Talking about ‘Community Learning Hubs’ With The PHA
I had a great talk with the incredible humans from the People's Health Alliance (PHA). If this is the first time you've heard of PHA, read what they're all about here.
We chat about our Community Learning Hubs, which are -
In-person (human) connection groups that support family and the new little humans being born
Spaces where little humans can express their unique gifts with their parents and like-hearted humans who are actively engaged in the on-going growth of a child's life
THE EXPERIENCE THAT STARTED THE IDEA
Community Learning Hubs came about after I ran a wellness program in a primary school as a holistic health coach. While in the school, I saw how the children were often told off—to sit down and be quiet. It baffled me. They wanted to dance, play, and muck around (especially the boys), but their needs were continually squashed as there wasn't enough time or physical space to express themselves.
The little humans learnt about
Movement, so we'd go outside and dance and move,
Processed food versus whole foods,
Writing thank-you letters to someone they wanted to show gratitude to (I got a couple, which was super beautiful),
The difference between a natural photo and a photo-shopped one. Showing what you see in advertising and social media isn't real,
Belly breathing - a fundamental skill
Each week after learning all these great skills, they'd go home and come back telling me, " When I get upset, I'll just go in my room and belly breathe; it helps calm me," and "I've told Mom what healthy food I want to try." So that started the idea of how I could make the whole family part of these fundamental skills/tools. *I have turned the sessions I did in the school to family activities, check them out here.
GETTING TO THE ROOT CAUSE
Little humans are being born into our world as healthy, whole, perfect human beings. It's our job/role to keep them that way. To create the best environment for expressing their beautiful, authentic gifts.
The schooling system is an indoctrination system to make us all the same. How can we create an environment for children who are already healthy, whole little humans to continue to grow up to be adults who are Healthy Whole Humans? If we can do this, we won't have almost any of the problems we've got right now because they'll already be holistically whole. Knowing this is how the vision was born.
If we look after our children from the start, then they'll grow up to be healthy, whole adults, and we won't have the mental, emotional, or physical issues we have now.
I've got a video on my YouTube channel called ‘The True Intention of the School System.’ This video shows who set up the system and why it's compulsory. Two main reasons were to create consumers and employees. If you're an employee, it inhibits your sovereignty and freedom. And you're not creating anything new.
A perfect example is what's been happening for the last 5 years. It's easy to tell you what to do when you're an employee. To keep the big businesses thriving, they needed people to buy constantly, and they realised they didn't even need to work out a marketing plan because they got children at such a young age with marketing campaigns, like putting toys on cereal boxes. The system's done a great job of turning us into employees and consumers, with complete disregard for a child's wellbeing and their unique, beautiful gifts.
There are parents out there who know this. And we know that the children being born right now are different; they come in with much more of a high consciousness, and they just won't put up with the stuff that we put up with. They're not going to sit in class for six hours a day. They're just not. It's not resonating. So we have to create something else and be that bridge because the new children aren't going to participate in the current school system.
REPRICUSSINS OF THE CURRENT EDUCATION SYSTEM
I would use less than 50% of what I learned in school. So what's going on for six hours a day, five days a week, for twelve years? Being around home-learning children, it's obvious they're really knowledgeable and learning so much more from a maximum of 2-3 hours a day.
Even the most well-intended teachers, who are passionate about what they do and genuinely care for their students, can only invest so much in 30 students. They've been performing an impossible task. After seeing this, you realise the system conditions us to get used to the daily 9-to-5 grind. You don't need to be there all day, the kids can't concentrate for that long, neither can adults.
Through the system, children learn to obey authority. There are so many hidden messages in the schooling system. In John Taylor Gatto's books Dumbing Us Down and Weapons Of Mass Instruction, he writes about the Seven Lessons of a Schoolteacher. When I read this, I was like, yes, yes, yes, to every single one! Gatto brilliantly articulates the damage the school is doing to children.
We must create something else; community is our best way, so you've got that support system. We want to help a child bring out their unique gifts because it’s best for them, their community and the world. Providing encouragement and support from when they're young sets them up to use their gifts and skills from the beginning instead of figuring it out much later in life or not at all – majority of adults are still stuck waiting.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HOMESCHOOL AND COMMUNITY LEARNING HUBS
The homeschooling community is huge and works for many families, so it's not about rivalling them. It's what are people looking for, and the feedback I'm getting is they want more in-person connection.
When I spoke to the homeschooling community, they explained that there are many excursions to choose from, and groups of co-ops. However, it's all run on Facebook. To homeschool, you need to be on Facebook. So, if you don't have an account or want one, then what? The most significant point of difference is that Community Learning Hubs are for parents who wish to avoid social media where everything is organised through posts. They want human connection. There's a general movement away from social media platforms, and since many homeschool groups exist only on Facebook, parents are looking for alternate solutions.
Human Connection is my thing! I've tried being on social media, but it doesn't work for me. I don't like being on there, and I don't feel good being on energy-wise. I like seeing people and having chats. For long-lasting growth and connection (where possible), it's got to be face-to-face—human connection. We need the hugs. We need touch. We need eye contact.
Community Learning Hubs has been marinating for about two years, and now momentum is increasing. We're at a point where parents don't want to be on Facebook anymore, or the new families coming into home-learning don't use it. Whatever the reason, there is a need for it now.
These hubs are the bridge to a new way. These high-vibing little human are creating a new world.
COMMUNITIES FOR HEALTHY WHOLE HUMANS
Building communities where parents are supported, and children's unique gifts are celebrated and encouraged is a HUGE part of this project.
If you're trying to nurture your child with healthy food, it's incredible to hear comments from people like, 'Why are you doing that?' 'Your child is missing out,' or 'it's {junk/processed food} not that bad.' So, how can we create communities of like-hearted humans who support proper health and well-being? It would be great to have a village of like-hearted humans genuinely caring for children's health and well-being.
Building communities where parents are not judged for prioritising health and where children's gifts are nurtured creates a beautiful, healthy whole environment.
It's true when they say it takes a village to raise children. It's similar to the good old days, but instead of going back (which we can't do anyway), we keep moving forward, building on the good of the past and improving it. A good village knows that investing in children's overall well-being is vital to the growth and sustainability of the community.
WORKSHOPS and IN-PERSON MEET-UPS
The first step in creating Community Learning Hubs is connecting like-hearted families.
We're bringing the community together, creating a space for parents and children to get to know each other so that, if you choose, you can start your on-going group. It's also for families who have moved suburb or state to meet with other families and see who they connect with. If you don't have that support within your family, you can connect and build your own family/community.
It’s also a great opportunity to find out what parents are looking for and what they need. I see my role as coordinating what’s needed versus; here are my ideas. I don’t have all the answers, I just want to help create a better world.
If you don't have children but have a skill or passion you want to share, I'd love for people to come. You might play guitar, garden, or be great at changing light globes. Whatever you love doing, sharing these life skills would be helpful (as most of us don't know them, ha). Please come. I'd love to talk to you about accumulating a skills directory to create a community calendar.
CHILDREN WANT TO LEARN ABOUT THINGS THEY'LL ACTUALLY USE AND NEED
I've done a video series called ‘For the kids, by the kids,’ where I've interviewed children, asking them what they like about school, what they don't like, and what they want to learn. The favourite thing they like is lunch and recess. They want to learn about finances; they keep saying, I want finances. They see their parents struggle, or they see their parents get stressed around tax time because a few of them have said, I want to know how to do my taxes when I'm older. They want to learn things they can make sense of now instead of asking, 'Why am I learning this?'
The current system throws stuff at children without context. By showing them how their learning fits into the bigger picture, they know exactly why they're learning what they're learning.
Data shows most children aren't interested in pursuing academic careers, like medicine or law. All these institutions might not even be around by then or look completely different. What they choose to do will be something that we don't even know about. They'll create something new in a metaphysical, interdimensional way, which will blow our minds. The healthy whole children will be teaching us - they know more than we do! We need to ask what we can do to help them and what environment will be best for them to strengthen their curiosity, creativity and connection with their gifts.
We can give them essential tools and skills like changing a bike or car tyre, gardening, and reading.
What are some real-life skills we can teach our children?
How can we put them in situations where they can practice these skills in real-time rather than sitting at a desk and talking about them?
How do we get them to participate in real life as fast as possible with skills that they actually need?
Intuition, trusting your inner guidance system, and understanding energy, frequency, and vibration also play significant roles.
Practising these skills in real-life situations with people in the community who care is a game-changer!
UTILISING PASSIONATE SKILLED PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY
There are so many great people in our community with amazing gifts and skills - why aren't we drawing on these wonderful humans?
Emma from PHA shared a story about a lady she knew of who talked about "how the elders were the ones that used to do the history teaching, because some of those had lived through the World War or done all these things, and instead of getting it from a book where you know you don't know who's written it, and it's normally the victor. The elders would teach these children, and it was such a different approach. And I always just thought, wow, that's awesome. And they were out in nature, and they'd listen to this man telling the story of him being there. That's so much better than a boring old history class. It's the storytelling and the emotion of it. We learn so much from our generations; the longer people live, the more information we'll have."
Participating in the community teaches you so many things, like responsibility for someone else, which is beautiful kindness and compassion. Being part of your community is how this new vision will materialise.
It's so important to have a connection with humans who really care about you.
A NEW (FREE) BUSINESS MODEL
Ideally, I would love all this to be free. I haven't worked it all out, but I would love this to be free because if we're moving into a new world, what's money anyway? It's a slavery system. We still need it, but if we want to create a new, better world, it would be great to use the community's resources.
Many retirees potentially feel disconnected from the community. With our elders' unique skills and wisdom, how can we bring them into the community and get them involved? We learn so much from people of different ages and backgrounds.
If everyone contributes with skills, materials, or resources—whatever they can—it will work. There are people out there with spare time or in a position to donate a resource like a venue. I know so many people out there want to contribute and will do it free—we just have to ask.
COLLABORATION VS COMPETITION
This world has been all about competition. People say we don't use other people's knowledge and wisdom because everyone wants to get ahead. If you know what I know, then I can't get ahead. It's a conditioned belief that drives our world that I need to know more than you because there's not enough for both of us, instead of all working together in a way that excites you. It's an entirely different outlook.
There's a post in my Telegram group with a meme that says, "You can't compete with me. I want you to win too."
When you're in this space, there's an abundance, so there's no competition. It's like, how can we all win? How can we all express ourselves in the best possible way? Competition is misleading; you're competing with others, but you're also competing within your own family. You can't just turn it off, so competition is not breeding excellent values or behaviours and needs to be aligned with who we are. As spirits and souls, we exist in abundance; there's enough for everyone.
It's about embracing community collaboration instead of competition.
A TEMPLATE TO REPLICATE AND GROW LEARNING HUBS
I'm testing it and running a template to see what works and what doesn't. I want to speak to as many parents as possible who have yet to find what they're looking for in home-learning. Once we have a template, I can help other communities set it up, sharing what we did, the processes, and the steps we went through. It'll be easier for other communities to build on what we've tested.
Parents have got so much going on. I've always had children around. I'm the oldest of 13 cousins, so kids have always been around. I get how much parents do, and especially in this world, it's hard with all the added stresses and pressures. So, if someone can organise that for you, why not? That's why I'm having these conversations to build that trust and understand what parents need, and then they get to put suggestions forward, and I can try to make them happen. That's a win-win for everyone.
There's a gap somewhere, or else more families would be homeschooling. We're in a funny space because even homeschooling is still connected to the government. Ideally, I'd love it to be separate from the government; that's why we've called them Community Learning Hubs. Parents have to feel comfortable stepping away. I understand there are other components to this. It's a process.
Let's get together and decide what to do next. I want people to be able to do this themselves. It's not about having any control; most of us are trying to get away from the control systems. How can I help connect families to create a better environment for children to learn and grow?
BUILDING PHYSICAL LEARNING HUBS
I'd love to have a space where we can house everything. It's just easier that everything's there, and people can come and go as they please, an actual drop-in center. Be around like-hearted families; adults and children go wherever they feel drawn. Do they feel like dancing today? Do they want to cook? They get to follow their intuition in a beautiful place.
I'm putting together a video that shows this vision so people can visualise how this could look. I'll be asking anyone who has land or wants to repurpose a building, etc., to help us. You don't know who's out there if you don't ask. We might not be the majority, but there are others out there who are in a position to help and want to help. So, let's ask. I'm always up for asking.
LIKE-HEARTED FAMILIES COMING TOGETHER – TRUSTING THE PROCESS
We attract like vibrations. I'm already experiencing this with the workshops I've run - it doesn't vibe with everyone, and it's not going to. And it's not meant to. Other systems will be running parallel; the education system will still run for another X amount of years as that's where some people want to go; it's no judgment, it's just what works for them. There's a whole homeschool community that is thriving and works for others. For people who don't want those options, this solution may work for humans who vibe with it; we'll attract the same vibing humans.
We're creating something new. People's Health Alliance is doing the same. If you don't want to use the pharmaceutical industry or whatever it is, there's a new path. People are looking for new paths, and if I can provide that for them or help orchestrate it, then I will.
I'm not here to convince anyone. If this resonates with you and is how you see your future, you'll come along for the ride. Let's see how it plays out. We'll navigate as we go.
MOVING FORWARD
It's all coming together. We're finding like-minded people with similar visions, and we can bring it all together in that one community hub. It's about more than just a learning hub. What's evolving is that we're realising that we need community and more involvement. The more this community networks together, the better.
With a whole lotta love
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