Who We Are

 

We believe that most of "education" is badly broken. At the end of 2021, this is not a very controversial statement. What is less certain though is what to do about it.

 

What we believe:

1. We believe that children and teens deserve to have classes in the humanities that are not dominated by ideological goals (not even our own), but are devoted to a study of the discipline itself.

2. We believe that the best education both challenges the intellect and nourishes the soul.

3. We believe that for a society of free people to flourish, it must have members who are capable of independent thought, rational inquiry, and moral discernment. Without these critical qualities, we descend into... well, into the world we see around us today.

 

What we're doing:

1. We are offering LIVE online classes for teens (we hope to add classes for other ages a little later), in the humanities: History, literature, economics, philosophy, etc.

Why live, and not recorded? There is an abundance of wonderful educational content available online now. We use some of it with our own kids. But we also believe that there is something of great importance in being able to engage in a serious study of a subject in a group of one's peers, and with an instructor who can interact with students and help to guide them. (Even better if this experience can be in person, and we hope one day to be able to offer that too.)

We do also plan to offer recorded versions of some of our online classes, as a supplement to the live classes.

2. Our classes encourage and nurture independent thinking, are intellectually challenging and stimulating, and help teach students to think critically about important matters.

3. Many of our classes teach about topics that we believe are critical for members of a free society to understand. Things like the fundamental principles of economics, how the US Constitution works (and how it doesn't), the difference between common law and statutory law, and the history of liberty itself. 

We are explicitly not a STEM-focused program. We have nothing against the sciences, engineering, or mathematics. And indeed, we may even include some courses in those areas if they fit with our broader mission. But there is already plenty of STEM instruction out there for those who want it. We feel that the greatest deficit right now is in the humanities, and it is that deficit that we seek to address.

 

If you share our vision for the future of education, if you have teens who might be interested in some of our classes, or if you just want to learn more, please sign up for updates from us (see the banner at the top of this page) or drop us a line!

 

 

A Note About Our Services and PayPal's New Policy

 

 

Some of you may have heard that PayPal has updated its Acceptable Use Policy, effective November 3rd. The new policy prohibits using the service for activities that " ...involve the sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials that, in PayPal’s sole discretion, ... are fraudulent, promote misinformation, [italics ours] or are unlawful..."

PayPal's new User Agreement goes on to warn its customers that, should they violate this policy, the company may seize money from their account/s, for "damages caused."

According to PayPal's "Actions We May Take if You Engage in Any Restricted Activities.":

"If you are a seller and receive funds for transactions that violate the Acceptable Use Policy, then in addition to being subject to the above actions you will be liable to PayPal for the amount of PayPal’s damages caused by your violation of the Acceptable Use Policy. You acknowledge and agree that $2,500.00 U.S. dollars per violation of the Acceptable Use Policy is presently a reasonable minimum estimate of PayPal’s actual damages... PayPal may deduct such damages directly from any existing balance in any PayPal account you control."

Freogan Fellowship Learning wishes to assure all of our students and their families that we will not be intimidated into altering our teaching or our speech by the actions of PayPal or any other service provider. We remain committed to the values of free speech and individual liberty.

The past couple of years have revealed to us the meaning of the word "misinformation" when it is wielded by self-appointed arbiters of the truth, and we have every reason to believe that – just as social-media platforms have done – PayPal will use this term as a weapon against speech that deviates from that which is officially sanctioned. Of course, this could include a great deal of what we teach and write about here – including, with some sense of irony, our in-depth course on the nature of propaganda. 

It is for this reason that we have decided to cancel our account with PayPal, which we have done. This of course leaves open the question as to how students and their families will pay for our classes. We have a few ideas, but will have to do a little research to determine which is best. 

So please bear with us as we figure this out! Yes, we are still offering classes, and yes, we will find tools for folks to use to pay for them – and we will emphatically not allow those tools to dictate our content in any way, shape, or form.

Thank you for your patience, and your support!

 

UPDATE: PayPal is now saying that they will not seize $2,500 from users' accounts for violating their Acceptable Use Policy, that this language was included by mistake. 

Frankly, we don't believe them. And even without the threat of taking money from users, we find their Acceptable Use Policy unacceptable. We have canceled our account with PayPal and will not be re-opening it. We will update you all when we have an alternative method of accepting payments in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James Joyce Pop-Up Classes Coming Soon!

 

Our esteemed Joyce Beckett will be offering two one-time "pop-up" classes on the subject of two of James Joyce's most famous works: "Ulysses" and "Dubliners."

Dates have not yet been determined. If you are interested, please contact us.

 

"Pop-up class for James Joyce's Ulysses"

In this whirlwind, 2-hour trip through James Joyce's seminal novel, which defines the modernist movement, students will be introduced to its influential originality via structure, style, content, intent, breathtaking scope, and character profiles. Set over an entire day in Dublin, Ireland, 1904, we will follow three chief protagonists and take time to luxuriate in the exquisite literary language and abundance of neologisms (neo logos = new words) and creative formatting.

 

"Pop-up class for James Joyce's compilation of short stories Dubliners"

In this 2-hour class, we shall voyage through Joyce's Dublin, as described in these 15 distinct vignettes, with special attention devoted to the disciplined structure, authorial objective, character development, mise-en-scène, abundance of cultural idiosyncrasies along with national and social commentary.

 

Fall Classes Coming Soon!

Image: Public domain

 

Our classes will be starting up again in mid-September! 

Your teens can choose from Our Common-Law Foundations, The Constitution, Critical Media Literacy, Austrian Economics, Propaganda and the Personal, Creative Writing, Literature, and Early American History. See our class descriptions.

Our classes are online, and generally meet twice a week, for between 8-12 weeks, depending on the class. 

Please email [email protected] for more information, or to sign up!

 

 

Join Us Saturday for our Next Open House!

 

...and take 15% off of our fall classes!

We'll be giving everyone a chance to meet our instructors, hear about our classes, and get your questions answered - and to give us input. What classes would you like to see? What formats are best for you? We'd love to hear from you!

Join us this coming Saturday, 10:00am Pacific Time, 1:00pm Eastern Time, US. Just fill in the form above, and we'll send you a link to the meeting (the link will be at the bottom of the page.)

We look forward to seeing you there!

 

Please Join Us For Our Online Spring Open House - Saturday, April 2

 

 

Please join us on Saturday, April 2nd, at 11:00am Pacific Time/2:00pm Eastern Time, for our first online Spring Open House!

You'll get a chance to meet our instructors and hear about their upcoming classes for teens in Common Law, The Constitution, Propaganda and the Personal, Austrian Economics, American History, Creative Writing, English Literature, and Personal Finance for Teens. 

In addition to our regular multi-week courses, we will also be offering some ongoing drop-in classes in some of our subjects. Our instructors can tell you more about these at our Open House - and you may always feel free to write us with any questions.

As an added bonus, anyone who attends the Open House will get 15% off of any Spring classes - including our drop-in classes during the Spring term. 

To sing up for the Open House, please send us an email. 

We look forward to meeting you!

 

 

How Freogan Fellowship is Helping to Recreate Education - Podcast with Kerry McDonald

 

Image: Public Domain.

 

Freogan Fellowship director Bretigne Shaffer spoke recently with Kerry McDonald, Senior Education Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education and author of Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom, for her newly launched “LiberatED” podcast.

They spoke about her family’s reasons for leaving California, the challenges in pulling up roots, and why it is so important to speak up and fight back from where we are too.

Kerry asked what advice Shaffer would give to families contemplating leaving one of the more tyrannical jurisdictions… and she does her best to give a helpful answer.

...and of course, they discuss Freogan Fellowship Learning, and how it is helping to revolutionize education.

You can listen to the whole thing here.

 

Poetry Pop-Ups - Coming this Spring

 

 

What is a Poetry Pop-Up? 

It's a one-session class in poetry, focusing on a single poet, or in some cases, a single poem.

Our first Poetry Pop-Up will take on the work of James Joyce:

James Joyce, Irish author, rebel, reveller, traveller, genius, gifted singer and linguist, who combined vibrancy and precise intricacy in each of his works, was a bohemian maverick as fiscally irresponsible as he was creatively spontaneous and immensely productive.

Despite the depths he accessed, his art was threaded through with a whip of wit.

"Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race."

"Ireland is the old sow that eats her farrow." 

Exploring themes of self-restraint versus self-expansion, longing, loneliness, courage and creativity, this pop-up class on James Joyce will embrace the gamut of his oeuvre from poetry, short stories to humorous and layered novels Ulysses and Finnegans Wake.

This one-time class will be offered in the spring. Check this site for scheduling updates, or sign up to have them delivered to you.

 

Classes Start Monday!

 

"After taking the Common Law class, I feel more independent: I see my rights as a human being in a new light and understand the power/limitations of the government in ways that I hadn't before. Every US citizen needs to understand the common law principles. Thank you!"

– A student ("Our Common-Law Foundations", Fall 2021)

 

Last month, we finished our first-ever semester of classes. We only had two at that time: "Our Common-Law Foundations", and "Propaganda and the Personal."

Next week, we'll be starting our next session, with several more offerings. In addition to our first two clases, we will also offer:

• The Constitution
• Introduction to Austrian Economics
• Early American History
• Personal Finanace for Teens
• English Literature
• Creative Writing

You can see the class schedules here. Classes start on Monday and Tuesday, but we will be accepting enrollments through the end of the week.

In addition to our full-semester (13-week) classes, we will also plan to offer some shorter classes, including some single-session classes. Stay tuned for more information on those!

And please feel free to drop us a line to let us know about any other subjects you'd like to see, or any thoughts you may have about what we're doing. We would love to hear from you!

 

 

 

Can Poetry Save the World? Find Out Next Tuesday, Jan. 4th

Image: Public Domain

Joyce Beckett is an Oxford-educated professor of literature who will be teaching a class in English and Irish literature for Freogan Fellowship Learning - the education arm of the private membership association that I recently started.

In this interview, Joyce speaks about the experience of poetry as a bulwark against the cultural and spiritual "colonization" that is the effect of mass media and culture.

Most of Freogan Fellowship Learning's classes are designed for teens - however this one is also open to adults. As Joyce says:

"Anyone, at any stage of their lives, with an interest in the profound effect
of words on the senses will be most welcome."

Joyce will also be offering a free sample class on Tuesday, January 4th at 5:00pm Pacific Time. To sign up for that class, or for more information about her full-semester class, just contact us.

Our Class Schedule is Up!

 

 

Our class schedule for January is now up. You can see it here.

Classes include:

Our Common-Law Foundations

The Constitution

Propaganda and the Personal

An Introduction to Austrian Economics

Personal Finance for Teens

Early American History (1600-1865)

 

We will also be adding a class in English literature, and a creative writing class very soon.

Please contact us for more information, or to sign up.