Young Explorers (ages 3-6)

Learning through stories, science, song, art, and play.

Love of Learning/Transition to Scholar (ages 6-12)
These classes are project-based and mostly hands-on learning. A wonderful book about project learning is For the Love of Learning—Give Your Children a LOLIPOP Education by Amy Edwards.

Our mentors teach what they are inspired to teach and have freedom in their lesson choices with approval from the Executive Council.  They are encouraged to use a wide range of activities and methods of teaching, reaching various learning styles.

For 2023-2024 we will be using a curriculum called Kitchen Math--Ever had a child ask “Why do I have to learn math?” What they’re really asking is “Why is math valuable to me?” or “How am I going to use this in real life?” Kitchen Math can help answer that question. While it is not an in-depth math program, it touches lightly on some basic math concepts with the primary purpose of showing kids that math is both useful and fun. The secondary purpose of this class is to help students transition from Love of Learning to Scholar classes. We do this by introducing the idea of listening to a short lecture, doing optional homework, and coming to class prepared each week. This class is meant to be fun, with lots of yummy treats to eat, as students learn how they naturally use math every day.   The second hour will include art, P.E., and games.

When we have enough families involved and parents to teach, we like to break this class into two groups--Love of Learners (ages 7-10) and Transition to Scholar (ages 10-12).  Transition to Scholar is an entry-level scholar project that introduces students transitioning from the fun and variety of their “love of learning” phase (elementary school) to dipping their toes in the challenging, but gratifying academic work of their “scholar phase” (junior high and high school).  We encourage parents to learn about the classes and decide what is the best fit for their child(ren) in their development.  If you aren't sure where would be best for them, we encourage you to try each class a couple of weeks.  Please let the teachers know ahead of time so they can prepare the appropriate materials for the class.