When I stopped working the most difficult part was to leave that space where ideas are grown and to leave seeds of new insights to be there without helping them to grow. I needed to make that choice eight years ago, to be able to recover from burnout and to learn how to care for myself, our three kids and my permaculture garden.

It was Chestnut colour JKL Simple and Creative Umbrella Stand Bucket Storage Shelf,Multifunction Storage (color Black) that the ideas from my PhD research and early insights from the work on distributed Agile teams didn’t stay laying still while I was busy growing human beings and pumpkins. It is also nice to see how those ideas grew in the meantime, cross-fertilising with the ideas of others and getting stronger through adoption in practice.

So, when I got back on Twitter, just at the right moment to get an invitation for a Personal Knowledge Mastery workshop by Harold Jarche in Eindhoven, I had all the fun of getting an update from the first hands of someone who was 85cm Vintage Solid Wood High Stool Bar Stool Kitchen Breakfast Chair Counter Stool Wrought Iron Legs + Square Curved Seat Design (Size 85cm) integrating insights of different people. Harold also did a lot of work to spread ideas of Personal Knowledge Management in practice, renaming it somewhere on the way into PKMastery.

It was also pretty amazing to see that a lot what I’ve learned in my PhD research is still valid and valuable. Technologies and the specifics of dynamics around them do change, but in essence a lot of networking, sense-making and reputation management via Non-Slip Carpet Nautical Nautical Lifestyle Theme Vintage Steering Wheel Stars Net Lifebuoy Outside The Door Rug W4'xL6' is the same. When at some point discussion turned into blogging I found myself saying a lot of stuff that I summarised for the articles for Informatie Professional, published in 2010: blogging for knowledge workers: incubating ideas and personal networking (Air Port Screen Cute goat1 W108 x L86 Provide Heat Highprecision Curtains for bedrooms Living Rooms Kitchens etc.).

When talking about monetising sense-making we talked not only about possible options, but also went along the lines of D Wooden Step Stool Ladder for Adults Folding Chairs Multifunction Save Space Ladder Small Stool Fold Up Footstool Step Stool Ladder,D. As I went to reread it I had to pull out this quote (context: B 65CM SYF Barstools High Chair Bar Stool Counter Chair Leisure Seat Retro Retro Bar Chair Solid Wood High Stool Bar Kitchen Dining Chair Breakfast Stool A+ (color A, Size 55CM)), which is probably true for more than just weblogs:

Being yourself (like with good friends) – vulnerable, personal, multidimentional – in public, you meet others.  If weblog is an attractor, a “gravity pull” (Ton) then whatever you project outside “people will appear who appreciate that” (Yoga Semicircular Cushion Meditating Silhouette Sitting in Lotus Position colorful Chakras Trance Mood Happiness Halfmoon doormats H 35.4 xD 53.1 Multicolor). You start to “chat with people as they were your friends” orange FXNN Folding Chair - Home Portable Chair Adult Dining Chair (color RED)) and they eventually become your friends. You start performing, they become an audience.

I wanted to share with the kids D’Artagnan and Three Musketeers movie of my childhood, an iconic musical of its time. So we set into it, spreading three series over three evenings. And then, as usual, it became watching a movie turned into a learning experience.

The first part includes musketeers song that was written to become a hit, as we found out later, watching stories about how the movie was made. Of course, it became a hit with my kids and they started to sing it. I couldn’t avoid telling them about the Russian word cup in the refrain that I thought was something else when I was a child. We talked about Dutch and English translations, cups to drink, tournaments and prizes that you get if you win those.

I enjoyed the process of following this trail with the kids. I probably wouldn’t write about it, but I got triggered by various blogposts talking about N 70x40x140cm(28x16x55inch) Multipurpose Bamboo Entryway Coat Rack with Shelf, Premium Coat Stand shoes Rack, with Roller Heavy Duty Hall Home-M 50x40x140cm(20x16x55), Bookcase,Bamboo Desktop Bookshelf Shelf Desktop Organizer Storage Rack File Shelf,Beige,25 34cm26 from reading that followed a color10 Blanket 60 x70 Mat 5'X7' Indoor Modern Blanket mat Combination Dandelion Flower Seeds with Water Drops Purity Macro Bubbles Rain Design Light bluee Modern Fashion Super Soft Blanket 60 x78 Mat 5'X8'. Those make me thinking about the value of self-directeness in the young age, when you grow your ability to follow trails in the way that fits you, and how do I feel about the knowledge gaps that do exist when trails do not cover beaten roads and signposted attractions.

In the last few months, I’ve got involved into translating some of the materials of Sudburyschool Hardewijk from Dutch into Russian. This is a strange experience: I’m into the topics of self-directed education for quite a while but didn’t dive in-depth into the specifics of Sudbury schools until recently. Since my reading on it is primarily in English I am not familiar with the choices made when terminology is translated into Russian. So I’m translating from Dutch without knowing corresponding Russian terminology or having an in-depth experience with English sources behind it.

At the end all of those come to two issues: audience to connect to and the message to convey with the translation. It is the last one which is a biggest challendge when it comes to figuring out what exactly the position and the role of staff entails – since the traditional hierarchy of adults deciding what, how and when kids should learn is easier to let go in theory than in practice. And once you start practicing the devil is in the details.

Some background stuff and more reading on the nuances:

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• Staff – Wicklow Sudbury School
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• Artzfolio Silhouettes of Paris City, France Key Holder Hooks Notice Pin Board Antique golden Frame 20 X 20Inch by Nan Narboe, an essay introducing The Kind and The Real; first published in Bar stools Bar Home Bar Chair PU Wrought Iron Metal Foot Decoration Chair Restaurant Cafe Bar Stool Personal Leisure Kitchen Chair Height Chair (color A, Size 45cm) (H63-83CM E DYR Bar Chair Dining Chair high Stool Lift Mosaic color Piano Lacquer Swivel Chair (color A, Size H63-83CM) version published in Perspectives on Sudbury Education, 2001 + more links in Dutch)
• Differences Between Self-Directed and Progressive Education by Peter Grey
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So today was a slow day. The whole morning the kids worked on building lego projects and the girls walked in their pyjamas for the rest of the day.

Which brought me into a very interesting discussion with Anna. In the afternoon she was planning to try participating in an online course with a group of other kids, via videoconferencing. She clearly didn’t want the hassle of changing her clothes, but wasn’t comfortable being seen in her pyjamas.

So we talked about the options and about how far you should or shouldn’t adjust your clothes to the expectations and how much of those expectations are in your own head. I enjoyed both, talking to her about that and watching her later, doing her videoconference in a decently looking sweater over her pyjamas.