Spring Session 2024
DATES: every Thursday from MARCH 28, 2024 - MAY 16, 2024 [8 weeks]
TIME: 12pm-4pm
LOCATION: 1221 Division St.
LOCAL ENVIRONMENT ARC
For this Project Knot Work Arc, we will be exploring, learning about, and connecting with the local environment.
⚫ Workshops on-site at Knot Work Studio and out in the community including:
⚡a day on NMU’s campus with the Sustainibility Hub for Innovation + Environment,
⚡hands-on learning with Myconaut [and a take-home mushroom-growing-kit]
⚡ a visit to the home of Recycle 906 at the County Waste Management Authority
⚡spending time with the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve and their watershed model + watershed monitoring… and more
⚫ Civic-action projects to find creative ways to take action on what we are learning. These could include writing a letter to a city official, creating a comic, poster, or zine for informational awareness, crafting a social media post for an environmental organization or sharing via Project Knot Work, etc.
⚫ An ongoing collaborative group project(s) that the learners will decide on in Discord before Spring Arc begins such as: a mural telling the story of what we’re discovering, a giant board game illustrating what our workshops teach us, a shared service project in our local environment, a machine/sculpture, etc.
This focus for the session aims to learn and grow a SET OF SKILLS (observation, creativity, understanding of ecosystems, environmental responsibility, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and more) around this shared topic and share our learning with our community.
Enrollment Fee: $300 per learner [includes the cost of materials + workshops + transportation to offsite workshops as needed]
What will each day look like?
⚫ Each week will be hosted by one facilitator. A few days before each session, you will receive an email from that week’s facilitator giving a summary of what we will be up to that week, reminders about what to bring for that week, and sometimes a link to a supporting resource (like a podcast episode or YouTube video).
⚫ Each session will begin with everyone gathered together. We will catch up, connect, and have a Socratic discussion about the resource that was sent or our workshop for the day.
⚫ From there, the learners will work on that day’s project or welcome our workshop guest.
⚫ Unless the weather completely prevents us due to safety, we will aim to spend time outside every day. We are within walking distance of Giant’s Foot Park and Hurley Field Park, we explore along the bike path and in the adjoining woods, and we love exploring South Marquette as a group.
⚫ At the end of each session, each learner will be asked to ARCHIVE their progress that day in some way. We do this to build communication and self-reflection skills AND so the learner can use this time as self-led accountability to process, plan, and progress.
This can look like:
- a short video taken by the facilitator that can also be shared with the parent via text [ this is the preferred way for Knot Work facilitators for ease and clarity and we are happy to share examples of what these videos are like ]
- a written note [ this can be kept in their Knot Work binder ]
- an audio recording
- an artifact set aside and described to illustrate their experience
During the Spring Arc, we expect that learners will foster + grow skills like:
- communication skills: as we connect with local experts, ask questions, and engage in curious conversations
- writing skills: through storytelling, and sharing opinions effectively.
- visual communication: how to communicate visually, experimenting with colors, shapes, and images to convey a message.
- critical thinking + problem solving: as we learn about our local environment from experts and consider our role in supporting them
- research skills: learn to gather information, select relevant material, and organize it in a meaningful way.
- collaboration + teamwork: as we create a group project and foster working together, improving social and communication skills.
- empathy + perspective taking: as we learn about the experiences of other people and systems in our community.
- technical skills: through writing, formatting and printing a zine AND recording, editing, and producing a podcast episode.
- time management skills: each project is on a timeline and will involve setting deadlines, and organizing tasks effectively.
frequently asked questions
What do we mean by a learning ‘Arc’?
In general, we are basing the basic form of our projects on the model used by Brightworks School in San Francisco. Their Arcs extend over an entire school year, while ours are condensed into mini-arcs of a few weeks each. The Arc includes 3 phases:
Exploration (researching, planning, question asking)
Expression (making, creating, building)
Exposition (sharing and explaining) — for our learners, this will be with each other, parents, and other creatives who work in the 1221 Division St. Building.
Not all of our Arcs will follow this format, as some will be more hands-on, workshop or community-based. But the spirit of these three phases will be embodied in every Arc that we do together.
How many learners will be in the group?
Our group will consist of 12-14 learners.
How old does my learner need to be to participate?
Based on our experience, a learner around age 10/grade 4 is around the best range of age to start. More important than age, however, is interest (in this type of learning and process) and the ability to read and write themselves so that they can create the types of projects we are working on together. Not sure if your learner is a fit? Feel free to reach out to us to chat knotworkstudio@gmail.com
How will I be sure my learner is being supported/held accountable?
How will be sure my learner has the autonomy to be self-led?
These might sound like opposite concerns, but we feel they are quite related!
Our goal is to be here as guides for the learners, but we will not compel them to work on anything. Because we started this project partly out of messages from unschooled children asking for more structured time in their week, we will ask and encourage learners to be engaged in project creation for each Arc…with no pressure on the outcome/product. During each week we check in, we ask if they want help, and we encourage them to check in with each other, but we won’t be verifying/assessing progress.
Conversely, we will send out a loose plan for each week so each learner knows what to expect in terms of the daily schedule/working on their project. We set the theme for each week of the arc (Exploration // Express // Exposition) so they know where we are in the process. Please remember to share the weekly prep email with your learner (if your learner has their own email address and wants to receive the email directly, please let us know!). This is meant to be part of setting expectations AND to give reminders about the flow of our day.
However, we do WANT to give every opportunity for the learners to be accountable to a plan and/or to reflect on how plans change.
At the end of each session, the facilitator that day will encourage your learner to let us take a video of them explaining/sharing what they did that day. This video will be texted to you after the session. This has been a great way for parents to feel connected to what their learner is doing/making. [ if a learner isn’t comfortable with the video, we will provide other ideas for archiving/accountability — but this process will be an expectation ]
Additionally, creating the video is a KEY PART of the kids building skills:
- being accountable for what we are doing each week
- summarizing what their day/project looks like
- communicating verbally
- archiving process
What does the Enrollment Fee cover?
Our goal with the fee structure is to:
- pay ourselves a living wage for our time on-site with learners as facilitators
- pay a proportionate amount of the rent of our space at 1221 Division St.
- pay for quality supplies as needed
-pay for artists/creative professionals who support our kids
What is expected of my learner/me between each weekly meeting?
While we will be working on projects together (and will have all the materials provided at our space) your child may need to do some research, planning, or question asking at home.
In the weekly email, we will provide a link to a resource to watch/read/listen to. Please support your learner in having time to review this resource.
Additionally, we have a Project Knot Work Discord Server where our learners can connect between sessions to share ideas, ask questions, and plan for the weeks ahead.
What can parents do to support the process of this Arc?
The best thing for parents to do is to be curious about the process, discussions, and learning that goes on at Project Knot Work when their learner comes home. Making sure to share the weekly email + resources with the learner is key, and encouraging them to engage while at Knot Work and via Discord between sessions is also useful.
What is Project Knot Work?
This peer and adult-supported learning experience is intended to enhance our children’s unschooling experience.
Through unschooling, we offer our children freedom. But alongside that freedom, they need our support to activate skills, adopt helpful structures and create individualized systems. We see this further development of their freedom as the next step in creating the life they want.
How will we facilitate this? The learners at Project Knot Work will learn in ‘arcs.’ The learners will be presented with a project and theme at the start of each arc. Over the weeks, the kids will Explore the theme by researching to discover which aspect of the topic most interests them. They will Express that interest in a project plan and archiving process. Finally, they will share their finished project and discoveries in a public Exposition.
Project Knot Work will be facilitated by Lane Clark, Amber Dohrenwend, and Jamie Kitchel. We are unschooling parents with collective background and experience in teaching, social work, midwifery, art, community building, mentorship, and music – with an overall commitment to imperfectionism and self-led learning.
We created Knot Work with the intention to make space and time to chase ideas. To turn an idea into a skill. To follow curiosity into understanding. And to share our learning and mastery with the broader community as we showcase ourselves as unschoolers and lifelong learners publicly.