Activities and Offerings.
A key aspect of the practice of democracy is freedom. At this school, freedom is the ability to choose what you do with your time and what and how you learn. The school will provide a wide array of learning opportunities, based on the interests and desires of the youth, that everyone at the school is free to attend. Young people are also welcome and encouraged to make their own offerings. The school will also provide access to mentorship, community support and resources to meet the goals, desires, and interests of the youth.
School Schedule and Daily Flow
We offer school enrollment of 3-4 days/week, or a part-time enrichment program for 1-2 days/week. Our daily schedule is 9am-3pm, except for Wednesday Flying Squad days, which are 11am-3pm.
Monday: Regular day at the campus
10am: Set the Week Meeting
Set the week is a community meeting where we come together and plan offerings, trips, and arrange them on our weekly schedule. Emergent offerings are always welcome!
230pm: All-School Clean-up Time
Tuesday: Regular day at the campus
10am: Morning Meeting
We gather each day at 10am to announce activities or offerings for the day, and offer a connecting game that anyone can opt-in to!
230pm: All-School ~Clean-up Time
Wednesday: Flying Squad Day! (see below for details)
Thursday: General Assembly & Regular day at the campus.
10am: Morning Meeting
We gather each day at 10am to announce activities or offerings for the day, and offer a connecting game that anyone can opt-in to!
1pm: General Assembly
Our all-school decision making meeting.
230pm: All-School Tidy Time
Fridays: Independent Study
(off campus, on our own. More information is in our FAQ section under “Are you legally a private school"?”
Flying Squads
Unlike school field trips, Flying Squad does not have a predetermined destination but instead practices the crucial skills of deciding together where to go and how to spend their time. Each day starts at a meeting place, documenting and reflecting on previous time together in a communal journal. The group then sets out into the world to explore common interests as a collective, experimenting on how to build community and deciding how to voice group concerns on the social justice issue of being youth in a city built for adults.
Wednesdays will be our full-school Flying Squad Day!
Offerings
Each season (term), the school together will develop a calendar of offerings. These are just our set ongoing offerings — there is always room for and will be many emergent offerings, groups, and activities!
Youth and facilitators can all make offerings, put them on the calendar, and promote them to the group.
Youth can put an offering on the calendar and get support from facilitators to promote their offerings
Facilitators will pay attention to the interests of the group, but also be actively surveying youth at meetings and one-on-one for ideas for offerings
Facilitators will lead offerings, sharing their interests and modeling the process
Calendars will be updated weekly, so families can keep up with what and when offerings are scheduled.
Clubs and Mentorship
Clubs:
Clubs arise organically from the community based on shared interests. Clubs can lead a variety of activities, host events, and have a consistent meeting schedule. Clubs usually span the course of the whole year. Facilitators will encourage and support their formation.
Mentorships:
Teens (13+) will get a one-on-one mentor to meet with at least twice a month to talk about goals, interests, being connected to opportunities in the community, and more. This mentorship program is inspired by the Liberated Learners model. Mentor meetings are, of course, optional.