ASDE News

Link to original newsletter.

In this newsletter:

• “School’s not working for us, now what?” Event Reminder
• Ways to share our SDE novel with the world
• ASDE is searching for a Resource Directory curator!

THIS SATURDAY, JULY 22ND

Have you come to the conclusion that conventional school isn’t working for you or your children? Are you curious about what other options are available for your child’s education? Do you need support and reassurance in making a change? In this event, Domari will leave space for participants to share why they have left (or want to leave) conventional school. It can feel like a great relief to know others are struggling with similar concerns and that there are alternatives out there.

Learn more and sign up here.

Share ASDE’s SDE Novel with the World!

Everyday activism is something we’re always thinking about because we know that consistent, small actions by many people are what leads to a better world for all. This was top-of-mind for the ASDE/Tipping Points Press team as we worked with author, Hazel Smack, on our recently released novel, RIGGED, which you can read about here.

A quick overview of book publishing:

A handful of large, for-profit publishing houses that control most of the world’s imprints have a stronghold on conventional publishing. These presses have access to major distributors and an army of sales representatives. Big publishers are not an enemy of smaller houses — we all want our local bookstores to survive and thrive — but they are comparatively far better funded, with marketing departments and much larger advertising budgets. Without those things, for smaller presses, (particularly those doing non-profit work like ours) lots more handselling and on-the-ground advocacy is essential for creating easy accessibility to our books for both current SDE-focused folks and for young people who are SDE-curious but don’t necessarily have control over their own paths that they naturally crave and deserve.

And so, we turn to each other for help in doing this work. You can support this effort in various ways, including:

• Ask your library/bookstore to carry RIGGED – This is easy to do — all they need is the ISBN. If they’ll carry only author-signed copies, put them in contact with HazelSmack@gmail.com.
• Order RIGGED through your local bookstore – If your favorite local bookstore can’t carry it physically on their shelves, you can still order your copy through them. Supporting local bookstores helps keep them afloat.
• Order RIGGED from ASDE – You can order a copy of RIGGED directly from Tipping Points Press here
• Leave a review – No matter where you buy your book, you can leave a review ANYWHERE you like to leave book reviews, whether you purchased through that source or not. Goodreads is a popular choice for readers who participate. Leaving a review is SO VERY helpful because the algorithm gods use reviews, in part, to increase (or decrease) visibility of our publications.
• Share RIGGED on social media – You can spread the word by posting about RIGGED on your local homeschooling/unschooling/SDE community social networks or your personal account. Finding books with true SDE-representation in them is a perennial topic in these groups, so starting the conversation or jumping in with a recommendation is helpful, especially if you think a story like RIGGED would help a young person in your circles feel seen and valued for who they ALREADY are.
• Donate RIGGED to your favorite organization – You can buy a copy of RIGGED to donate to an SDE center, library, book exchange, Boys & Girls Club, or any group or organization you love and want to support in this way.
• Read RIGGED with your book club – You can recommend RIGGED as your book club’s next read. The author does Zoom chats with interested book clubs, and attempts to prioritize chats with groups of young people who have read it and want to talk about it directly with the author.
• Contact the author for a free copy – You can contact the author of RIGGED at HazelSmack@gmail.com. She is sponsoring a limited number of copies in order to help promote a book we’re all really proud of! If you don’t have the resources to buy a copy, but want one for yourself, for your (or your child’s) SDE center or ESPECIALLY if you know a teacher in a conventional school who would love to add RIGGED to their classroom library, please contact her.

“For me, writing is about getting my stories into the hands of as many young people as possible, not about trying to pay my bills with book proceeds. If that were the case, I wouldn’t be doing this work. When a young person feels a connection with a book in which they recognize some part of themselves — a book they read without coercion, without having to assess the author’s intention, without having to write a reaction, summary, or book report of any kind for a grade, that’s what it’s about, from my perspective.”

–Hazel Smack, author of RIGGED

ASDE is Searching for a Resource Directory Curator

The Alliance for Self-Directed Education is looking for a volunteer who is able and willing to take on the task of managing our Resource Directory. We are looking for a volunteer who is able and willing to:

• Use Slack and email
• Familiarize themselves with ASDE’s values as they relate to SDE
• Keep up with 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
• Ask for support from the team, as needed
• Search out and add new resources that would benefit our community
• Eventually take over reaching out to submitters and asking for more information, 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 janice@self-directed.org and let her know your history with self-directed education and why you want the position.

Sincerely,

The ASDE Organizing Team