What does my ideal school look like?
It is an organic structure flooded on the inside with natural light, skirted with gardens and outdoor gathering spaces. This school is k-12, encompassing all ages, though grades 9-12 spend little time on campus.
Let’s start with a visit to the kinder-gardeners, a small group, just 13 play in the dirt with their teacher and the teacher’s apprentice, a high school student. The students are learning about worms. They have sprouted beans and will plant their sprouts in the fertile spring soil. When they are done patting the earth around their sprouts they stick a marker in the ground next to the seedling with their name, then water the garden patch with watering cans. In this year they do a lot of crafts, make useful things like potholders, pillows and bird feeders. They play with letters, hear stories, and learn basic math. As we move through the grades 1,2,3 we see elaboration on the skills learned in grade K. Everything more complex and involved, they plant vegetable gardens and trees, learn how to take care of their bodies, eat healthily. they learn biology and ecology, how to recycle, reduce, reuse, and some recent history. Fourth and fifth plan their own gardens, harvest and save seeds, learn sexual and asexual reproduction and how to keep bees. They research and write stories, and go deeper into history and mathematics.
Sixth, seventh and eighth grades learn sustainable technology, how to build renewable energy generators and build energy efficient structures from renewable resources. They learn to use the internet to network and research their questions and ideas. By 8th grade they have learned animal husbandry both through history and practice. They know where all of their resources come from and how a system maintains homeostasis, they’ve been introduced to the basics of sociology, psychology and anthropology. As they prepare for high school, they prepare for four years of apprenticeships and interning by researching careers and occupations that interest them. Then they write letters of interest to potential mentors and soon are assigned to their first post.
Ninth grade students are encouraged to do many short apprenticeships, writing after each one to review their experiences and what they have learned. When they are together they practice group decision making and conflict resolution. They study foreign language and some choose to study abroad or apprentice in another country. By 11th and 12th grades students take longer internships, ready to master their favorite trade. They come together for studies in community building, advanced technology, business and economics.
By graduation they are initiated into adulthood and ready to join their community as a working adult or further their education in a university.
