We are a transformative agile living & learning community of diverse people of all ages in Asheville, NC. We practice Self-Directed Education, empathy-based communication, consent, and liberation. Liberation means freeing ourselves and our children from oppressive systems and schoolish mindsets of perfection, conformity, compliance, and zero sum games. Agile Learning at its core is about giving kids genuine choice about how to spend their time throughout their day, and this self-direction works best when done with intention and as part of a vibrant community. Facilitators and mentors offer classes, projects, and activities based on the interests of the young people enrolled. We believe in the importance of play, nature, community, intention-setting, and trust-centered decision making. We practice power-with instead of power-over, which means that all of our needs matter, young people and grownups alike. We strive to always be on the same team to collaborate on meeting everyone's needs. This also means that we recognize societal and systematic power-over oppression that shows up as racism, sexism, ageism, ..etc. - and are active in re-balancing that so we can create a new, more inclusive culture at ZigZag that celebrates diversity and values differences.
We are an alternative to public/private schools for kids ages 5-16. We want to help families that never intended to pull their kids out of school, but find their kid is stressed, losing their curiosity, being bullied, etc., and needs help finding another way forward. We can help with that transition, and be a resource in creating an education that is more meaningful and fun. Mini-documentary about life at ZigZag: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSPX3spdBUU
Front page article about ZigZag: https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2020/01/22/asheville-unschooling-homeschool-zig-zag-gains-popularity/4419234002/
Website for more info: zigzagalc.org
