About Us:

What Is The Living School?

The Living School is a democratic, learner-centered educational environment that is community-based, experientially centered, and focused on the creativity and intelligence inherent in each student. We foster inquiry in each participant by allowing the school itself to be a living experiment in learning.

We are a nonprofit educational corporation (IRS Section 501-C-3) which welcomes your tax deductible donations and volunteer services.

Philosophy

Education in the Post-Modern Era

Is it possible to have a school in which a child's education is an integral part of the community, not an institution disconnected from the whole of life? Must a school be operated as a hierarchy or can the participants direct their education through the same democratic principles we demand as adults in our society? Does freedom foster responsibility?

In an age of ever expanding information and machines that hold that information, has the nature of education changed from the memorization of facts to the understanding of how to access information as needed and the creativity to use that information?

What do we want to impart to our children? Is the drive to compete the cutting edge of the human capacity? Is the achievement of top grades and test scores the measure of our children's education? Is it the measure of their happiness now and in their life ahead?

Self-Directed, Democratic Learning

At The Living School, children are free to pursue the creative and academic areas to which they are naturally drawn. The school provides a supportive location for this learning activity as well as access to a wide variety of mentors and experiential learning situations.

Young people today face the increasingly difficult challenge of self-determination in a world that is constantly and rapidly changing. Most learning systems are designed to apply external motivation through teacher direction, tests, and grades in the attempt to teach a series of seemingly unrelated facts and figures.

We believe that the inner drive of curiosity is the best motivator and is directed by what holds our interest. As such, learning does not require a predetermined curriculum nor is it proven by a test result. Self direction and self motivation lead to true learning—learning that is not limited to bits of knowledge but is integrated as a unified experience and expression of a creative life. At The Living School students have the freedom and responsibility to fully explore their numerous and diverse interests and to engage various challenges, thereby learning to deal with the world as they find it. This creates an environment where there is no external reward for finding the "right" choices. Students define what is right for themselves as they work together in a community of learners.

Community

We live in community, we learn in community. Therefore students are not segregated by age or grade at The Living School, allowing for natural peer-to-peer communication and learning to take place. In our democratically run school, students and staff make all decisions together regarding school rules, the use of resources, and organized activities. This empowers each person to have input and understanding of the underlying reasons for these decisions. We view engaging one's needs in relationship to others and our environment as an essential part of the growth process.

Mentoring, apprenticeships, and community involvement are a vital part of The Living School. Our students are engaged in the world around them and make use of the vast resources available in Boulder County and beyond. We maintain an extensive database of people and places who work with kids, from the artist who teaches papermaking to the website designer who accepts apprentices to the teen wilderness adventure program.

Education Creates Our Future

Our school is the expression of a deep concern for nurturing our children's capacity for self-determination, relationship, communication, and creativity.

This environment also nurtures the development of qualities and skills that get students into college and that stand students in good stead throughout their lives and careers: self-knowledge; self-confidence; mastery of specialized skills and areas of knowledge; research; communication; cocreative problem solving; entrepreneurial skills; creativity; and initiative. These are the very qualities that college admissions boards and employers look for.

While there are many areas of knowledge and practical skills that we need as adults, it is our view that the love of learning, creative expression, and fulfilling relationships are also essential components of life. When better than in childhood to practice and master these fundamental qualities?

Our Purpose

1. to provide an integral education that grows out of the entire community—the whole child cannot be educated in an institution disconnected from the whole of life.
2. to provide choices and opportunities that allow children to develop at their own pace and follow their own interests, so they can define who they are and what they want to be.
3. to allow children to be free from external assessment (tests, grades, and rankings) so that students can develop their own goals and sense of achievement. Grades and test scores are not the measure of our children's education and do not predict the success or happiness of any child now or in their life ahead.
4. to allow children to be completely free to engage in their interests and play as much as they like. Creative and imaginative expression is an essential part of childhood and development.
5. to allow participants in learning to direct their education through the same democratic principles we demand as adults in our society.

Community Assembly

The Living School is directed by the Community Assembly. This group is comprised of all the students, staff, parents and board of directors who are interested in participating in this process. Decisions made include determining the yearly budget, hiring of staff, promotion of the school, events and fundraising, etc.

School Meetings

The day to day workings of the school are determined through the weekly School Meeting. This meeting is run by the students and decisions are made democratically with each student and staff having one vote. The School Meeting decides how to spend the discretionary money, rules of conduct and what activities and classes the school wants to engage in.

Conflict Resolution

Confict resolution is addressed in two ways. Anyone can ask for mediation to work out interpersonal issues. The staff and many of the students are trained in basic mediation. We also address conflicts or the breaking of rules though Council Meetings. Council Meetings can be called by anyone at anytime. Everyone interested gathers to hear what occurred and to support people in mutually supportive outcomes. The Council Meeting does have the power to decide on consequences should that seem appropriate and these are again voted on democratically. Any decision can be re-evaluted should the need occur.

© 2003
The Living School

Suggestions, comments?
email the webmaster