Perspective on AERO and our Network 

A lot of our readers seem to imagines that we're a big organization and it doesn't matter what they do. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have about 12,000 in our database of whom about 1500 actually open the e newsletter each week. A smaller number click on any of the links we put in. We really keep track of these. We work pretty hard to put out a newsletter every week.This is quite remarkable as the e news replaced a quarterly print newsletter. We try to provide the latest news in learner-centered education. We also announce AERO products and events, because these sales are the main source of income to keep AERO going. We actually take responses pretty personally: We're happy when one of the people in our network registers for the conference, enrolls in the course, orders audio recordings, videos or books, renews their membership or becomes a new member, or better still, becomes a sustaining member. On the other had if one of our offers falls flat, we're also deflated. 

When we ask for feedback we are really looking for it and read every response carefully. 

It's easy to understand how you might just think of us as just another big organization or provider. We do try to project that image. But we who believe that children are natural learners, who support lthe growth of learner-centered education, who want to see children empowered are just a small niche. AERO's mission is the Education Revolution. We want to make these things possible for all children and with the active help of all of you our little group can have a big impact. 

Here are a couple of related issues:

The AERO Conference was great this year with amazing keynoters and presenters and very enthusiastic participants. But for various reasons (time of year, politics, location, scheduling conflicts) our numbers were down. Because of this and other factors (for example decreased book sales because of Amazon, etc.) AERO's income for the year is down and we will run out of funds before the next AERO conference unless we do some additional fundraising. 

We need some suggestions and specific offers for next year's AERO conference. We can go back to LIU/Post in June and this date should work better. But we've also looked at a lot of other cities and locations. Nothing has met our needs (or the needs of our registrants) yet. The offer has to be very economical, with reasonable prices for rooms and food. Let us know if you have any ideas about this. 

The AERO Conference DVDs and videos (We won't make them this year unless there is interest)

At this point we have recovered about half our costs through sales of audio downloads and CDs (about 15 orders of a total of about 250 keynotes and workshops). We've had an issue this year with the videos recordings. We now have the masters and the quality is great, but they require some work on our part to make them into downloads and thumb drives. We've started on this. So we want to know who wants to have videos of these great keynotes by Dayna Martin, Dennis Littky, Peter Gray, Jonathan Kozol, Peter Gray Interviewing Jonathan Kozol, Akilah Richards and John Gatto (read by Jerry Mintz) and the six mini talks. 

Ordinarily we ask about interest, but in this case we want to know who would like to have any or all and we will consider this a commitment on your part and will contact you when the video downloads and thumb drives are made. Since very few people ask for DVDs these days we won't make them. And if we don't get a good response of people who want the videos we won't make them at all and will just absorb the loss. So let us know if you would like them. The cost will be about the same as the audio downloads were, about $5 each. 

You can still order downloads of conference audio recordings. The information is here. 

We will have a special Internet radio show about How to Start Your School this Tuesday, September 25th at 8:PM Eastern Daylight Time (2000). It will be live on BlogTalk Radio (blogtalkradio.com) It is a call-in show and we'll have several guests. But you can also e mail any questions you you have in advance by writing to JerryAERO@AOL.com We'll also announce some special offers on the show. You can listen to the show when it goes live here.

If you were in the School Starters Course some time in the last 12 years and have started your alternative, please call into the show and we'll give you some free publicity. Also, you can join this year's course free as a resource person. Just let us know and we'll get you in. 

The AERO School Starters Course begins in just two weeks! We do a lot of things here at AERO but the School Starters course is easily one of the most valuable things we have to offer. AERO's mission is to make learner centered education available to children everywhere, and what more effective way is there to do that than by directly helping people to start learner centered schools from the ground up?

 

These schools change the lives of children everywhere, from Maine to California, Malaysia to England, and Australia to South Africa, people who have taken the School Starters Course have started revolutionary schools that empower students to take charge of their own education.

 

If you have ever felt called to start a school, whether it's a homeschool co-op for your child in a small community in rural America or a full blown democratic school in a big city like New York, this course will teach you all the skills you will need to have to start your own school.

The course is not in real time so you access it when you can and respond to resources and posts in each section as we open them up. It takes about 10 hours a week but it is totally up to each  participant. When you register we give you a code to get into the dedicated website 

 

At the moment, the cost of the course currently would only equal 1/10th to 1/20th of the cost of a single tuition in a future independent alternative. If you are ready to take the course, we encourage you to join us now. 

 

People enrolling in this year's course will get the full attention of course leaders Chris Mercogliano and Jerry Mintz, as well as guest resource people and responses from peers in the course. Students in the course over the years have created at least 100 new alternatives.

 

So come join us as we change the world one child at a time!

Register now here

"This course has been spectacular- it really has opened many doors for me and made a *major* step in the right direction for me opening my school- both in what it has taught as well as in the people I have met." -Alex

The school starter course is limited to 25 students or groups and will close when we reach that number. AERO has helped start over 100 alternatives. Click on the course to see a map of them. Again this year you can get graduate credit from Antioch University  for the course. You can also pay for it in monthly installments. Just scroll down. NEW SCHOOL STARTERS PODCAST FEATURING SPECIAL DISCOUNT! You can listen to a 12 minute bonus podcast with information about the course.  You can listen to the podcast here , or you can listen to it in your favorite podcast app. Just search for "Education Revolution". Register for the course by clicking the image below. Make sure you use the coupon code if you listen to the podcast.   Reply to this e news if you have specific questions.

The importance of teaching and parenting has become a prominent topic of discussion like never before and rightly so.  As a teacher and a parent, if we are able to sow the right seeds of thoughts, feelings, and action in a child now, the return on investment will be multi- fold for the country and the world.

Every generation has a challenge, in the earlier times children were put into schools that run like factories and only focused on loading information and memorizing this information to score high. It was assumed that one who scored high is intelligent and prepared for life!

In addition to this challenge , the current generation children are spending more time playing games on their mobile phones than going outdoors to play and learn. We can blame this trend on technology or congested living spaces but it's time to look at how children play, learn and evolve as better human beings and future citizens of the globe.