANK, NL:Merel Bolding and the Vrije Hogeschool.
It's hard for me to be unbiased about my experience with Merel and her schooling since I am convinced we are sisters separated at birth and are meant to create a magical freedom-school together somewhere in rainbows...
The Vrije Hogeschool is a free school(though privately funded), set in a pittoresque garden campus, that provides a year of spiritual-creative orientation to students between roughly 18-21 who are exploring themselves before choosing an educational direction. It consists of about sixty students at a time and provides them with open opportunity to create independent "projects" that seek to develop their creativity and autonomy. Coupled with seven-week art courses of all kinds-such as theater, drumming percussions, musical performance, etc.

NIJMEGEN, NL:Vrije School Meander( a Waldorf Public School)Just visited this beautiful artsy school this morning, and am once again radiating with joy at the passion and creativity these kids demonstrate. The great part about Meander primary school is that it is actually accessible to anyone who wishes to attend, since it is a public, partially government-funded school.
Today was a special day as they were presenting their Bike-city Safety Project to a city jury in light of a inter-school competition to encourage good road safety amongst children. The quality of the kids projects, such as bike sculptures, road panel pictures, songs, etc. was genuinely impressive, especially coming from their own initiative.