Tag Archives: community education

February Activities!

It’s a new month with a new schedule!

With the new month and the resignation of our greatly loved facilitator, Marie, the school is moving to a Tuesday through Thursday(10-4) schedule. On Thursdays we will be at the Temple at 2300 McKinney st. Houston TX., 77003 from 10 am to 4 pm. We have many creative events planned for this month and hope to see many new people. As for what we are doing this month, here’s some details:

 Music Classes

These classes are filled with a variety of instruments and a variety of people. Our musical teacher plans to teach how to read music, and currently we’re working on the song Khusidlekh. We plan to learn many more songs over the course of the month.  These classes take place at 2300 McKinney st. Houston TX., 77003 on Thursdays from 12:30 to 1:30. So come on over to learn music or just to jam with us!

Cooking for Food Not Bombs Houston

This month we are joining a local group that serves home cooked meals to hungry people downtown 4 days a week. We want to practice cooking healthy meals and to support others in our community. We will be cooking every other Wednesday at 2:00 pm, and food serving occurs downtown at 521 Lamar St. at 8:00pm. If you want to join us or donate dry goods or vegetables, please get in touch! More information on FNB here:  http://houstonfoodnotbombs.org/fnb-gallery/

Art Workshops

We let our inner artists come out in this new workshop focusing on trying out different kinds of art. We want to accomplish all of our artistic goals in this workshop on Wednesdays from 11:30 to 1:30. So join us in these workshops and make some wonderful art with us!

Game Night Fundraiser!!

This monthly event will be happening on Saturday February 22 from 6-10 pm. Everyone is encouraged to come and bring their favorite games, whether table top, card games or video games. More specific information can be found out by calling our school phone. All ages, small donation($5-10) requested, and there is always some great food available as well as coffee, tea, water, and sometimes soda. You are also welcome to bring your own snacks and drinks! It is always a fun time filled with lots of laughter and different types of games! Donations help us maintain our building and do more fun activities!

All Ages Karaoke

Join us on alternating Fridays for some laid back Youtube Karaoke! You can perform any song you want and we have all the equipment needed! Snacks and beverages welcome! Small donations encouraged! This will be happening on February 14th and 28th from 7-10pm.

Writer’s Group

Evening writer’s group will continue at 6-8:00 PM every other Thursday! We hope you will join us and give a small donation on Thursday Feb. 13 and 27. It is a fun, accepting, and relaxed group!! Invite your friends, too! This is an all ages meet-up!

Minecraft Meet-Up

On February 25, Tuesday, from 12-3:30pm  we will be having a Minecraft meet-up at the ACT building!  We hope you will join us and give a small donation. This event will be filled with Minecraft fans and we will all play Minecraft together and share our expertise. This is an all ages and all levels of skill meet-up and we hope to see you there!

Please check our calendar or contact us by phone if you are looking for more events! Our building is also available to host events for a small fee. We can be contacted at 713-523-0066. All events that take place at our building will be at: 2805 Wichita St. Houston, TX 77004. We can also be reached by email at: unschool@therealschoolhouston.org
S30A0128S30A0126S30A0075Pictures from  a visit to the skate park in Denver Harbor and Geocaching!  

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Upcoming Events: November!

November Events:

Last month was full of celebrations! This month we will be hosting several unique events and focusing on reading and writing oriented workshops. We will also be including art events such as Origami and trips to Ren Fest and Brazos Bend State Park on our calendar.  We hope you will join our Saturday Game Night Fundraiser with Games and Food! All Events Are For All Ages and Sliding Scale donations recommended. We are a community funded cooperative and any support is greatly needed and appreciated. Please see our Fundly page if you are able to make a donation at this time:  https://fundly.com/support-these-awesome-unschool-kids We hope to see you this month!! 

If you have questions about any events or our school please contact us at: unschool@therealschoolhouston.org or 713-523-0066

All events will be held at the ACT/Real School building at 2805 Wichita St. unless otherwise specified. 

This Month’s Event Details

Beehive Design Collective presents: MesoAmerica Resiste! poster tour

on Friday, November 8th at 1pm

The Final Graphic in an Epic Trilogy about Globalization in the Americas!
A swarm is coming! The Beehive Design Collective, a non-profit arts and activism organization dedicated to “cross-pollinating the grassroots”, is heading this way to share their recently completed work, Mesoamérica Resiste.

The event is free and open to the public, donations to Beehive or The Real School encouraged. 

For more information, visit http://www.beehivecollective.org. 

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More about Beehive Collective:

The Beehive is an all-volunteer swarm of educators, artists, and activists using images to communicate and educate about the complex realities of our times. The dizzyingly detailed, hand-drawn, large-format posters and banners they tour with are portable murals that come alive through storytelling, illuminating how single issues are interconnected and part of bigger systems. Join in as the Bees deconstruct often overwhelming global issues in an engaging and interactive presentation, using metaphors from the natural world to connect social and environmental struggles.

Game Night FUNDRAISER! on Saturday, November 9th. From 6-10pm

All your favorite games and food! Proceeds help us keep this place running and improving! 

Join us for another month of fun and food! We will have video games, card games, role playing, table top games, and more mischief! Bring your favorite games if you wish!
Bring your own drinks or snacks if you’d like!
All ages welcome! $5-10 donation.

Know Your Rights Workshop

Wednesday November 12th at 1:00pm

A lawyer will be joining us for a presentation/ Q&A aimed at informing us of our rights when stopped, questioned or detained by police and dispelling misinformation on various issues. Donations appreciated. All ages welcome. 

Open Dialogue: Unschooling 101–the deconstruction of schooling and Adultism

Saturday November 16th from 1-3:30pm

This open discussion will be an introduction to Unschooling and the ideas of Adultism. We will discuss how we can deconstruct ideas of schooling and the structures that harm young people. All questions around unschooling, learning, non-coercive parenting and adultism are welcome! We also welcome people to come learn more about our cooperative.  All ages welcome. Donations to The Real School encouraged. 

Community Potluck for Unschoolers and Allies of Community Education

on Wednesday the 20th at 6-10PM!!

Vegetarian friendly and open to everyone!!! Bring a friend and some food and join the conversation around Unschooling, non-coercive parenting, Adultism, and community education.

Writing Workshop Groups:

Specific workshops aimed at improving different areas of our writing will be happening this month. This is aimed at less experienced writers but more experienced writers are welcome to join! Tuesdays at 2:00pm

Our Thursday Evening writing group has now been going for several months! We encourage people of all ages to bring their work to share, bring questions and/ or ideas and be ready to listen to and discuss with others! Happens every other Thursday this month at 5:30pm. $5 Donation Recommended

Please check our calendar of events for more information on our current workshops and other happenings such as book clubs, documentaries and Karaoke!!!

Thanks for reading!!! –The Real School

This month’s blog post by: Marie and Lou!

October Events: Crafts, Karaoke, Yoga, Documentaries and lots of celebrating!

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Real Schoolers Playing Cranium in September!

September was a great month full of yoga, crafts, German and lots of game playing! We invite you to join us for our numerous events and celebrations in the upcoming month. We ask for donations for our events as we are very low budget and seeking to expand our projects. We are self sustained, and we count on everyone to contribute to keeping us open! All events are open to all ages unless otherwise specified. Events/times are subject to change or be added at any time, please check back with the calendar for updates. 

FUN-draiser Game Night on Saturday the 5th from 6-10 PM

Join us for another month of fun and food! Bring your favorite table top, video and role playing games!! $5-15 Suggested Donation. All ages welcome! There will likely be birthday cake this month as we have a large amount of people celebrating!

Yoga Beginner’s classes:

Every Thursday at 4:00pm.

Our friend Dan P. has been volunteering to work with people of all ages and help us with some basic Yoga skills. $5-10 suggested donation.  Wear stretchy clothes and bring your own mat if you have one! Space is limited to about 9 people.

Writing Workshop Group:

Our writing group has now been going for several months! We encourage people of all ages to bring their work to share, bring questions and/ or ideas and be ready to listen to and discuss with others!

$5+ Suggested Donation. Workshops happen every other Thursday, this month Oct. 3rd and 17th(the 31st will be canceled this month). 

Arts and Crafts!

We will be hosting different arts and crafts events on Wednesday mornings this month! We may be working on origami, zines, coloring, painting, or various other crafts. We will have a Halloween themed craft session on the Wednesday before the 31st. Catch these on: the 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th from 10-2pm.

Isaac’s Farewell/ Real School Joint Birthday Party:

Thursday the 10th from 5:30-11:00 pm. 

One of our founding members, Isaac Taylor, will be leaving Texas after this month and he is also celebrating his birthday this month, on the same week as two of our other participants. There is a larger birthday party planned for the weekend, so this is primarily a good chance to give Isaac a send off before he leaves for Portland! People are welcome to bring games to play, food, presents, or donations to The Real School.

Spanish:

Spanish meet-up has been moved to Fridays at 11:00am and will last for an hour. People of all ages are welcome to come if they have an interest in learning or practicing Spanish!

Community Potluck for Unschoolers and Allies of Community Education

on Wednesday the 23rd at 6PM!!

Vegetarian friendly and open to everyone!!! Bring a friend and join the conversation around Unschooling, non-coercive parenting, Adultism, and community education.

Open Dialogue: Fatherly concerns about Unschooling: What to do when Dad isn’t on board with Unschooling

Unschooling fathers address frequently heard concerns from other dads such as, “how will my kid get a job without going to school?” All ages welcome! Donations encouraged.

Saturday Oct. 19th from 1:00-4:00pm

Documentaries and discussions:

A few of the participants and staff have been watching and discussing documentaries frequently and we have now set a time for it! Join us on Mondays at 11:30 am for a different documentary (streaming from Netflix or Youtube) each week.  We do not have a projector at this time but are working towards getting one. Bring snacks and drinks if you’d like!

Other Events:

We are currently still planning on re-starting our cob house project, going on geo-caching trips, and planning a “Toxic Tour” with our friends at T.E.J.A.S., as well as other field trips around Houston for this month! Please keep checking back with our calendar and there will likely be another post about some of these happenings! Feel free to contact us if you have questions about our events at: 713-523-0066.

All events are at our building unless otherwise specified(such as birthday parties or field trips). Our address is:

(The A.C.T. Building)

2805 Wichita St.

Houston, TX 77004

We hope to see you there!

-The Real School

September Events! Added workshops, Crafts, Yoga, Karaoke and more!!!

For the last month we have been actively adding events to our calendar including: more language groups, Yoga, Knitting/Crochet, gender studies and fun events like Karaoke and delicious experiments in baking and ice cream making.  Our writing and math groups continue this month and we will also be hosting our monthly Game Night and Potluck, and working on our mural and a Zine (booklet) including work from our participants! The ACT building hosts various community events this month as well which are not directly related to us but are part of our growing community project; contact us if you are interested in hosting an event at our building. All events hosted by the Real School are open to people of all ages unless otherwise stated and are donation based. Please help us sustain our cooperative with a generous donation when possible!

Check out events on the ACT(home to TRS) building calendar here:

This Month’s Open Dialogue is on: The De-schooling Process

This month we will discuss the transition from schooling to Unschooling and how to support our young participants and others during this transition. The process of De-schooling often includes a lot of questions, uncertainty and lack of direction which can cause parents a lot of concern. It is clear to those of us that have made it through this period that there is a time of confusion, when we are no longer being constantly directed and controlled, in which it takes personal growth and reflection to move forward into self directed action and freedom. We will be discussing what this period looks like and in what ways we can support transitioning into Unschooling and a freedom based educational and lifestyle approach.

Saturday September 21st from 1-4 PM.  Donations to our cooperative encouraged. 

FUNdraiser Game Night on Saturday the 14th from 6-10 PM

join us for another month of fun and food! Bring your favorite games!! $5-10 Suggested Donation.

Community Potluck for Unschoolers and Allies of Community Education

on Wednesday the 25th at 6PM!!

Vegetarian friendly and open to everyone!!! Bring a friend!

Yoga Beginner’s classes:

Every Thursday at 4pm.

Our friend Dan Panzone will be volunteering to work with people of all ages and help us with some basic Yoga skills. $5-10 suggested donation.  Wear stretchy clothes and bring your own mat if you have one!

Knitting and Crochet group:

Facilitated by our friend Abbie every Wednesday@ 11am.  Abbie will share skills on Knitting and Crochet for beginners and anyone who knits or crochets is welcome to join us and build friendships! Small donation suggested and we are still looking for donations of yarn and hooks/needles. All ages welcome!

Grand Ripley Day

To Celebrate The Real Schools Furry Security Guard Feel Free To bring Dog food And a $5-10 donation All Day Thursday the 12th. – Lou

Lt. Ellen Ripley the security dog

ICE CREAM Making TUESDAY THE 10TH At 12 noon

With Your Choice Of Different Flavors. Bring A donation For Materials, $5-10 Recommended. Bring Your Own Plastic Bag If Possible.

Gender and Sexuality Studies Discussion

Wednesday the 18th at 12pm. 

An Unschooler and staff members are hosting a discussion on gender and sexuality for Unschoolers and young people. We will be addressing questions about how we perceive gender, gender expression and sexuality and any other related discussion topics in the field. There will be a presentation of resources on gender and sexuality and we will plan what kind of studying and discussions we may like to see take place in the future. This will be a safe space for young people to ask questions and discuss with other young people and supportive adults. Parents are asked not to attend to maintain an area for free expression.

More information:

We have various workshops that have been ongoing the past few months including writing and math. For details on those please see recent blog posts or contact us directly.

Phone: 713 523 0066 email: unschool@therealschoolhouston.org

All events will be at the ACT building unless otherwise specified: 2805 Wichita St. Houston TX 77004

This month’s blog post was brought to you by: Marie and Lou

August Events! (Edited*)

Get ready for lots of fun and learning this August at The Real School!

Check out our Workshops, Craft Days, Game Nights and more!(descriptions below) 

Event Calendar:  

Workshops: We have started hosting regular workshops(or you could call them study and discussion groups) on a variety of subjects. They are all non-coercive, relaxed, and donation-based! Here is a list of the current workshops:

Writing Group: Thursday 5-8pm August 8th (we will be in Dallas on the 22nd this month)

All ages. Bring something to discuss (either a question or a piece of writing)!

Spanish: Monday 11-1pm on August 5,12, 19

Beginners welcome. All ages. Will work on grammar, vocabulary, speaking, reading, etc.

Science: Monday 1-3pm on August 12, 19

Do some simple science experiments with us!

Knitting/Crochet:

We will have beginners Knitting and Crochet classes this month. Facilitated by Abbie!

Knitting: Monday the 5th and Tuesday the 13th at 5:30pm

Crochet: Tuesday the 6th and the 20th at 5:30pm

Arts and Crafts Days: Friday the 9th, 11am-3pm; Wednesday the 14th and 28th from 1pm-4pm and Craft Night on Saturday the 17th from 7pm to 10pm

Come with your arts, crafts or instruments or join in on our planned art activity!

Baking: Tuesday the 13th at 1pm with Marie (and more dates TBD)

Beginner’s baking classes are open to everyone!

Note: Math days are currently canceled but we hope to resume in the future!  Also, we are currently working on scheduling Beginner Yoga classes!

SPECIAL EVENTS!!!

Karaoke Nights: Friday August 9th and 26th from 7-11pm 

All ages Karaoke fun with snacks and drinks provided. $5-10 Donation greatly appreciated.

August’s Game Night FUNdraiser! Saturday the 10th 6-10pm 

This has been a lot of fun in the past 3 months and we are happy to host it again! Come for  tasty food, beverages, video and table top games, and more mischief! Bring your favorite games if you wish! Bring drinks or snacks if you want! All ages! $5-10 donation.

Community Potluck for Unschoolers and Allies of Community Education: 

Wednesday August 28, 6-9pm

Join Real Schoolers for a monthly(veg-friendly) Open Potluck to socialize and discuss Un-schooling/Alternative Education models, and work on growing a Community Education project! This is open to our friends, allies, and anyone interested in our project or learning about Un-schooling, Adultism, or related philosophies. Come hang out, discuss, learn and grow with us! All ages of people are welcome! Please bring something to share if possible and donations to TRS are always appreciated!

August’s Open Dialogue:  The Problem With School *

Join us this month on SUNDAY the 18th from 1-4 pm (date was changed due to scheduling issues, sorry!)

We will be discussing the issues surrounding schools and authoritarian learning structures. Possible questions to address could be:  the history of compulsory schooling, the criminalization of children, how schools interfere with real learning, the need for critical thought, the rising police presence and surveillance of kids, the myth of dumbness, corporations and schools(meds, advertising,etc),  and the idea of learning vs schooling. We seek not only to show how unschooling can work but how schooling does not work and is detrimental to young people! General questions on Unschooling and The Real School are also welcome for discussion! Hope to see you there! Donations always appreciated!

For some reading on this topic we suggest The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto:  http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/toc1.htm

(Note: more events may be added and/or dates or times changed, so keep checking back!)

All events are at the ACT building at 2805 Wichita St. and are sliding scale donation based(almost free!).  People of all ages are always welcome as long as they respect others and respect our space(see handbook if you need further clarification).

Hope to see you there!!!!

– The Real School AKA Dragon Valley

P.S. Here is our most recent picture of a delicious learning experience! Baking is great for math and teamwork lessons!

Baking Banana Bread!!

Baking Banana Bread!!

JULY EVENTS!!: Workshops, Art, Karaoke, Soccer, Games, Cooking and Potluck!

Welcome to July!!! We have lots of great events planned for this month!

Workshops: We have started hosting regular workshops(or you could call them study and discussion groups) on a variety of subjects. They are all non-coercive, relaxed, and donation-based! Here is a list of the current workshops:

Math: Wednesdays from 2pm -4pm : July 10, 17, 24, 31

with Jeff as the facilitator/ resident math teacher. All ages and levels welcome!

Writing Group: Thursday 5-8pm July 11 and 25 (bi-weekly)

All ages. Bring something to discuss (either a question or a piece of writing)! 

Spanish: Monday 11-1pm July 8,15,22, and 29 and Thursday 6-8pm July 4 and 18

Beginners welcome. All ages. Will work on grammar, vocabulary, speaking, reading, etc.

Note: We are working towards creating science, art, and cooking workshops on a  regular basis as well; check out our calendar for our art, science, and cooking events this month. 

SPECIAL EVENTS!!!

Karaoke Nights: Friday July 12 and 26 from 7-11pm 

All ages Karaoke fun with snacks and drinks provided. $5-10 Donation greatly appreciated. 

 

July’s Game Night FUNdraiser! Saturday the 13th 6-10pm 

This has been a lot of fun in the past 3 months and we are happy to host it again! Come for  tasty food, beverages, video and table top games, and more mischief! Bring your favorite games if you wish! Bring drinks or snacks if you want! All ages! $5-10 donation. 

Futbol/Soccer Games: Monday the 15th(more dates TBA) @6pm 

Come play some non competitive soccer with real schoolers and our friends!!! 

Gaming Meet-up: Tuesday, July 23 @ 1pm-6pm

If you like games, come on by! We’ll bring some snacks and play until dinner time! Video games and table top games welcome!! Small donation appreciated. 

 

Open Dialogue: Coercion, Punishment, Corporal Punishment and Child Abuse

(pt. 2) on Saturday, July 20th from 1-3 pm 

We will continue our discussion from last month on the issues of structural violence against children and creating healthier communities and families. Please come to join our discussion and add your voice on ways to intervene against abuse. Kids always welcome!!!

Description: “Members of The Real School Houston will be discussing the issues around corporal punishment, punishment of children and child abuse/domestic violence in regards to fighting the oppression of young people and the large scale issues of systematic and interpersonal violence which plague our society. We will also be discussing strategies for intervening in situations where violence or other abuse is present for the safety of children in our community. The discussion will focus around oppression of children and the damage that these systems cause to us on a societal wide level. We seek to provide a radical analysis of these issues and provide strategies for a community based resistance to violence, abuse and oppression.”

Donations strongly encouraged. 

Community Potluck for Unschoolers and Allies of Community Education: 

Wednesday July 31, 6-9pm 

Join Real Schoolers for a monthly(veg-friendly) Open Potluck to socialize and discuss Un-schooling/Alternative Education models, and work on growing a Community Education project! This is open to our friends, allies, and anyone interested in our project or learning about Un-schooling, Adultism, or related philosophies. Come hang out, discuss, learn and grow with us! All ages of people are welcome! Please bring something to share if possible and donations to TRS are always appreciated!

Calendar: https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=mtudi6kdp2u970p9flrqqg2gv0%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America%2FChicago

(Note: more events may be added and/or dates or times changed, so keep checking back!)

All events are at the ACT building at 2805 Wichita St. and are sliding scale donation based(almost free!).  People of all ages are always welcome as long as they respect others and respect our space(see handbook if you need further clarification). 

Hope to see you there!!!!

– The Real School AKA Dragon Valley

 

 

Upcoming Events: Un-Graduation party, Open Dialogue, Community Potlucks and More!!!

Un-Graduation Party:

Join members of The Real School / Dragon Valley for our very first…Un-Graduation Party!

Isaac, Chandler, Justin and Jared are beginning new chapters in their lives. 

Come and celebrate with us on: 
Saturday June 15th, 2013, 6:00PM until…
2805 Wichita, Houston 77004 PH#713-523-0066

Snacks and beverages will be provided. Feel free to bring an instrument to play.
All ages welcome!
Gifts to The Real School are welcome but not required.
We hope to see many of you there!!!

June Open Dialogue Topic: Corporal punishment, punishing children, abuse, and intervening against violence. 

**Join us Saturday June 22nd at 4pm

at East Side Social Center, 4202 Canal St. Houston, TX

Members of The Real School Houston will be joining with members of East Side Social Center and discussing the issues around corporal punishment, punishment of children and child abuse/domestic violence in regards to fighting the oppression of young people and the large scale issues of systematic and interpersonal violence which plague our society. We will also be discussing strategies for intervening in situations where violence or other abuse is present for the safety of children in our community. The discussion will focus around oppression of children and the damage that these systems cause to us on a societal wide level. We seek to provide a radical analysis of these issues and provide strategies for a community based resistance to violence, abuse and oppression.

Donations to The Real School and/or East Side Social Center are strongly encouraged!! All ages welcome!

Contact: Marie at 713-523-0066
eastsidesocialcenter.com

Community Potluck for Un-Schoolers and Allies of Alternative Education:

Weds, June 26th at 6:30 pm

Join Real Schoolers for a monthly(veg-friendly) Open Potluck to socialize and discuss Un-schooling/Alternative Education models, and work on growing a Community Education project! This is open to our friends, allies, and anyone interested in our project or learning about Un-schooling, Adultism, or related philosophies. Come hang out, discuss, learn and grow with us! All ages of people are welcome! Please bring something to share if possible and donations to TRS are always appreciated!

At 2805 Wichita St. Houston, TX 77004

 H.E.A.L. Workshop:

Redefining Parenting: Arguments Against Punishment, Coercion and Rewards

Sunday June 30th 1-3 PM, 2805 Wichita, Houston 77004 with Dr. Krenie Stowe

More Events in June: 

See our calendar for workshops including: Math Thursdays, Monday Morning Spanish, Writing Workshops, Crafts, Ice cream,etc.

Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V8qy-3PpIAxXu2cykquWNAtheFACSqPyVayrkaIjoKM/edit?usp=sharing