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Playing With Play – for SDE and for PDA – Aug-Nov 2025

A short course about play, through play, for parents, educational facilitators, and anyone who wants to live life with more ease and joy

Warning: This course may not be suitable for the terminally serious.*

Month 1 – August 2025

Theory of Play

Session 1 – What Play IS, and what it ISN’T

Session 2 – Different definitions and types of play

Month 2 – September 2025

Play with yourself

Session 1 – Playing to shift our mode of being

Session 2 – Playing to shift our mode of engaging

Month 3 – October 2025

Learning to ‘speak’ play together, the ‘home’ language of children

Session 1 – Speaking play for connection, coregulation and trust building – key for all but doubly for PDA

Session 2 – Speaking play to solve problems, resolve problem behaviours, difficult feelings, and uncomfortable conversations

Month 4 – November 2025

‘Educational’ play

Session 1 – How to speak play for educational purposes, (including playful conflict resolution, and practically setting up space for play)

Session 2 – Questions, emergent topics, places to go play some more, integration

Month 5 – Optional – December 2025

2 sessions supporting practical: sharing stories and feedback on play experiments

 *On the other hand this course may be an effective cure for otherwise terminal seriousness. Complementary medicine. Not approved by the FDA.

Warning: choking hazard: do not eat during sessions as laughter may happen.

Batteries unnecessary. String, playdoh, pipe-cleaners, pillows, little thingies you found at the park, astonishing hats and dice not included in fee but guidance on how to find/make-your-own will be provided.                                     

4 / 5 months – Playful pricing!

$100 per person per month

Play loves spontaneity, so it’s best to just jump in:

$300 early-bird – pay in full up front before 1st July (find this in my Patreon shop from 12 June)

$380 if paid in full up front before 1st Aug (find this in the shop after 1st July)

Play loves friends, so it’s better together:

Bring a friend – you both get it at $80 per month – $160 per month to split between you

Bring 2 friends – all 3 get it at $60 per month – $180 per month to split between you

Bring 3 friends – all 4 get it at $50 per month – $200 per month to split between you

Play is inclusive:

Co-parent comes for $20, $120 per month for a co-parenting pair – enquire for early-bird

Veterans’ discount please enquire if you have attended precious courses with me

SDE settings wanting to bring full staff body please enquire about Allstaff discount

Financial aid – a limited number of discounted places will be made available proportional to full price bookings received, PDA parents will receive priority, a waiting list will apply and a place cannot be guaranteed.

More details and bookings via theshiftwillcome@gmail.com and on https://www.patreon.com/JeannaClements

About Je’anna Clements,

(aka Muffy), (aka Ms Thinkleberry)

I’m 5yo with 50 years experience. I’ve been play-trained by several god-children, and intensively by two in my own family, as well as by too many others to count (definitely over 100) through the Riverstone Village founding, running, and outreach experiences, especially when they didn’t want to go home and their parents couldn’t get them into the car!

Even though as Dr Seuss pointed out most ‘adults are just obsolete children’ there are a few wonderful exceptions, so I have also had the privilege to learn in-person with Aletha Solter, author of Attachment Play, with O Fred Donaldson,author of Playing by Heart – Original Play, Douwe van der Zee, author of The Power of Childhood: A Key to Life, Love and Forgiveness, and through colleagueship with Thalia Prigge, a natural play master, author of the short picture book My Secret Friends as well as a more biographical play-themed text which I live in hope will still be forthcoming. 

In addition to my in-body experiences with these fluent play-speakers I have completed certified training in toy librarianship and educational play facilitation with A Chance To Play South Africa (ACTPLSA) and consulted for Right To Play SA (RTPSA) helping develop materials to promote safe play opportunities and advocate for children’s right to play during lockdowns. I supported the co-creation of Hazard’s Haven junkyard adventure playground in collaboration with other Riverstone Villagers, where Ms Thinkleberry emerged as a playworker. I have also read widely and will be drawing on and sharing a number of research articles and books for the current Playing With Play course.

In 2021, I completed a course titled Supporting Children, Teenagers and Young Adults with Pathological Demand Avoidance through the Open College Network London (certificate number: 6464874(1)). Over the past four years, I have been training and supporting parents and Self-Directed Education facilitators via online sessions in the skills needed to communicate supportively with young people with this profile. I also facilitate general conflict-resolution skills training through www.horizontalcommunication.org. 

I have also presented on topics relating to Self-Directed Education and/or PDA/EDA at various online conferences convened by Progressive Education (UK), DONYA Children’s Institute (Tehran), the Alternative Education Resource Organisation (AERO, USA) and others, including inter alia an introductory session on PDA/EDA for educators: ‘When Challenging Behaviour is Not What it Seems.” Earlier this year, I was contracted by the Alliance for Self-Directed Education (ASDE,USA) to create a training module entitled Healthy Boundaries: How to Expand Tolerance and Lower Unnecessary Demands, which is now included in their ongoing training compendium.

I look forward to playing and learning with you!

*************

Horizontal Communication as well as SDE for PDA live monthly group support calls are ongoing. Three beginners courses are now available in pre-recorded form (see below.) Various live courses and webinars are active in 2025 and more are often scheduled by request. To get an idea of what is possible just scroll on down.

Details, requests, or just and keep in touch by subscribing for free to my Patreon or by contacting me on ourshyftcommunity@gmail.com or theshiftwillcome@gmail.com

Horizontal Communication Beginners Course on UDEMY

The Horizontal Communication Beginner’s course is housed on UDEMY and gives the necessary foundations to join the monthly HC support calls. Horizontal Communication can help you transform parenting, family, business, SDE facilitation and even friendships and romantic relationships with a few important shifts in perspective and communication habits. You can find out more at www.horizontalcommunication.org or go direct to the UDEMY preview here

So that nobody is excluded from being able to use these tools, merely for financial reasons, if you need a discount coupon in order to be able to access this course, please contact theshiftwillcome@gmail.com

“The awareness of HC has allowed me to be more accepting, open and understanding of others as well as, accepting, forgiving and understanding of myself.” – Veronique Breugelmans

“Every human being should be taught HC! It’s imperative!” – Taryn Helper

“This is a great, condensed overview of horizontal communication with practical tips and ‘how to’ ” – Lourina Botes

These two mini courses are for anyone questioning school, unschooling parents just starting out, educators wondering about making a change, and anyone who wants to deepen the foundations of their understanding about Self-Directed Education.

You can purchase them here

or contact OurShYftCommunity@gmail.com or theshiftwillcome@gmail.com for details
Even for seasoned unschoolers and SDE facilitators, these mini courses are crammed with new perspectives offering multiple new ways to explain SDE to people in your own life.

Some previous courses included:

The Real Reason School (or Homeschool) Hasn’t Worked Out Well So Far – and What To Do About It.

A 4-part workshop with Je’anna Clements and special guest Sifaan Zavahir

Whether you are a parent whose child isn’t thriving educationally; a teacher struggling to cope, disheartened by children not despite your best efforts; or even a champion seeking a crux point for transformation of education at policy levels; this opportunity is for you.

Of course there are personal, individual reasons why school or homeschool aren’t working well in your life right now. But we have discovered that there’s also a single, universal, underlying reason – that many people are actually not aware of – that sits beneath and generates many or maybe even all of the other reasons.

We could name the reason, but it wouldn’t work. We are not used to thinking about education in this way, so it will take a bit of exploration. That’s why we’re giving it four sessions, with two different facilitators with different ways of engaging. But once we understand this reason and how it operates, we can also clearly see what to do about it.

If you’d like a big A-HA that opens a gate you might never have even realised was standing in your way, you’re invited to join us for -. 

The Real Reason 1 – Je’anna Clements and Sifaan Zavahir, Sat 17th Feb 2024

The Real Reason 2 – Je’anna Clements Tues 20th Feb

The Real Reason 3 – Sifaan Zavahir and Je’anna Clements Thurs 22nd Feb 

The Real Reason 4 – Je’anna Clements Sat 24th Feb 

All sessions are at 6pm SAST/4pm UTC/11am ET and all sessions will be recorded. 

Registration ensures that you won’t miss out! 

Best of all, this series is completely free to attend. 

Here is the form to sign up:

https://forms.gle/RNWR3EnftprcnDcR7

Math/s is so important in life that we often push it so hard that we risk giving children an allergy to it! What an irony! How do we get a healthy balance?

Whether you’re a parent or an educator, you’ve already realised that Math/s sits right there in the middle of the relationship with the children in your life in a way that cannot be ignored. How do we keep that healthy for everyone?

Head over to the Shop https://www.patreon.com/jeannaclements/shop to book your spot for Sun 18th Feb 2024 6pm SAST/4pm UTC/11am ET

https://www.patreon.com/JeannaClements/shop

NEW MINI COURSES FOR ANYONE QUESTIONING SCHOOL, UNSCHOOLING PARENTS JUST STARTING OUT, EDUCATORS WONDERING ABOUT MAKING A CHANGE

In addition to her in-depth facilitation development courses in the Helping The Butterfly Hatch series, Je’anna now offers easy in-your-own-time mini-courses for parents, educators, families, founders’ groups and more. You can purchase or sign up here
or contact OurShYftCommunity@gmail.com or theshiftwillcome@gmail.com for details

The Big A-Ha that makes SDE make sense, Sat 14th October, 10amSAST, in person in Salt Rock, KZN, RSA
Are you a ‘gardener’? A ‘carpenter’? Or is there something even more? This is an in-person workshop that can take your SDE/Unschooling facilitation to the next level. Hybrid options also possible if you’re not in South Africa, workshop time is 8am UTC. Contact theshiftwillcome@gmail.com to book or for more information
*

My understanding of the fundamental principles behind SDE really deepened, and I feel my organic, intuitive journey with my own family is now underpinned in a way that I can feel more confident working with others, using the theory when useful as a lens to see something new in how I facilitate. There is lots of supportive material for all learning mode preferences, and the calls were a lovely haven of support and safety. I highly recommend the course and intend to repeat it! ML Thomas, HTBH participant Feb-July 2023

And…. that support is about to go to a whole new level. For participants who sign up to begin or continue their HTBH journey in August 2023, there will be an online community space that allows more connection, interaction and belonging than ever before. This will be Our ShYft Community – why the big Y? Because young people are always at the centre of the ShYft we’re making together. 

So much richness in this course! I will be going back over the course content as there is still so much to digest for this relative newcomer to SDE. Je’anna is a fantastic Facilitator. So happy to have been part of it all and only wish I hadn’t had to skip some of the live sessions, thank you, Lynda, HTBH participant Feb-July 2023

Helping The Butterfly Hatch 6 month Course for unschooling parents and SDE facilitators is now open to join, you can sign up here or contact ourshyftcommunity@gmail.com, more details below

Helping The Butterfly Hatch SDE
Facilitation Course 2023

Je’anna has a thorough, embodied and nuanced understanding of SDE. The course is structured in a really good way, because it doesn’t vilify people for their mainstream ways of seeing children and learning, but it lays out the uncontovertable truth with generosity and compassion. I found the supportive theory particularly useful for clarifying murky understanding, recognising learning, and shifting the emphasis from outcomes to environment, HTBH participant Feb-July 2023

Horizontal Communication  2023
This course layer will begin with establishing a clear understanding of what Horizontal
Communication is and how to use it for SDE facilitation, conflict resolution and problem
solving. Thereafter sessions will be practical and practice-oriented in order to build up
proficiency. The HTBH general course fee includes a free voucher for the Udemy foundational
sessions on HC. More information horizontalcommunication.org

SDE Facilitation Course 2023
Month 1
DESCHOOLING –
we will explore the evidence for SDE and what that means for many of the myths most
people believe, including –
● Beliefs about education
● Beliefs about ‘children’ and ‘childhood’ (e.g. the adultisation of kids bcos kids are
larval adults, educational ‘product’
● Beliefs about work, success and happiness
How do we come to have these beliefs, why do they need to change, and how can we
change them?
How do we come to believe what we do about education and what are the myths most
people believe?
We will look at the Cycles of socialisation and liberation, and the acquisition of Literacy

We will use the Trust triangle to gain insight into our own personal sticking points and
issues
We will explore specific myths – e,g, cumulative learning, comprehensivity of curriculum,
necessity of College and careers, need for stimulation, etc.
We will investigate Childism and childhood – is a child a human being or a human
becoming – basic education for NOW vs future, adultification of children, human rights
etc. We will also interrogate our definitions of Success.
We will look at What is education for? What Makes Education Valuable? School ≠
Education – what is the difference? Why is mainstream School Like It Is?
This will help us to identify many of the things that are actually optional, and get clear on
the stuff that really matters, so that we can be sure to provide for all the Education
Essentials.

Month 2
SDE THEORY –
In this section we will explore how humans learn and look at how and why SDE works,
including:
Autonomous vs Controlled Motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Structures of the learning experience
Impacts of colonisation, epistemicide, and decolonisation of education
What is ‘Educational’?
Process vs Product
Content vs Metaskills
Implicit and explicit lessons
Immersion vs Coercion

Month 3
ASSISTING –
Now that we will have explored how humans learn and looked at how and why SDE
works, we can focus on ways to support young people in self-educating, including –
Supporting confidence and motivation
‘Strewing’ – Ensuring ‘exposure’ to information and resources, and informed choice
Teaching/coaching/‘guidance’ – the pros and cons and boundaries
Giving feedback, the problem with praise and what to do instead
Practical issues around reading, math/s, screen time and other issues that may feel
wobbly for adults.

How do we support young people effectively, rather than sabotaging them through
thinking we are helping when we are not?

Month 4
OPTIMISING –
we will explore how to provide the 6 Optimising Conditions for SDE:
1) The social expectation (and reality) that education is children’s responsibility
2) Unlimited time to play, explore, and pursue one’s own interests
3) The opportunity to play with the tools of the culture
4) Access to a variety of caring adults, who are helpers, not judges
5) Free age mixing among children and adolescents
6) Immersion in a stable, supportive, respectful community
7) Empowerment (yes, that’s the 7th of the 6)
How can we successfully provide these conditions within our own personal contexts of
families, settings, and our wider world?

Month 5
NUTS AND BOLTS –
Setting up a rich environment – space, stuff, structures and roles – including adapting existing
structures and roles for Horizontal Communication including transformative justice in settings
previously using conventional justice systems. Setting up to grow and evolve as a unique
learning community.

Month 6
MASTERY –
Special topics and troubleshooting based on the actual lived experiences of the course
participants

Taking this course is just talking the talk. If you choose to also walk the walk, you will never regret it. You cannot imagine what it will be like before taking a leap of faith and diving into the deep end of human rights, equity, and trust in yourself and your family. You cannot imagine but I hope you will dare to try.
-Rainy, SDEforPDA participant 2022 and HTBH mentor participant Feb-July 2023

PRICING
$75usd per person per month, group discounts and personal equity arrangements negotiable as needed.

Looking forward to connecting – and ShYfting!

Whether you are just starting your unschooling journey, planning your startup, or want to take your facilitation to the next level, this course will help you become an SDE optimiser – instead of a well-intentioned saboteur!

The course will run from Jan to Dec 2022, and includes continuous support groups.

Optional additional free private thread, including private support groups for parents and staff on supporting SDE for  PDA

Payment details at Patreon or contact Je’anna on theshiftwillcome@gmail.com to discuss options

Horizontal Communication now on UDEMY

There’s a brand new Horizontal Communication Beginner’s course on UDEMY that can help you transform family and SDE facilitation relationships with a few important shifts in perspective and communication habits. You can find out more at www.horizontalcommunication.org or go direct to the UDEMY preview here

So that nobody is excluded from being able to use these tools, merely for financial reasons, if you need a discount coupon in order to be able to access this course, please contact theshiftwillcome@gmail.com

This course beginning on the 1st August 2021 6pm SAST/12noon EST/4pm UTC will be tailored towards people transitioning into Self-Directed Education. This will actively support not only those who have recently begun unschooling, or are about to start work in an SDE facility or parents signing their child up in an SDE setting for the first time, but also teachers who are still embedded in coercive education environments who want to bring what light they can, as well as those who long to plot out a career-change for themselves but are not sure how to begin.

Recording of the SDE for PDA Intro Session

SDE for PDA – PDA is the neurotype that probably finds coercive education hardest of all – and customising our facilitation to accommodate PDAers takes our skills to gold standard.

A course of four consecutive Sunday sessions of 90mins each will begin on Sun 4th July 2021 at 6pm SAST.

Whether there is a young person that you support in SDE who struggles with ‘inexplicable’ explosive/implosive meltdowns under pressure or whether you just want to take your learning to the next level, you can sign up, get more details, or arrange to join a free info advance session (to help you decide whether it’s for you) on Fri 2nd July by filling in the contact form of this site, or emailing theshiftwillcome@gmail.com

NEWSFLASH! In July 21 Bianca Geburek will facilitate her second round of a three-month-course based on translations of Je’annas trainings in Self-Directed Education facilitation in German: 

Selbstbestimmte Bildung begleiten .

Register for the free info evening by sending a message to mail[at]herzton.click or visit the Herzton (Heart’s tone) website

21st, 28th February, 7th March

2021 Share The Love

3 week mini-course, 5pmSAST

horizontalcommunication.org

Enrich your relationships with yourself, partner, children, parents, work colleagues, world.

$75usd pp, discounts for partners and those refreshing.

Horizontal Communication is more than a communication technique. It’s also an attitude to life and human-to-human connection that opens the way for deeper, richer living. Practically, it’s a way to communicate more effectively and transform conflict into creative opportunity. On another level it’s a way to empower ourselves to live the more beautiful life we sense is possible, regardless of what’s ‘happening’.

Helping The Butterfly Hatch – Facilitator Training

Most of us by now have heard that helping a butterfly as it struggles out of its chrysalis can cripple it for life. This is also a good analogy for what can happen to learning when teaching gets in the way. (Ever wondered why so many schooled children end up hating maths?)

However, the answer is not as simple as “doing nothing”.

The way that you interact with a young person in Self-Directed Education (SDE) and support their process can have a big impact. This course is designed to build your confidence so that you can become an SDE optimiser – instead of a well-intentioned saboteur.

Whether you are Unschooling, or facilitating within a Sudbury or ALC or other setting, or just want to develop your theory and practice of SDE, this course can support you as you hatch your own wings.

Building on the success of the previous groups, Je’anna is ready to offer a condensed intensive introduction to SDE Facilitation – Nov 2020, Dec 2020 and Jan 2021.

Please sign up on Patreon HERE or contact Je’anna on theshiftwillcome@gmail.com to discuss your options

Horizontal Communication

Feedback from Horizontal Communication Workshops

“The awareness of HC has allowed me to be more accepting, open and understanding of others as well as, accepting, forgiving and understanding of myself.” – Veronique Breugelmans

“Every human being should be taught HC! It’s imperative!” – Taryn Helper

“This is a great, condensed overview of the horizontal communication with practical tips and ‘how to’ ” – Lourina Botes

About Je’anna’s Horizontal Communication Workshops

Horizontal Communication is communication that seeks to connect people in genuine mutual compassion and release, rather than staying trapped in power struggles. It builds more satisfying relationships, and bringsabout fresh, creative solutions to situations that used to feel stuck.

Many of us don’t realise that the way we communicate is shaped by a ‘vertical’ culture of domination. Almost all of us come from an ancestry of domination – whether our own particular ancestors were the dominators or the dominated. When we use the resulting heritage vertical communication strategies currently normal in our world, to try to express love and care, or to try to solve problems, this often backfires, and we’re left feeling bewildered: where did things go wrong?

Horizontal Communication can empower us to sustainably connect with those we love, as well as to transform interactions with ‘enemies’.

Horizontal Communication problem solving does not identify a perpetrator and a victim, but looks at mismatches of underlying needs, and seeks to replace solutions that meet the needs of only some parties, with dynamic win-win solutions that come closer to meeting everyone’s needs.

These workshops offer theoretical insight and practical tools for transforming lived experience.

You can find out more about Horizontal Communication HERE

Screen Time

Feedback from The Screen Time Webinar Series –

“The webinar helped me realize that my frustration with my son’s screen time was because I wasn’t getting to spend as much time with him as before. Since schools closed due to Covid, we weren’t chatting in the car on the way to and from school any more. I was pressuring him to spend more time with the family after dinner, essentially demanding to get my needs for relatedness met on my terms.

I realized that I had been ignoring many opportunities to connect with him about the games he was playing. I would check in on him from time to time during the day and he would eagerly tell me about the new guns or levels he’d mastered. However, I always cut this short since I was on a coffee break and had work to get back to. I now plan to drop in on him when I have more time to spare. I really think this will make a big difference to our relationship and I’m looking forward to the positive results.

Thanks very much for this insight Je’anna!” Graeme, Parent, South Africa

About Je’anna’s Screen Time Workshops

Almost all families experience challenges around screen time, and Covid-19 has taken this to a whole new level. Are force, control and imposed limits the only ways to deal with this? In order to come up with real win-win solutions, it’s necessary to understand the underlying needs and feelings involved. This hands-on 3-week series will support you in transforming screen time challenges into opportunities to evolve relationships within your family/SDE setting.

Aims:
1 – theoretical understanding of how screen time operates within Self-Directed Education.
2 – practical support to tackle real screen time challenges in your family and/or SDE setting.

Week 1 – What is ‘screen time’? What screen time problems does your family have? The 3 core needs of Self-Determination Theory, and how these affect screen time issues.

Week 2 – In what ways/when is screen time useful for Self-Directed Education, and in what ways/when is it harmful? The 6 Optimising Conditions of SDE and how these affect screen time issues.

Week 3 – Modelling, communicating and collaborating effectively to create a family screen-time plan.

Please use the CONTACT page to sign up for webinars and courses or ask for more information.