Global Village Voice

As we move into our 11th year of existence we’ve been looking back on earlier times.  Here’s a glimpse of 2002, just a few years after Sally embarked on the progressive homeschooling adventure that is Global Village School:

The drive to Sally Carless’ house is indicative of her nature. The road is a small, private road with huge boulders and wild sage lining its edges. Massive oak trees suspend their limbs above the road, adding a green canopy of vegetation, and breaking up the sunlight with patches of shade. You cross a creek over a small bridge, up a little hill and then back down. There, at the edge of the Los Padres National Forest, with avocado orchards to one side, sits a small older ranch house. Here, surrounded by natural serenity, is where you can find Sally Carless, founder and visionary of Global Village School.

Global Village School is a nonprofit distance-learning school founded in 1999 designed to teach tolerance, practical social activism, peace and an understanding for those of different religions, races, physical disabilities, ethnicities and sexual orientations. Global Village School offers customized K-12 curriculum and a high school diploma program. The School’s mission is to teach children how to become proactive in their own lives for social change and social awareness, while at the same time providing a safe haven for students who are harassed or ostracized in the average school environment. The ultimate goal is to provide a place where everyone “belongs,” and develops a sense of individual self-worth sufficient to produce a conscientious, proactive world citizen.

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Posted under Education, Homeschooling, Personal Growth

More about our Whole Child, Healthy Planet Curriculum Guides!

Each grade level contains core resources plus many extras – most likely much more than you will be able to get through in a year. Each curriculum guide includes:

1) A detailed list of books and resources for the year, along with information on where to get them;

2) A study guide with planning templates, and sample activities;

3) General information on the Global Village Whole Child Healthy Planet Method, including articles and coaching tips for parents about homeschooling in general, making the most of the program materials, assessment, etc.; and

4) Many useful and fun extras including a supplemental reading list.

Grades 5-8 are approximately 100 pages in length; Grades K-3 are 70-80 pages. Grades 5-8 have monthly recommendations on how to schedule the various materials and activities into 9 month-long units. Since there are so many different ways the resources for the younger grades can be utilized, Grades K-3 include more free-form general recommendations.

Check out samples in grades 1-8 here: http://www.globalvillageschool.org/k8-sample.html

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Posted under Announcements, Education, Homeschooling

AERO has recently posted video of the 2008 Educating for a Better World workshop with Sally Carless (Founding Director of GVS), Ron Miller (editor of AERO’s Education Revolution Magazine), and Khalif Williams (Executive Director of the Institute for Humane Education).  Questions they covered include:

What responsibility do alternative educators have to address the challenges facing our planet and society? Current struggles are numerous: everything from human oppression and violence to animal exploitation to materialism and ecological degradation.  Do we believe that young people deserve to be truly prepared for the challenges their generation will face?  If so, how can educators inspire learners to become engaged agents of positive and abiding change?

Enjoy: http://www.educationrevolution.org/2008workshop4.html

Posted under Education

The following recipe was written by Global Village High School student Kamron Yazdani in response to a Literature of Diversity assignment after reading The Secret Life of Bees.

Recipe for a Prejudice-Free Society

By Kamron Yazdani

“Peace-o-Pie”

10 lbs. love of humanity

1 teaspoon seeds of positive energy

1 teaspoon cream of martyr

2 cups wine of justice and mercy

1/4 cup freedom

1 pound tolerance and open-mindedness

5 teaspoons essence of unity

1 passport

Dash flavor and harmony

1 spoon of the sweet honey of nature

2 “peaces” clarified butter

Icing of goodwill

2 cherries of humor

Directions:

First, you need to add the base of the entire recipe and work with the goodness of the foundation, to enrich the final result. With that in mind, begin with 10 lbs. love of humanity. To get the recipe started, add a teaspoonful of the seeds of positive energy. Once initiative begins to take place, use 1 teaspoon cream of martyr to put yourself on the right path no matter what the cost. In order to enable the recipe to develop properly, you must include 2 cups of the wine of justice and mercy. To allow the recipe to rise fully, you must include 1/4 cup of freedom.

Next, you must use 1 pound tolerance and open-mindedness so that the flavors of the recipe are balanced. After that’s completed, add 5 teaspoons essence of unity to bring the recipe together. 1 passport is necessary to broaden the recipe. To unify the ingredients, you must use a Dash of flavor and harmony. 1 spoon of the sweet honey of nature will also be needed to sweeten the experience. One of the most important ingredients in this recipe is 2 “peaces” of clarified butter, which is used to enlighten and reveal the flavor. Finish the recipe off with the icing of goodwill, and make sure you don’t wait for it to cool. Finally, you must add two cherries of humor on top to lighten the mood of the dish.

This is a recipe best served with a side of humility and garnished with good intent. Do not serve cool. Must be kept warm for the flavors to reach their full potential.

Posted under Education, Homeschooling, Students and Alumni

Sally recently sat down to chat with the folks over at the HUB eAcademy about progressive education as part of a tele-seminar series exploring sustainability themes.  Please go to this page: http://www.hubhub.org/hubeacademy/index.php?id=1748

and scroll all the way to the bottom to hear the interview.

Posted under Announcements, Education, Homeschooling

I head out in the dark
to catch the magic moment –
the crack of dawn

My dog runs ahead
her exuberance, her ecstasy
is contagious

I look West
and the full moon
is hanging high in the sky
by an etheric thread

I look East
and the dark sky begins to blaze
from the hidden sun

My big booted feet
take strong, giant steps
The crow of the roosters
Cheers me on

I turn and head for the wild
I lean against a huge boulder
and watch the bright full Moon
Slowly sink

The Earth feels like Eden
Like a playground
Where all we are asked to do
Is feel the forces of Life

The first light of day
A mixture of the sun and moon
Illuminates the world
Everything is aglow

Together we stand
Between the sun and the moon
In a field of joy

Posted under Life Stories, Personal Growth, Soul Food

Downloading the GoodShop toolbar is  a quick and easy way to support Global Village while you shop online.  Once installed,  every time you shop at one of more than 1,300 participating stores, a percentage of your purchase will automatically go to Global Village (at no extra cost to you!)

Just go here and download the toolbar: http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/global-village-school

Posted under Announcements

The Global Village curriculum guides contain a multitude of resources, instructions on how to use them for a full year’s curriculum, and articles guiding parents through the Whole Child, Healthy Planet homeschooling process. Each grade level contains core resources plus many extras – most likely much more than you will be able to get through in a year.

The K8 curriculum guides are centered on the four core principles of the Earth Charter:

(1) Respect and Care for the Community of Life
(2) Ecological Integrity
(3) Social and Economic Justice
(4) Democracy, Nonviolence, Peace and Diversity

K-8 curriculum guides cover all of the core academic subjects in a way that engages students through a sense of enchantment, awe, and wonder as well as through incorporation of art, music, nature, imagination, and story.

An early review of the curriculum:

We received our “Whole Child, Healthy Planet” curriculum guide last week. We are so excited that we found Global Village School. I feel as though the curriculum was written for our family. I truly never thought I’d find a curriculum… that “fit” us, but now we have! Thank you for helping us navigate an even more meaningful path of homeschooling with our kids. The resource list in “Whole Child, Healthy Planet” allows me to spend a little less time hunting for the right materials and more time enjoying learning with my kids! What a gift. – Beth C-R

To learn more, see http://www.globalvillageschool.org/k8-curriculum.html

Posted under Announcements, Education, Homeschooling

The number of test-optional institutions in the U.S. has soared past the 830 mark, as five more schools – Agnes Scott, Assumption, Sacred Heart, SUNY Pottsdam, and Washington & Jefferson – have announced they are dropping ACT/SAT requirements.  About one-third of all accredited colleges and universities in the country now do not require all or many applicants to submit test scores before admissions decisions are made.

A regularly updated list of test-optional schools is available free online at: http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional.  Many more colleges and universities are reexamining their admissions requirements, often using FairTest resources, including the landmark report Test Scores Do Not Equal Merit: Enhancing Equity & Excellence in College Admissions by Deemphasizing SAT and ACT Results: http://www.fairtest.org/test-scores-do-not-equal-merit-executive-summary.

Text excerpt drawn from: http://aeroeducation.org/2009/11/19/one-third-of-u-s-collegesuniversities-now-test-optional

Posted under Current Events, Education

evan austin presents the 2009 Noble Peace Prize to Sally Carless

Sally Carless, founder and Executive Director of Global Village School, recently received the Ojai Peace Coalition’s Noble Peace Prize. Each year, the Coalition honors a local individual who works for and exhibits peace in their lives.

The nomination most specifically cited Carless’s attention to peace and justice issues through the establishment and continued operation of the Ojai-based Global Village School, an international K-12 homeschool diploma program with a creative, flexible approach and an emphasis on peace, justice, diversity, and sustainability. Global Village offers a full diploma program and college preparatory classes that prepare students to be wise and capable stewards of the planet and each other.

According to evan austin, founder of the Ojai Peace Coalition, “The purpose of the Noble Peace Prize is to recognize and honor local actions and lifestyles that positively affect our community in ways consistent with the Ojai Peace Coalition’s aims and values, and to create S/Heroes of Peace with the idea that culture is defined in part by our traditions, rituals, and honored individuals.”

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Posted under Activism, Announcements