the end of the dance commune

We have lived in a commune, of sorts, for the past year and  a half. Some days, it feels like it was 5 years.  Then, something started to happen: people started to move. Our last dance commune member left mid-September. Now, we are left only with the younger brother.  What does this have to do with school? 

It is almost like the end of the school year: you know that it needs to end and you are happy to see the students go on to other things, but there are a few students you wish you would stay.  There are some Dance Commune Members that I would welcome back with open arms, no questions asked.  Also, it gives you the time to rethink “next year”. I have promised myself and my husband that there will not be a “next year” for the dance commune;  but if there were, here is what I would change:

1. Definite Shared Responsibility. It works so well in the classroom, I don’t know why I didn’t implement it in my house. I took the trash out way too often for a person with 6 other adults living in the house.

2. Communication: There was a scandal involving rent money that would have been avoided handily if people had felt obliged to communicate up front about what they were planning to do.  I teach my students this, we have a daily Community Circle where items large and small are shared. I just assumed adults would share without a forced structure to do so.

3. Higher Rent.