Taking it Slow
"It seems like Village is going slower than it sometimes does." A Heron recently shared this observation with me. This was his first time playing but he's a careful observer and he was right; it is going slower. And that is a good thing.
Village holds at its core the idea that students learn things more deeply when they discover ideas for themselves. The tedium of direct democracy creates the need for a governmental system. The frustration of writing checks leads to the development of currency. Anger about trespasses on the land is calmed by the protection and order of laws.
But in some Village years, the potential learning is short circuited. The year following a very complex government based on a series of high courts, a villager proposed on the first day, "Let's just use the same system as last year." The citizens voted that proposal into law and...no one could quite remember the details and they fumbled along for a while...very few laws were passed. Students' interest turned to their businesses or houses.
Contrast that with this year when all three villages stayed in direct democracy for a long time and then, haltingly, worked to figure out a better system. Those systems have undergone a lot of revision as problems have occurred and needed solutions. There have been frantic and confusing moments. There have been tears (at one point Amber asked me, "Is it normal for kids to cry in Village?"). Both are signs of the urgency that the learning has for the students.
I've been struck by the deeper learning process in the workshop as well. We are so used to having a lot of volunteers in Village (oh, how I miss them!!). There is almost always an adult to hold a corner together or offer sage advice on the coping saw. This year, not so much. Students are trying and failing and then turning to each other. You can see learning ripple through the workshop - how to measure posts, how to cut out windows, how to use the fourth wall jig. Houses are coming together more slowly but the work is more independent.
I will welcome the experience that next year's 5th graders will bring to Village. I anticipate more large projects will be possible -- a newspaper, a transportation system...But this year has been one of true discovery and I wouldn't trade that for anything.
Land Time
This past week we introduced all Village land time. Land time is when Village comes alive. Students must be with their peeps and they must be on the land moving at peep speed (their peep must "walk" on the ground unless they have transportation of some kind.). Land time is when peeps can buy and sell things. It's when service based industries like zip lines, ferries and arcades can flourish. We even have a peep therapist this year.
Land time is when conflicts occur - land is stepped on, deals are broken. These conflicts are the impetus for laws (like the grit in the oyster.).
Forest of Peep felt very empty on our first day of all Village land time so the council decided to develop a peep soccer field with money from a federal grant they applied for. MINITEXAS!x30 had the opposite problem with its central location. Some villagers' land was severely damaged when people were scrambling up and down the creek bank to get to the intertown ferry. And that ferry? Turns out the portion of creek between MINITEXAS!X30 and United Song Birds (the U.S.B.) is almost impassable so the ferry now only runs between Forest of Peep and MINITEXAS!X30 and a civic minded peep used his land time to rake a trail to U.S.B. No word yet if a toll will be charged.
Peep University Update
Thank you to all of our professors! There are now twenty-five on line courses for peeps to learn from (check them out here.) You can learn about citizenship, tractor safety, medicinal herbs, landscaping, musical plants, yoga, butterflies, diplomacy, chemistry, succulents, the alphabet, advertising, economics, and Tolkien. In addition, Nat has been hosting live classes in the kitchen - peep hat making, egg cooking, sewing. She works with two or three kids at a time and it's been great to have a hands on series of classes to accompany the on-line offerings. It's been great to see this part of Village flourish despite our Covid restrictions.
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