Redwood Bay is a Self-Directed Education (SDE) Community for all kids between the ages of 6-12. Currently located on unceded Ohlone land, now commonly known as Castro Valley, CA. We strive to be a safe and inclusive space that center’s the voices and experiences of Black, Indigenous, other People of Color. As we grow, we want to create a space based on the needs of the community while fostering a sense of belonging for marginalized and vulnerable community members.
“We can’t keep using tools of oppression and expect to raise free people”
About us
Hello Friends,
We’re so glad you’ve found us. We are a group of families supporting each other by sharing resources such as affordable child care for homeschooling families. Many of the parents in our community homeschool while also working to sustain the cost of living in the Bay Area.
Our community is rooted in Self-Directed Education (SDE). We use Agile Learning Center tools to hold space for children that is safe while centering community care and honoring each child’s right to autonomy. See our “pillars” below for more information. It is worth noting that weather or not your family practices SDE at home, you are still welcome.
Currently, the needs of the community include support for families part time, meaning we only provide drop-off childcare for about 4 hours a day (give or take), 3-5 days a week. If someone needs additional coverage we flex and adjust to attempt to get all families the care that they need for the work they do.
We have immunocompromised community members (adult and child) at any given time so it is important to take care when children are ill to protect our most vulnerable community members. We practice transparency so that families can choose what measures feel safest for their families (skipping attendance, masking) if there has been exposure to a contagious illness.
We believe learning is best done through unlimited access to play. We desire for all kids to be celebrated for their being their unique wonderful selves. The facilitators work to acquire cooperation through collaboration and building trust, not by exacting control.
Visit our socials to see what we have been up to.
facebook.com/RedwoodBay
Instagram: @redwoodbaysde
We are looking forward to learning and playing with your family!
With love,
Lori Fernando and the Redwood Bay Community.
The “Where”
The bay is our homebase! We routinely spend out days at playgrounds around the bay and extending all the way to Dublin. Depending on the weather, facilitator availability or by request of the kids, we venture to beaches, libraries, ice skating and museums located all around the neighboring cities of Castro Valley. The facilitators currently have park and museum memberships we share at the Oakland Zoo and the Exploratorium of San Francisco. We visit the Redwood forests of Oakland, the Nature Center in in Hayward, Lake Chabot in Castro Valley etc…
How to Enroll? Hit the gray “I’m Interested ” button above and fill out the form and message the contact to let them know you’re waiting for a response.
Weekly Structure
We have 2-3 facilitators supporting kids, who are also homeschooling mom’s who work. We put alot of intention into keeping our schedule reliable and consistent for the sake of the children who look forward to being together but also for the parents who need the care. Please see Section 2 of the enrollment for the most up to date schedules.
Daily Structure
Our days will have a structure that will support the community in creating intentional around culture of compassion and caring for each other, the space, mother earth and all living creatures. It will serve as a space where kiddos can feel seen and heard by all. Between the times listed below offerings or free play will be happening. That will vary each day.
10:30am Arrive
11:00am Group check-in - How are you feeling today? What would you like to get into?
12:00pm Invitation and reminder to eat, check-in with their body- What does your body need? (Eat, hydrate, snack, rest, move?)
2:45pm Clean up as applicable, required activity for all community members. Kiddos must consent as a part of enrollment.
3:00pm End of day check-in reflection. Rose-bud-thorn. Awarenesses?
Note on attendance - When kids and families attend is solely up to the participating family. Facilitators generally like to be notified about who will be attending the day of or one day prior so they can plan accordingly. It’s generally good to arrive by check-in but that is not always possible for some families.
Offerings and Participation
An offering can be an invitation provided by a child or adult to participate in an activity such as painting with water colors or creating with Legos. It can be something you bring to share such as a board game or playing cards. It can also be an offer to hold space like self-led reading hour / focus time. Some offerings are planned ahead of time and many are emergent or spontaneous. Participation in any offering is the choice of the consenting child or adult in the space.
Each child should bring
A packed lunch with water and snacks
A change of clothes and socks for planned wet days
Additional fees depending on the outings such as the Oakland Ice (we are currently planning fundraising activities so all outings are covered)
Canceled days
As noted before, we hold intention around Likewise, please do not send any child to camp who may also have a contagious illness, fever within 24 hours or is feeling physically unwell to the extent that they do not wish to attend if possible.
“If you think of it, the whole system of public education around the world is a protracted process of university entrance. And the consequence is that many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they’re not, because the thing they were good at school wasn’t valued, or was actually stigmatized.”
Redwood Bay Pillars
Self-Directed Education
“Education that derives from the self-chosen activities and life experiences of the learner” -Alliance for Self-Directed Education, What is Self-Directed Education. We invite you to learn more about SDE, The Optimizing Conditions, Educative Drives, and how various families practice it. The Alliance for Self-Directed Education website or to our local East Bay Self-Directed Education community of practice facebook group are good resources to start with.
Child Autonomy
We trust kids! Kids are respected and supported in how they choose to spend their time pursuing their interests and living their life (even if it doesn’t look like learning is happening or appears to be unproductive). They have the power to make decisions about how to live their lives and, for example, about the community, budget, activities, what offerings take place and how to keep ourselves and each other safe. Anything that kids are learning, exploring or discovering is interest based and intuition. This allows kids many opportunities to kids to trust themselves by following their instincts without interruptions by adults.
Community
Kids learn the most from the culture. We use tools to create intentional culture around respecting and caring for one another, the spaces we occupy and mother nature and all living beings. It also allows for self-awareness and growth to happen through community check in and reflections about how we are responsible for ourselves and our community. Most of these tools are taken from the Agile Learning Centers (ALC) organization.
Deschooling
Deschooling is an ongoing practice of the children and parents in our community. Deschooling is the process of actively removing school ways of being and thinking and instead, begin to center ourselves in our own lives, support our children to center themselves in their own lives and create a new way of being and thinking fully aligned to our own core values, ancestral wisdom and intuition.