How did we get here?

PopSchools as a project is a couple years in the making. I, Hive account@nikema, have been working on creating a community for my unschooled children since they left public school three years ago. Until about two months ago, the plan was to open a physical space in Sacramento. A place where young people could meet and collaborate on projects. I wanted a safe space for self-directed learners to be able to socialize and learn outside of conventional schooling.

Steem changes everything

I joined Steemit in January and started blogging in February. Once I found the communities, (mostly on Discord) my eyes were opened to the possibilities of online interactions. I was able to find the artists, the unschoolers, the coders, and designers. These are the people who create the content I am interested. I heard a beautiful duet sang from two different countries. I sat in on classes were people practiced poetry, foreign languages, and the ways of the Steem community. I was amazed by the kindness and genuine interactions I was having with people all over the world.

It's a beautiful thing to see people come together the way we do here on the Steem blockchain. It's amazing how Steem is changing and improving lives.

I was enjoying the community here, building relationships, and really diving in to the Steem ecosystem. Steemit quickly became the social network of choice for me.

From the park straight to Skype

By Rawpixel

https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/QmTKBPPLZjUuE47ggTgQGuFpuBTKMp4jXWHuH6NCSJi5GB source

After a park day with homeschooled kids, my son came home and immediately started a Skype conversation with the same friends he had just left. As I observed, a lightbulb went off. If I can enjoy the rich communities that Steem has, why not the kids? That's when I realized I don't need the overhead of a physical space and the PopSchools community can be built online with the Steem blockchain and discord.

These kids are digital natives. They are already accustomed to the tools and ways of communicating online.

What is the problem PopSchools addresses?

Hive account@nikema

PopSchools addresses the lack of access to socializing, collaboration, and funding for self-directed learners aged 9 - 18.

The people who experience this problem are found all over the world. They call themselves unschoolers and self-directed learners. Some are educated outside of school. Some attend microschools, Agile Learning Centers, democratic schools, or free schools. In their local communities they may be few, but as a global community, they are everywhere.

How do I know this is a problem?

My source is my personal experience as a self-directed learner, unschooling mother, and entrepreneur who works to create a solution. The cause of this lack of community could be summed up with the fact that these learners are in the minority. We are operating outside of a long-established, nearly all-encompassing system and tradition of education. In any given neighborhood or city, you just won't find large numbers of people who are accepting of and participating in Self-Directed Education.

The lack of funds is another fundamental part of the problem PopSchools addresses. Many of us in this community, myself included, make compromises with our educational philosophy because we rely on the public funding from our school districts. Accepting charter funds means agreeing to testing and other evaluations that hold no value to us personally. Many can't afford to choose this way of education at all.

The proposed solution + how you can help

I plan to build a Steem blockchain front-end just for the PopSchools community. The website will only display content created on the site but posts can be broadcast to the blockchain. I am intending from the beginning to make a safe space for youth to participate. Parents are also welcome as part of the community and we can learn together how to earn money with this platform. I've already created a discord server ( https://discord.gg/zKG3EnX) and have the popschools.com domain registered ( https://popschools.com ).

Everyone could use more funds to pursue their goals and passions. As a community, we can work together towards financial freedom for all. Not all, but many problems can be solved by getting capital into the hands of those who don't have it.

The plan is to get these students, who for the most part are digital natives and already using these tools, to earn money for the activities they already do online. There's the added benefit of learning from each other and sharing work with a supportive community.

I want this PopSchools account to grow to a point where our upvote can make a difference in funding the education of the youth.

How can you help?

PopSchools is a one-woman show. I would love to have a team to help me build out this platform and community. Any of the following skills would help me out:

coding
design
marketing
business sense :)

I am completely willing to work on this alone, because I consider it my life's work to create safe and equitable spaces for youth. However, it's slow going alone and working towards these goals with others who care is much more fun.