Beginning the Process: Discussion Group History

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Beth Sutton

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Mar 15, 2014, 2:05:10 PM3/15/14

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As we begin our work to find a clear path through the issues raised in the “Enki name use” conflict, we are finding that, along with looking through the web at the points made on the current issue, it is important to look at both the history of this issue (back to March 2013*), and also at the overall history of Enki discussion groups. We thought a window into this history of the discussion groups we have offered over the years might be useful for all at this point.

Brief History:

To support those working with Enki, over the years we have offered 3 different online groups, using 5 different structures.

two of these were hosted and overseen by the Enki Leadership and/or Enki trained hosts
one was peer hosted with no participation by the Enki Leadership.
the leadership hosted groups used the Enki name,
the peer discussion (Holistic Families) did not use the Enki name.

We began with a leadership-hosted group which was very active and in less than a year it became too time consuming for Beth to continue. We tried continuing it with Enki trained hosts who did ongoing training with Beth, but it remained too overwhelming to continue at a time when materials were in their early production stages.

Some parents then asked to open a peer hosted group that would use an independent name, to which we would refer people who purchased Enki – that group, Holistic Families, lasted about 5 years. The discussions became quite minimal over the last year or so, and in the last months some parents also did training to try to help enliven the group. That group ended when – through difficulty - it was clear that there was a need for different kinds of groups.

Then, because we were hearing there was a group that wanted to work with in the context of the underlying principles of Enki in their discussions, and because we felt we had the time, we began Enki Explorations. We tried to be clear in the group description that this was specifically for discussing homeschooling through the Enki Web. We assumed those wanting more general peer groups would open these themselves; it appears that that assumption created its own problems.

With this history in mind and all that has been raised in this difficulty, we are exploring just what group structures will best serve the families working with Enki, while at the same time maintaining clarity about the core that is Enki. We do believe it is possible to meet the core needs of those wanting different kinds of discussion groups, while maintaining the integrity of what Enki is, and we will be exploring changing structures as needed to manage that.

That’s where we are right now; we will keep you posted as anything else arises.