28 June, 2024

Dear Parents,

This time’s newsletter is written by Vyom. Let me tell you how this happened. The current situation in LC can somewhat be described by a proverb in Malayalam which talks about a monkey who got profusely drunk and was stung by a bee. Can you imagine the sight here? Also what we go through everyday…:)

Already there’s freedom which is coated with sociocracy and laden with restorative justice. Sometimes when I am completely out of my mind I think this is a perfect recipe for implosion. Some of the days, during some of the hours, it's a mayhem! The blossoms want to get wet outside, no one’s paying heed for the call for lunch, some of the kids don’t want to do seva. Meanwhile the blossoms have got water all over the place and are not ready to clean. There are guests looking at us expectantly trying to see how we are managing and smiling amidst all of this. It is chaotic and messy! Jonathan Mendonca who writes about democracy in schools came to visit us last week and he told us that chaos and messiness is the hallmark of an open school. So now that I have got a validation, I am a bit relaxed…:) But lack of respect and a show of arrogance still irks me. Not just that but there is a tinge of entitlement lurking somewhere in their behaviour. Fellow facilitators and other LCians are also equally bothered by this. Last week, there were situations where few of the kids (the usual suspects) went through a phase where they were disrespecting the processes of LC, people and resources. Talking, cajoling, nudging, writing complaints, nothing seemed to be making a difference. I understand we need to have patience, but how long is long enough?

Facilitators felt that this behaviour is rooted in the belief that all of us in LC are equals. Hence all have equal rights and privileges. But it's our mistake that we didn’t tell them that all of us have to work towards it. Unlike society, in LC all of us are equals by default. So this judiciary we decided that those who fall short of their contributions to the community will have to fill it up by some other ways. Either they can start taking sessions, do LC’s finance related work, write newsletter, taking care of blossoms, meet new parents, conduct workshops, (you know what I mean). Equal contribution = Equal rights, privileges, voice, etc. Hopefully this will make them realise that there is a lot that goes into making LC function. And by contributing they will develop a sense of ownership. (fingers crossed!)

So this time it’s Vyom’s chance and he chose to write the newsletter, though with a lot of resistance but I think he did a wonderful job. It’s also his birthday today. Congratulations and I wish him a fun-filled and meaningful year ahead. Please let us know how you find this newsletter, it will be encouraging for him.

Dear Parents,

                        Hi everyone this week was a very good and relaxing week. This week we all had a lot of fun.  The week started from Monday and there were 2 new kids for their trial period . One's name is Adrit and he is a 7 year old boy and the other's name is Mustafa a 4.5 year old boy. In the talk to mentor session we all shared what we do on our weekends and decided the planning of next week . This week facilitators applied the tick mark chart and the first session of the week was hands-on activity with Uttam and Kiran. We learnt about Voltage, Current , Resistance and potential difference. We also learned what are names of the holes in the charging plug and how much Voltage is there in it. And also learnt how to save a person if he is getting an electric current.

                     Tuesday was the most exciting day of the month . Because it was the project day . As usual we all sat in a circle and discussed the rules of the project day and how the kids felt about who had done a project . This time we didn't call any of the guests because there were only  7 - 8 projects this month . After an interesting project day we all were split into 3 groups . All the facilitators set a timer for 10 mins and we all had to write 50 + topics for our project days .  So there are plenty of topics to select and from now on no one will give reasons like I don't have a topic for the project . We all aso attended the session of Sai and learnt a baby freeze in which you have to place our head down and legs in air .

                    Wednesday was very interesting because today was science , health and disease and singing and one more thing on Wednesday it was Limangi’s birthday . In health and disease we learnt about the thyroid gland where the other glands are located in our body . In science we all learnt how to read a periodic table , what are the short forms of all the chemicals and how much Electrons , Protons and Neutrons in them . When Limangi entered LC we all sang happy birthday song for her .  Limangi’s brother Tarang had also come and we all started with a new song, Speechless .

                    This Thursday was very hectic because all the students of Poorva Maths started finishing the incomplete worksheets . After finishing all the worksheet we all played Napoleon ( card game ) with Pinky in her games session .  In the maths session we all cleared out our doubts and learnt a new form of Algebra .

                  Friday was a lot of fun with Shri’s art session and we also saw a short film of the forest man of India . Javed Payeng is also known as the forest man of India . He himself planted a whole jungle and his planted jungle is a home for 115+ elephants , 70+ rhinos and many more animals . Then in Shri’s session we all got commissioned work by Shri . We had to design a cover page for a Hindi text book which will go to the USA for std 2nd and 3rd . And a design for a forest officer who catches poachers and smugglers . They smuggle elephant tusk , animal skin and bones . And if our design is agreed then whoever made it will get 500 Rs per cover page . And after lunch we all played damsharas but there was a twist. We didn't have to act, we had to draw , and only 3 guesses ,  drawings and words .

                  This was our update for this week . Bye - Bye see you next week with new updates.