Back in 2018, Garris almost joined ranks with the menace-making Originateve certified mentors set to stir up the right kind of trouble at the brand new MasterTree kindergarten in Shishi, China. His journey, however, would take him into a deep dive into the ESL world where he, thankfully, hit a great wall of sorts in 2021 when president Xi Jinping said, "enough is enough" and shut down, almost over night, all of the ESL-scammy nonsense that was eating up the hard-won RMBs of the chinese middle and upper classes.  

In this special edition of the Origins podcast, Garris begins to hash out what it means to move away from a mere job in the danky sewer tanks of the ESL industry abroad, in order to consider a passionate calling towards learning how to play and provide excellent care as an early childhood educator in Kunming, China.

Puppeteer Zach Stock joins us to discus his regenerative lifestyle in craft and action.

How does understanding and supporting neurodivergent learning benefit all students?

In this episode we are joined by David Dolezal, a friend and father who brings us insights on his journey raising a neurodivergent child. We explore the benefits of nature play for being the catalyst for expression. David walks us through his process of learning the unique lens with which his son sees the world and the pragmatics of working within the system to receive support services.

In this episode we interview Sleepy and Mitch from Blackbird Renaissance, a movement to bring forth creative, regenerative and authentic community networks. The conversation covers the challenges of creating a parallel system to the current paradigm where participants can drive meaningful change.

Learn more about the Blackbird Renaissance here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0856RlA0ClU

This is a rich conversation with seasoned Ecological Educator Peter Kindfield.

Peter reveals his insights on moving from an "All Children Left Behind" system to educational environments that mutually "leak value" between the participants.

Highlights include:

Home School Learning Communities

Synthesis through Integrating Dualities (chaos: domesticity)

Assessment Feedback Loops

Ecologically Driven Pedagogy

In this episode we digest some of the nuances and challenges of working with calendars and revisit the origins of how we developed a cyclical leveling system for assessing development by connecting with the Mayan sacred calendar.

A big shout out to antimoon.com for their content that helped provide direction and reassurance in fluid language learning. Thanks guys!

Carl and Ron reflect on how their time abroad has changed the way they consider their relationship to country.

Music is a fundamental part of early literacy. Engaging old folk songs employs rich language and allusions that inform critical thinking and cultural development. In this episode, Pete Best-Hall joins us to discuss our journey with song and early childhood instruction.

In this episode we continue the conversation of plants as mentors and draw out the analogies to holistic education. Rudionna Garza joins us to share her journey and insights as a regenerative gardener and lead mentor of FLORA: the Forest Laboratory of Regenerative Arts.

This week we had the fortune to speak with Nathan Hastler Brooks of Tine and Toil Farm in Pottstown, PA. Nathan walks us through how he came to community based agriculture, the leap to running his own operation, and his relationships with plants and the soil.

Learn more about Tine and Toil Farm at: https://www.tineandtoilfarm.com