What is St. Petersburg Free Skool?
St. Petersburg Free Skool is a community project working to fill a perceived gap in the St. Petersburg area by encouraging self-reliance, critical consciousness, and personal development. A free skool is a decentralized network in which skills, information, and knowledge are shared without hierarchy or the institutional environment of formal schooling. By stepping out of our traditional teacher/pupil roles, we can strengthen self-reliance and the DIY ethic while creating a better sense of community. Free Skool classes are held in public venues, parks, and homes. Anyone is welcome to attend or teach. The concept of Free Skool is widespread, with at least 35 different free skools around the world. From Wikipedia:
"These free schools have their roots in the anarchist Escuela Moderna of Spain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They are, at heart, non-institutional, non-authoritarian, and counter-cultural. Generally, these are formed at a grassroots level by a group of individuals acting collectively and autonomously to create educational opportunities and promote skill-sharing within their communities. These free schools often operate outside the market economy in favor of a gift economy. Nevertheless, the meaning of the "free" of free schools is not restricted to monetary cost, and can refer to an emphasis on free speech and student-centred education."
Welcome to another edition of the St. Pete Free Skool blog! We are looking for classes for the months of May and June. The earlier the classes are posted, the easier it is on us, your students, and yourself for promotion. Please inform us of classes through our Teach! tab.
Hello all!
St. Pete Free Skool has been in a lull lately, partly due to technical problems and partly due to slacking on my part. For those of you who have sent emails and not gotten a response to them, I apologize. I had a lot of problems with the old email account, but hopefully that doesn't happen with the new one (teach@stpetefreeskool.com). The good news is that SPFS is up and running again and we want it to be better than ever!
We're having a meeting this Thursday (Feb 16th) at 8pm at Cafe Bohemia to discuss the future of St. Pete Free Skool. Some of the topics we're looking to discuss are:
We understand that Thursday at 8pm might not work for everyone, but we would love to hear your opinions/start a discussion on any of these subjects. If you've got a thought on any of these topics feel free to post it publicly here or to email us at our new email - teach@stpetefreeskool.com
Thanks for your support of SPFS!
-Celeste
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I've heard quite a few times that a school that can't even spell school can't be trusted. Half the time it's a joke, but I've found that a few people are legitimately so turned off by the spelling that they won't come to classes. While I'm sure that their minds can't be changed (the spelling even still makes me cringe a little), I thought it would be nice to provide some insight into the reasons why St. Pete Free Skool is spelled with a 'k'. To quote West Marin Free Skool, "[St. Pete Free Skool] is part of a larger network of [about thirty five] Free Skools located throughout the US, Canada and abroad. We share a very distinct philosophy and are identified by the intentional misspelling of the word school. Free School is NOT simply a "free school" (a regular school that is free in cost, of which there are many). The educational network that we have started here has it's own definition: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Skool)." As the wikipedia article points out, the "free" part of free skool also has an unconventional meaning. While SPFS tries to make all it's classes free of monetary cost, the word is also meant to convey a freedom from the rigid structure and bureaucratic nature of a regular school environment. We do not believe that the only way to be an expert on something is to have been formally schooled in it, and acknowledge that everyone has something of value to share. Lastly, "skool" is way easier to find in a search engine. Without the "misspelling" the SPFS website would be lost forever in a sea of articles about college tuition and free community schools. A quick search of "free skool" in google brings up 7 major free skools on the first page, as well as an article on how to start one in your own community. |
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July is coming up fast! Making calendars and posting/distributing them takes time, so we're encouraging everyone who wants to teach in July to reserve their calendar date/time now. I'd like to have the calendar more or less set in stone by the 25th, so if you're thinking of teaching something, let us know! If you don't know where to teach your class, Cafe Bohemia, St. Petersburg Community Acupuncture, Bula Kafe, Book Lover's Cafe, Undergrounds Coffee, and the Missio Dei church have all offered their space to free skool for certain days (please contact us to make sure the location is available on the day of the week that you'd like to teach your class). You can find links to all their websites here. Already for July, we're planning a book club, radical mental health class, stationary making, and more! Reserve your date before it fills up! If you're teaching another installment of a class from this month or last month, all we need is a date and an updated description.
The first month of free skool is over! We'd like to thank all people who both taught and attended classes in May, as well as those who supported it. Every class went amazingly well, and I think next month will be even better. This is a community project, and the massive community and local business support has been extremely helpful.
If you didn't attend any classes yet, but have been thinking about it, you will have plenty of chances in June! The calendar is now up online, and wonderful paper editions will be coming soon. Classes in June vary from learning how to play Sheepshead or Dungeons and Dragons to discussing Catholicism & Radicalism or Herb & Drug Interactions. We will be having a free skool meetup on the second Saturday of the month to discuss how free skool is going so far and to figure out July classes.
Thinking of teaching a Free Skool class in June? Now is the time to sign up!
You can find the working calendar here to view available dates. Signing up online is easy, simply fill out the form on this page. If you need help finding a location to hold the class, feel free to email us and we will work something out. I'm hoping to see tons of great classes next month!
The first week of classes was amazing! Every class had a wonderful turnout and all went smoothly. This week in Free Skool is going to be equally fantastic. Christopher Nadeau will be teaching a non-linear history of punk and underground music tomorrow night. Alex and I will be teaching part two of our class on the taker/leaver cultures on Tuesday. On Wednesday, co-founder of Food Not Bombs, Keith McHenry will be speaking at Cafe Bohemia. Lastly, on Saturday, Alex will be teaching yoga in the park again!
There have also been a couple changes to the website this week. You can now comment on every class/post on the site. We would like to encourage everyone to let the class instructor know what you are hoping to learn from their class, and what you're hoping to accomplish.
May 14th at 7 pm with Alex Nadeau at Vinoy Park
The purpose of this class will be to calm the brain and listen to your heart exercise your body. The yoga we will do in this class will be mild. It will be held in Vinoy Park in an effort to feel more attuned to nature.
Free Skool has officially begun! Thanks to all of the amazing people who came out today for the May Day potluck at Seminole Park! Tons of food, games, and piñata shenanigans were had. If you would like to know more about the origins of may day, you can read about it here.
Free classes start tomorrow with Alex Nadeau's yoga class! Other classes this week include The Taker Culture, Food Not Bombs, HD SLR Film, the St. Petersburg is Doomed! bike ride, a facilitator's workshop, and shuffleboard! We look forward to seeing all of you in the coming month!
