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I first heard about the concept of unschooling in a TED Talk many years ago, but the concept reemerged recently for me. In the spring of 2019, I took Dr. Morris’ African American Literature class. On her syllabus, she included a podcast called Fare of the Free Child by Akilah S. Richards. She reintroduced the idea of unschooling to me, this time using the language of “self-directed education,” and helped me see its connection to social justice concepts. I happened to listen to one of her recently released episodes in which she mentioned an event that was happening in Atlanta soon called the Liberation & Education Summit. It was held at Heartwood Agile Learning Center, one of a handful of unschooling/self-directed education centers here in Atlanta, and its focus was Racial Equity in Self-Directed Education. On a whim, I decided to attend so that I could meet individuals who were putting into practice the ideas I had been learning about on the podcast. I was so wonderfully overwhelmed by the community, the individuals, and the organization I encountered in this space. I left inspired and hungry to learn and connect more. 

 

That’s how this project was born! I originally felt like I had to take a very traditional “research” route when designing this project. I spent countless hours learning about different research methodologies, trying to find one or multiple that would enable me to do the work I wanted to do, to connect with and learn from the inspiring individuals I knew were right here in my local community. Many methodologies felt too clinical and extractive. I reached out to a former professor for advice, and he mentioned the practice of oral history. I researched more about the practice on my own and immediately fell in love. 

 

I spent the following weeks learning as much as I could about oral history best practices. I learned about archival, legal procedures, ethics, history, transcription, metadata, indexing, and much much more. Once I felt I had a solid enough grasp on the practice, I got to interviewing. I started by reaching out to people I had met at the Summit, and used “snowball sampling” from there, in which participants suggest other individuals who they think would be a good fit for the project. I knew I had a limited timeframe within which to complete the project, so I tried to interview a mix of people involved with different unschooling/self-directed centers in Atlanta who served in different roles (parent, student, facilitator, director, board member, consultant, etc.)

 

Words cannot do justice to the magical feelings I felt during each and every interview. I had a distinct feeling of tapping into the wonder of the ancient practice of oral storytelling, while simultaneously sensing the timeliness, relevance, and urgency in each narrator’s words. I quickly realized that the most important outcome from this project would be not be the tangible products of recorded interviews, websites, and reports, but the experiences created between narrator and interviewer. 

 

I am beyond grateful to the narrators who made this project possible, as well as my mentors, advisors, and supporters along the way. I hope to continue to share experiences with inspiring narrators and to be able to share their words and impact even further.

 

Here’s to deep listening, community, and storytelling.