Today I am really excited about a few things.

First- I’m still beaming over the fact that I got to talk to Jerry Mintz on the phone!  I first discovered AERO and Jerry in 2003, but I didn’t think I could make it to his school starter course and I eventually let my membership to the organization go.  All that changed when I obtained ALC membership and with that the AERO membership.  Jerry emailed me directly and then told me he was going to call me.  I was soooooooooo excited.  Our talk was very informative and he gave me things to think about that.  I now have attending the Conference on my Hope-To-Do list.

Second- I decided to keep the name Chriman in the name of my center.  Jerry encouraged me to build the concept of the school the way I want it to be and find those who will support me.  My eldest son named our “school” Chriman and I’m going to stick with it.  I’m basically providing the same educational philosophy to others that I have used for my own children.  The center is an extension of that.

Third- Today I am introducing the Kanban to my children.  My girl is 12 (in 3 weeks) and my boy is 15.  I decided to begin with this tool because I believe it will be helpful in my own life and then I thought that it will help us as a family to know what we are working on and to find unknown shared desires. I went and bought poster boards and stickies last night.  There is still so much I need to do and it will be nice to have it in plain sight as a reminder.

This is my first post and I’m sooooo very excited about it!  I’m at my current job, planning my dream job.  Although I have been dreaming, visioning, and planning to open a self-directed center since 2000, I actually believe I can make it happen.  I began homeschooling in December 2000 after 7 years of researching all the different methods and ideologies.  I studied learning types, teaching types, and personality types.  I discovered homeschooling after reading an article when I was in high school and I knew it would be the way I would teach my future children.

Many things have changed over the years.  At this point, I’ve had 4 children and have used many different methods of homeschooling.  I even had one son enter public school in the 7th grade and decide that was the path he wanted to take. He graduated from the public school system.  For years, the center I planned was affectionately called Kids Teach.  The kids would teach what they knew and the adults would be there more as guides or assistants to the children. It was cute when my children were young.  Now my youngest “kids” are 15 and almost 12 and don’t care too much to be called kids.  And with the center now focusing on young people aged 11-17, I think I have to change the name.

That is what today is. Naming day…

I’m living in Louisville, KY so I want the word Louisville in it.

At first I liked the word Cooperative, but I really like the word Collective better.

One of the mothers that I asked to be part of the Founding team believes we should call it a Cultural center.  I like the word Cultural.

I love the word Zenith. The time at which something is most powerful or successful.  I’m not sure how to fit it in.

Some of the names I’m thinking are Cultural Collective Louisville, Learning & Cultural Collective Louisville, Louisville Learning Collective, and Cultural Cultivation Collective. But then I think, that doesn’t sound like a fun place to be. It sounds appealing to adults, but what about the teens? I also thought about using the homeschool name my children chose in 2006; Chriman Academy. They came up with the name because it is a smash-up of all of their names. (The difficulty I’m having reminds me of the time the hospital told me that I couldn’t leave the hospital until I named my daughter and they were ready for me to go! LOL! I named her, then got home and called the hospital to add another middle name—which they let me do.)

To be continued…..