This Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for the opportunity to do this project and for all of you who have helped make it happen. Thank you for reading and donating; it has meant more to me than you know. Here are is an update on fundraising and how you can keep the project going.
Fundraising Update and Thank-You to Sponsors
A big thank-you to my sponsors, whose names can be found on the right sidebar of my homepage. Due to your generous support, I met my goal to raise $5,000 for start-up expenses for the first three months of Reschool Yourself. Your contributions funded all the tools I need to document my reschooling, including a computer, camera, and digital camcorder. You also funded the basic living expenses that have allowed me to focus on spending time at the schools, writing about that experience, and spreading ideas about lifelong learning. Thank you for making this project possible!
Ways to Support Reschool Yourself
This fall, spending time at the schools and documenting it has taken my full-time attention, so I’ve been largely relying on your donations to cover basic technology, education, and living expenses. Freelance writing, small grants, and donations will sustain the project through next June, and here’s how you can help:
1. Visit Amazon through the Reschool Yourself site
I support buying local above all (especially books from a local bookseller or through the website of Sonoma’s independent Readers’ Books, where I used to work.) However, if you plan to shop through Amazon anyway, please consider using my site to get there. Four percent of whatever you buy — not just the items I feature on my site — will be donated to Reschool Yourself.
Click on one of the books I recommend on the home page, which will take you to the Amazon site, and shop as usual within that browser window. Or you can click the link below and do the same: http://tinyurl.com/66tah3
2. Donate
My current goal is to raise $2,000 by December 31 that will let me focus on writing and preparing for the spring phase. Please consider investing $10, $20, $50, $100, or any other amount through the Sponsor page. People like you, including total strangers, have generously donated $610 so far (in addition to the launch fund), leaving $1390 to go!
If you would like to make a holiday donation in someone’s name, I’ll send you a printable card designed by Darren to give to that person.
If you donate in any amount, I’ll post your name to my home page with a link to your website or a cause you support. I’ll also send you a handwritten, personalized thank-you with a photo from my reschooling adventures.
3. Order Reschool Yourself Items
Through the site, I’m going to be offering items like t-shirts and hoodies with inspiring, learning-themed taglines like “What do you want to learn today?” They should be available in the next week or two.
4. Read the Blog and Spread the Word
Above all, I hope that Reschool Yourself has an impact on the way people think about education, in my personal networks and beyond. Increasing traffic to the site means inspiring more people to reflect on their education and find ways to learn and do what they want to at any age. Building the readership also helps me find funding and media opportunities.
– Comment if a post resonates with you. Even a short note lets me, and others, know that you’re reading. No need to register; just add your name and comment.
– Spread the word on the project and its ideas about learning. Send friends the link to the website. Invite people to join the Facebook blog network. If you comment on blogs or blog yourself, link to the site when relevant.
– Keep your ears open for any Reschool Yourself-related opportunities to get the word out through media, publishing, workshops, etc. and let me know
To those of you who read and comment, thanks for making the site into a place where people can converse about education, as it is now and as it could ideally be. I’m grateful that you have been part of the project from its humble beginnings, and I hope that you stay involved as it continues to grow.
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Your Two Cents: Leave a Comment:
What products with Reschool Yourself themes would interest you? (Hoodies, t-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, etc.)