Weekly Schedule
Path to Demo Day for all members
Hello WEquil.School Members!
Our weekly schedule provides a path for all members to present on Demo Day! We have three events on Demo Day...two for K-12 students and one for adult members (listed below)
Private Demo at 12pm EDT - For members under 13 years of age
Public Demo at 2pm EDT - For members (usually) 13-17 years of age.
Adult Demo at 5pm EDT - Adult Project Demo and Happy Hour
We encourage all members to publish Creative Projects. Younger kids are typically a good fit for our Private Demo that is not recorded and only available to WEquil.School members. Parents that provide written permission can let their kids under 13 present in the Public Demo. Adults are welcome to present and stick around for a Happy Hour / Celebration to discuss the kids presentations!
Please read through our weekly schedule so you can make the most of our community!
Overview
Every member is encouraged to participate in our Demo Days! Children present creative projects on everything from startups to genomics to what they learned on their latest vacation. Adults often publish proposals to improve WEquil.School, recent books they read, tools and resources for our students, and anything else that they believe helps them reach equilibrium.
Each day has a suggested focus that all members are welcome to use to their benefit, but only two days are critical to the Demo Day process. Thursdays are the deadline to publish projects. Saturdays are our Demo Day. Please read our process and provide feedback so we can iterate and improve our Weekly Schedule!
About half of our families follow a schedule that approximates the schedule above. This schedule only works for smaller projects that can be completed in a week. We encourage members to try this out because even bigger projects can be broken down into smaller projects...aiding in the iterative process. By following this schedule we have seen children and adults learn to improve their time management skills and better leverage the power of our community.
1. Monday - Project Ideas
We wrote a guide to project based learning to help members get started. In it we define why everything we create at WEquil.School is a “Creative Project”. By “Creative” we mean that the project has two qualities. The first is that it must be something novel or unique. The second is that the project must add value to other people. As a result ... every project is something that is new and helpful.
Our guide above provides suggestions for parents and kids looking for project ideas. Here are some good started projects for new members depending on your level...
Level 1 - LifeSchool Experience ... Parents have had success helping kids as young as four years old participate in Demo Day by leveraging their life experiences. Here is a really good example of a "What + Why" creative project from our eight year old star Mia. Kids (sometimes with help) simply share about an experience they had (What) and then share why they think others would find it interesting or useful.
https://www.wequil.school/lifeschool
Level 2 through 5 ... We recommend that everyone who can create "My First Personality Project". The first step to discovering your path to equilibrium is deeply knowing yourself...so we created a project for all our members to try when they join. Let us know what you think!
Adult members are encouraged just as much as the kids to create projects. The WEquil family started doing this together about six years ago on WEquil.com. They wrote about everything they wanted to learn more about, and presented it to each other to socialize, iterate and improve their writing and thinking. Adults who use our Synthesized Learning Process will find that learning from a book, a conversation with one's spouse, challenges at work, and just about anything can be leveraged into a powerful opportunity to learn and build relationships around shared deep interests.
Community Leaders are encouraged to create projects on how to improve WEquil.School. We receive a lot of ideas from members, but the best way to really get ideas off the ground is if those who have the ideas make them a reality. The best way to do that is to do exactly what our kids are doing...create a project and present on Demo Day. Only be sure to join the right one or you may feel a bit out of place :)
2. Tuesday - Drafts and Socialize
Every Creative Project can always be made simpler. Books can be made into essays. Essays can be synthesized into a Five Paragraph Framework. Paragraphs can be shortened to bulleted lists of key points. We help our members practice starting from the simplest minimum viable project (MVP) and grow that idea using our Synthesized Learning Process. That process begins with a written draft that our members socialize at Wequil.School.
Our members are self-directed, but they are also collaborating on everything. We are a hive mind of shared principles and beautiful differences. By tapping into the power of our private community you can grow your MVP into something valuable very quickly. Its hard not to...when you are confident enough to learn from others that are your audience! Students are encouraged to share their MVP and iterations in the appropriate level channel.
Community Leaders are encouraged to use the same process as our students...sharing their MVPs and growing them using feedback and collaboration with WEquil.School. This is also how you get buy in from the rest of the community. Help other families be a part of the changes you want to see at WEquil.School so they feel it is their idea as well. That is how change for the better gathers steam and becomes unstoppable.
3. Wednesday - Iterate and Improve.
By Wednesday members should start to have a draft that is worthy of publishing. in the appropriate virtual classroom. If not, that's find...you still have another day. Just don't wait until the last minute because you will need to create an account and publish your project on your personal blog space at WEquil.School. Assuming you have done that already...keep sharing your drafts with WEquil.School, but also start to branch out to friends and family.
As your MVP grows in quality ... members are encouraged to start socializing their project outside the safety of WEquil.School. For younger kids this might involve sending a Google Doc link to some neighbors and family. Older kids and adults may also wish to utilize our WEquil.School Facebook groups. Here are three to consider, ranged from most private to public...
Universal Principles (UP) - Very Private
UP was created by WEquil Group during the pandemic for friends and family. The purpose of UP was to create a safe virtual environment for those that shared Universal Principles to discuss how to live better. UP has since become a place for select WEquil.School families that accept these principles as universal. As a result, UP is arguably an even safer place to share emotionally challenging experiences, personal struggles, potentially controversial topics, and other creative projects that ultimately ask the question...how can we live life better?
UP is an idea place for adult members and more mature students to apply our Synthesized Learning Process in a very tight community. Very few children are in this community. We have a zero tolerance policy for any type of disrespectful behavior. Members of WEquil.School are free to apply...just message a member of our leadership team and state that you accept the Universal Principles...and we will accept you request to join.
Rethinking Education - Moderately Private
Rethinking Education (RE) was created by WEquil Group during the pandemic for friends and family who wanted a private and safe virtual environment share ideas on how to better educate our kids. Rethinking Education is now open to others outside of WEquil.School who have an interest in joining our private conversation. WEquil.School's adult members are all allowed to join and become moderators. That is how we moderate the quality of the conversation and so far its worked great!
Rethinking Education is an idea place for parents in Wquil.School to socialize their ideas for improving the school. Its more public than the Slack group but more private than most every other Facebook group on childhood education.
Wequil.School - Facebook Public Group
WEquil.School has a public Facebook page. This page is where we share our Demo Days and interviews for our TV show "WEquil Live". Every member of WEquil.School should be a member and are encouraged to publish their projects here before Demo Day.
https://www.facebook.com/WEquilSchool
Wequil.School also have two other Facebook groups for particular Virtual Classroom topics. These include Evolutionomics and FlutterKids. We will likely add more as we grow. Feel free to suggest new ones if you have a strong interest.
4. Thursday - Publish and Practice
All members publish projects through their accounts on Wequil.School. Read the instructions below for details and reach out to our leadership on Slack if you have any trouble. One you have your creative project published please share in the Auditorium in Slack and announce that you are ready for Demo Day! ...But wait...
If you have not been on at least three Demo Days you will need to come to our Dress Rehearsal at 5pm EST. We hold this Dress Rehearsal every Thursday for new presenters. This is important...we have had members try to skip this thinking they did not need to practice and then have trouble during the live presentation. Check Slack for the Zoom link to our Dress Rehearsal.
5. Friday
Use feedback during the Dress Rehearsal to prepare for Demo Day. Also take some time to relax and enjoy yourself. You created a project in less than a week!
6. Saturday
This is it! Demo Day os a big deal at Wequil.School. That's why we used such big font in our article below explaining how it works. There is a ton of information in there about how to moderate your own Demo Day, how to propose guest speakers, and various other details...but the most important thing for presenters is to show up early.
