Cassidy's bike shop

Bespoke Bicycles, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, NY
http://www.bespoke-bicycles.com/


Bespoke Bicycles was founded in 2009 by Cassidy Vare. It's a shop for the everyday rider, so we specialize in bikes and accessories for the city. Whether you just want a nice way to get around the neighborhood, want to go grocery shopping or run errands, or give up your car and do everything by bike, we are here to help. We sell new bikes from Raleigh and Pashley, and an assortment of parts and accessories that we think are the best combination of quality and price.

Service and support are the backbone of the shop. We perform expert repairs and adjustments, cleaning and alterations. We also want to help you get to know your bike better--we think it makes for a better cycling experience.

If you've got a good bike that just doesn't quite work for you, bring it by and we'll see what we can do to make it better. If you want to learn in-depth what makes it better, stay tuned for our upcoming classes.

We custom-build bikes too (the word 'bespoke' means custom-made or made to order). We start with a frame (we stock frames from Surly, Soma and Velo Orange, and we're dealers for Gunnar and Waterford, but if you have a frame already we'll use that too) and pick out parts with you to make your perfect bike.



Bespoke's owner, Cassidy, had been working in other shops for years, and thinking about opening his own shop someday. In 2008, he discovered that his great-grandfather, George Collett, had also been in the business; George started out as a track and event racer, and went on to open a bicycle shop in New Haven, Connecticut, around 1902. With history apparently on his side, Cassidy opened Bespoke's doors in April 2009, in vibrant Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Resources

SUGGESTED READING

John Holt: Teach Your Own, How Children Learn, Escape From Childhood, Learning All The Time, A Life Worth Living, Instead of Education, Never Too Late, Freedom and Beyond
Thomas Armstrong: In Their own Way and The Myth of the A.D.D. Child
Polly Berien Berends: Whole Child, Whole Parent and Gently Lead
David and Micki Colfax: Homeschooling For Excellence and Hard Times In Paradise
Linda Dobson: The Art Of Education and The Homeschooling Book of Answers and more
Patrick Farenga:The Beginner’s Guide to Homeschooling and Teenage Homeschoolers: College or Not?
John Taylor Gatto: Dumbing Us Down and The Guerrilla Curriculum
Mary Griffith: The Unschooling Handbook: How to Use the Whole World as Your Child’s Classroom
Susan and Larry Kaseman: Taking Charge Through Homeschooling
Agnes Leistico: I Learn Better By Teaching Myself and Still Teaching Ourselves
Grace Llewellyn: The Teenage Liberation Handbook and Real Lives
Susannah Sheffer, Ed.: Everyone Is Able: Exploding The Myth Of Learning Disabilities
Matt Hern, Ed.: Deschooling Our Lives
Daniel Greenberg: Free At Last
David Guterson: Family Matters
Alfie Kohn: Punished By Rewards
Jean Liedloff: The Continuum Concept
Alison Stallibrass: The Self-respecting Child
Charles J. Sykes: Dumbing Down Our Kids
Nancy Wallace: Better Than School and Child’s Work
Cafi Cohen: Homeschoolers' College Admissions Handbook
Jan Hunt: The Natural Child, Parenting from the Heart
Luz Shosie and Ned Vare: Smarting Us Up, the undumbing of America
Laura Grace Weldon: Free Range Learning


NEWSLETTERS

Home Education Magazine - PO Box 1083, Tonasket WA 98855 1-800-236-3278 http://www.homeedmag.com
Unschooling.com -- Free online newsletter http://www.unschooling.com
Life Learning: the international magazine of self-directed learning PO Box 112, Niagara Falls NY 14304-0112 1-800-215-9574 www.lifelearningmagazine.com


CATALOGS

*Home Education Press PO Box 1083, Tonasket WA 98855 1-800-236-3278 http://www.homeedmag.com
*John Holt’s Book Store/FUN Books, 1688 Belhaven Woods Ct. Pasadena, MD 21122-3727
*These free catalogs also include lists of resources, support groups, helpful organizations, and answers to frequently asked questions. Very helpful. Support them if you can.
http://www.amightygirl.com    hundreds of books, etc. featuring strong women and girls


ORGANIZATIONS AND RESOURCES

National Home Education Legal Defense: Attorney Deborah Stevenson (860)354-3590 http://nheld.com/
Ct Homeschool Network info@cthomeschoolnetwork.org
Eli Whitney Museum: 915 Whitney Av. Hamden CT 06517 203-777-1833
National Home Education Network PO Box 41067, Long Beach, CA 90853 http://www.nhen.org
WPKN Radio: 89.5 FM, 244 University Av. Bridgeport CT 06601 203-576-4895 http://www.wpkn.org
The Alliance for the Separation of School and State: 1071 N Fulton St,
Fresno, CA 93728 559/499-1776 voice www.schoolandstate.org


ON THE INTERNET

Ned’s blog: http://school-is-hell.blogspot.com/
Legal information: www.nheld.com
CT Homeschool Network http://www.cthomeschoolnetwork.org
CT Shoreline Homeschoolers www.shorelinehomeschoolers.org
Discussion and support for unschoolers in MA, VT, NH, ME, RI and CT http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NewEnglandUnschooling/
CT Homeschoolers Inclusive has an email list with announcements & activities:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CTHomeschoolersInclusive/
CT homeschoolers discussion group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CTHomeEducators/
Unschooling: http://www.unschooling.com

Unschooling CT Facebook page

http://www.livingjoyfully
www.sandradodd.com/unschooling

http://northeastunschoolingconference.com/

 Ned Vare: The School Wars, a series of columns in our local newspaper: http://homepage.mac.com/luzshosie22/TheSchoolWars/Menu4.html
I Am What I Am, Anne Ohman http://www.livingjoyfully.ca/anneo/anne_o.htm
Greater New Haven Homeschoolers: Subscribe: GNHH-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
finding local and state groups: http://www.homeedmag.com/wlcm_groups.html
Parenting from the heart: http://www.naturalchild.org
John Holt: www.holtgws.com
Nedvarecelebration.blogspot.com
 Khan Academy. http://www.khanacademy.org/   over 2,100 videos and 100 self-paced exercises and assessments covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history.   free   
http://joyfullyrejoycing.com/
Open Yale Courses provides free and open access to a selection of introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at Yale University. The aim of the project is to expand access to educational materials for all who wish to learn.     http://oyc.yale.edu/

get lucky!

R-E-A-L - L-I-F-E

"Children do not need to be made to learn, or shown how.
They want to and they know how."
- John Holt, author of How Children Learn

Holt spent many years teaching, observing, and learning from children, but any parent can see that children are born wanting to grow up to be part of the adult world. They are so curious and eager that it seems almost impossible to keep up with their drive to do and learn everything.

Then at some point learning gets separated from the rest of life and turned into schooling. We are taught that learning means sitting still, doing as you're told. Insatiable, passionate learners are turned into bored, rebellious, frightened or passive students. Loving parents become frustrated and burned out teachers. There must be a better way!

The good news is there are lots of parents and children who are growing without schooling -- living/learning in their own way, at their own pace, without text books, lessons, tests or coercion. And there are more and more stories of unschooled children who grow up to be happy, confident, competent adults doing meaningful and satisfying work. Ready to give unschooling a try? Here's my handy list of reminders for letting go of schooling and enjoying a REAL LIFE:

R - Relax. It sounds easy, but it takes practice. Being a parent may just be the most difficult challenge of our lives. When you start to feel stress coming on, take a breath, take a hike, take a nap; take up knitting or square dancing or scuba diving. Take it one day (or one moment) at a time.

E - Enjoy. The challenges of parenting are great and the rewards are even greater. The years go by so quickly -- embrace each stage and welcome the changes. If you take pictures, write a journal or make a scrapbook, you can enjoy it again when the children are grown and the house is quiet and orderly.

A - Accept and acknowledge the absolutely amazing, awesome and authentic
individuals who share your life. Allow them to "be how they grow."

L - Love is the greatest gift. Giving is receiving. One of Ned's last wishes was that he had told his kids more often how much he loves them. He said, “I want everybody to know that love is the most important thing!”

L - Learn from and learn with your children. Learn to play, learn a new skill, learn about yourself. Learn to trust, learn to let go. Look how your children are learning! Listen. Laugh lots. Living is learning. Teaching is largely unnecessary.

I - Investigate intriguing ideas. Interest leads to learning. It's an infinite and interconnected universe of ideas and information. One thing leads to another -- you can start anywhere, stop when you've had enough. Improvise. It's impossible to predict exactly which skills or knowledge will be needed in ten or twenty years.

F - Fearlessly forgive and forget. Schooling forced us to be fearful; unschooling encourages us to be brave. Have the courage to fail. We all make mistakes. Forgive yourself and forge ahead. "Forget everything you learned in school." Did your first boss tell you that? It's still good advice. Have fun. Have faith. Fool around. Be flexible. Fix something. Fourish.

E - Expect miracles. Encourage and enable exploration. Eschew ersatz
educational edicts. Embody the traits you wish to pass on. Empower your
children (and yourself) to experiment, to engage in a life worth living and
work worth doing.

The Uncurriculum

“To parents I say, above all else, don't let your home become some terrible miniature copy of the school. No lesson plans! No quizzes! No tests! No report cards! Even leaving your children alone would be better; at least they could figure out some things on their own. Live together, as well as you can; enjoy life together, as much as you can. Ask questions to find out something about the world itself, not to find out whether or not someone knows it.”
John Holt Teach Your Own

No school books? no tests? no grades? Well what, then???

Play is children's most important activity. It's the way they figure out how the world works, what part they have in the world. Cassidy and his friend used to say, “Let's betend...” and then spend hours being race car drivers, cops, robbers, parents, space cadets, puppies, babies, hunters, merchants, explorers.... Scientists play with theories, writers play with words and ideas, inventors play with materials & concepts, parents learn how to play again...

Work: No, I don't mean forcing kids to do chores, but allowing, encouraging (and having patience with) them to join you in your work at their level of ability and interest; helping them to find access to their own work in the real world when they choose. Real work. Real tools. Real responsibility. Volunteering, getting paid for some of those chores, apprenticing, starting a business...

Reading: Being read to (if and when you and they enjoy it); seeing others read for pleasure and curiosity; playing with books, letters, words, maps, puzzles, board games, comic books... No pressure -- some learn to read at 4, some at 12 & by the time they're 16, no one can tell the difference.

Math: Instead of math lessons, check out the fascinating and beautiful books in the library. Pocket money or allowance, getting & spending; blocks, cards, dominoes; sports & games; origami; cooking, gardening; building a model or a tree house, measuring distance, angles, heat, light, weight, speed...

Science: Humans are born scientists. Encourage curiosity & help kids go where it leads: mud, pets, rocks, bugs, stars, trains, bicycles, fishing, swimming, computers, dinosaurs, food, bodies, weather...

Art & music: real materials and instruments, lessons & practice (if kids choose) or messing about with piano, recorder, ukulele, drum, clay, paint; seeing art & artists, acting, listening to music, dancing, playing along...

Doing nothing: thinking, dreaming, watching the clouds, imagining... Often “doing nothing” means kids are not doing what parents think they should be doing. Which means kids are doing what they choose, which is the best way (maybe the only way) people learn. The point is, schooling, textbooks, and most “educational materials” are artificial, boring and limiting. Real life and real work are unlimited, unpredictable, fascinating. And kids know the difference.

Let the Children Play

Let the Children Play
Ned Vare

Parents seem to believe that a child's life needs to be completely organized and supervised by people who are supposed to be “experts in child development.” We do not believe that at all. In fact, we can make a strong case for the exact opposite: Leave children alone to decide what they'll do, with whom, when, and how; don't supervise or interfere unless they ask for it, and then only minimally.

What I'm suggesting is to let children PLAY. As our society becomes more psychotic, stressed, pressured, and fearful, what's missing is free-form living -- spontaneous, unplanned activities such as we did when we were young and simply left alone with a friend or two or more. I believe that many of us are unable to cope with today's demands because we did not get enough independent play while we grew up. Too much organization has made us conformist and anxious instead of creative and self-assured.

One of today's great tragedies is that most public schools have eliminated recess (my favorite class in school) for children above the fourth grade. That means children are even more limited in their opportunities to interact freely with each other. They are stuck indoors all day with those of the same age, the same abilities and a similar background. This process is artificial, coercive and unnatural.

I believe that the entire time spent on schooling is a total waste - compared to the value of allowing children to make their own decisions, learn to live with the consequences of their decisions, and enjoy the autonomy this process offers. Need proof? Watch all animals as they grow up -- playing (and being left alone) is essential and imperative training for successful life. Nothing can take its place.

Unschooling Math

A Few Words (and symbols) about Unschooling Math

Fingers & toes, pattern blocks, two by two, 4x4, tape measure, #, scale, $, save, interest, model, profit (loss), earn, spend, checkbook, recipe, batting average, Captain May I? third base, thirty-love, fault, par, birdie, strike, spare, first down and ten to go, penalty box, map, scale of miles, compass, Pokémon, Candyland, Monopoly, Go, Chess, Sorry! dominoes, dice, poker chips, Bridge, Crazy Eights,

charts, Origami, knit 1 purl 2, weigh + pulley, ratio, chances, statistics, average, more or less, even, odd, yards, N scale, area, score, speed limit, braking distance, fourth dimension, sixth sense, Indy 500, build, plan, rate, estimate. Predict, revise, depth, angle, trade, straight, spiral, high tide, low ball, tempo, %, quarter note, half pound, forecast, budget, half price, plus tax, longitude, light years, escape velocity, the precession of the equinoxes (oh Best Beloved!) π, range, set, Stitch, sort, size, plot, dozen, $, gain, lose, exact, income, allowance, loan, knots, beads, gear ratio, minutes, degrees, fathoms, grid, meters, Anno, The Number Devil, half pipe, quarter turn, full bore, turning radius, stacking, nesting,

measure up, @, scale down, abacus, debit, infinity, first class, equal share, short shrift, waxing, waning, rhythm, balance, cycle, value, graph, perigee, frequency, Pennies, double helix, £, time zone, millennium, program, binary, generation, epoch, era, nanosecond, code, puzzle, fiscal year, progression, midpoint, watts, lumens, Ω, horsepower, ohms, Great Circle Route, 52 Pickup, '55 Chevy, Hundredth Monkey, altitude, Lego, Tangrams, Fibonacci series, height, width, length, volume, output, Eureka! displacement, schedule, time limit, add up, count down, four score, last full measure, census, Are we there yet? a bushel and a peck, postage, efficient operation, elegant solution, gigabytes, google, increase, < >, decrease, supply & demand, links, contour lines, Great Divide, Bingo! count down, stock market, daily log, rent, discretionary income, arc, geometric proportions, geologic time, navigation, 16 mm, Stonehenge, crop circle ¢, grams/ounces, f stop, low bid, high yield, dot-to-dot, orienteering...

But what if...?

“If I don't force or motivate or bribe my kids, they'll never learn the basics.”

Most of us adults were carefully taught not to trust ourselves or our children. People who make their living providing "education" want us to believe that learning is difficult and unpleasant and it can only happen in their buildings and under their supervision. But learning is what we humans do constantly, naturally, joyfully -- unless we've spent a lot of time in those buildings. The difficult part is letting go of our years of schooling and trusting that we are all learning all the time.

For the sake of argument, let's just suppose the “experts” (and our worst nightmares) are right -- kids have to be forced or tricked or entertained or coerced into learning or they'll grow up illiterate, lazy bums who can't balance a checkbook or hold a job. We're gonna have to “teach them the basics.” How long will it take? John Taylor Gatto taught in public schools for 25 years and determined that the ENTIRE curriculum for grades 1-12 could be learned in 50 to 100 hours at most.

Math seems really mysterious to a lot of people, including me in my school days. But John Holt said you can learn it all in a morning -- when you're ready. It seems difficult and/or boring because we were force-fed in a classroom with 30 other kids. Maybe five of us were ready and interested one day and we got it. Five got it last year, five got it last week, five will get it next week and five next year and five in two years. But we all had to sit through it over and over again every day ready or not. Same with reading. And the thing is, it doesn't really matter if you learn it when you're five or when you're fifteen -- despite what some "experts" tell us.

Grace Llewellyn in the Teenage Liberation Handbook: how to quit school and get a real life and education says that the “experts” in charge of the GED (high school equivalency) exams recommend 30 hours of studying to prepare for them.

So. You do the math. You could afford to relax for a year or two and let your kids “learn absolutely nothing” and you'd still have a few years to get in those 30 to 100 hours if you must. But I'm betting you won't have to.