Well, yes and no.

That being said, our learners enjoy a lot of freedom as they get clear about what they truly want to create for themselves. Our facilitators give them maximum support with minimal interference. With clear boundaries and agreements, they also have the support they need to feel safe using that freedom to question, experiment, explore, and grow.

When visiting different ALCs you will find similarities in regard to children and adults empowered to create the culture around them, while also seeing different manifestations of specific tools or practices that grow from our Agile Roots. Below is a description of a typical day an Agile Learning Center:

The building is unlocked and learners start arriving at least a half hour before the official start of the day. They are encouraged to use this time to settle into the space and think about their intentions for the day, or discuss any activities they need specific other people for. The day starts on time, with a “Set the Day” meeting that usually lasts around 10 minutes.

During this “Set the Day” meeting, facilitators highlight the offering they will be leading during that day and ask children to think about if they would like to participate. We also present any specific “house-keeping” changes that are out of the ordinary. Children then use a few minutes to write down on post-it notes their intentions for their pursuits and post them on the group whiteboard that keeps track of our week. If there are any group intentions offered, we discuss how and if we can make that happen that day or if it needs to be revisited to plan for another day. We often review aloud each of the offerings and intentions to culminate the meeting.

Then, each child dives into what they want to start their day with and facilitators roam about the space giving support as needed or working on their own projects when the children are focused and engaged in their learning and are not needing direct support. Sometimes, the description for what happens between 10 am and 3 pm is best described simply as “magic.” It changes monthly, weekly, daily. The days are full of trip classes, games, discussions, stories, creation, collaboration, and surprises. It’s all work and it’s all play.

The day culminates with the group coming together to clean up the space and put away any extra materials and we move into our “Afternoon meeting.” During this time each child and facilitator has an opportunity to reflect on what we did as a group and as individuals during the day. We also share our highlights, trials, learnings of the day, and inspirations for something to come next. On occasion we also hold a “Gratitude Circle” where we reflect and share on ways we helped one another during the day or experiences that we are thankful for.

Segregating people into age cohorts, a practice that really only happens at schools, limits their exposure to accessible role models and their opportunities to teach skills they’ve acquired. In an age-mixed environment, older children learn patience and compassion while supporting the younger kids. Younger learners watch and emulate older students. Everyone gets practice both teaching and learning from people with varying skill levels, learning styles, and attention spans. The results tend to be awe-inspiring.

Not in the traditional sense. We realize that "teaching" is only one out of many ways that children learn, and anyone and even anything can be a teacher -- whether it is a fellow learner, an adult, a recorded video, or experience itself. There are adults in the community and they are called facilitators - from the French word "facile" which means "to ease." The job, then, of the facilitator is to support the learners and make it easy for them to do whatever it is they choose to do, even to teach, if necessary.

Learning is natural and happening all the time. Kids were learning long before they were in school. Babies learned to crawl, and walk without taking walking classes. There are many ways kids learn -- they imitate others, they try things with their hands, they observe, they do their own research, they ask questions, they talk and get ideas from other kids and adults.

We believe kids only learn when they are genuinely interested. If they're not interested and you force them to attend class, no real learning happens -- except learning how not to get bored and how to get by with just a passing grade.

Kids do not live in isolation. The world is so rich and vibrant and a child will understand very early on what essential skills they need. If something is actually basic knowledge that you need in order to live successfully in this world, you can’t help but learn it. The “basics” will be captured in kids’ natural learning, which happens through living. We don’t need to force or trick them into learning something basic.

Besides, what is basic depends on the current environment we live in. Basic knowledge and skills are defined by our current world. Whereas once it may have been basic to know how to saddle a horse, today it is basic to know how to open a web browser. The rich world environment in which we operate sets us up to prioritize knowledge and skills reliably and naturally based on our experiences.

Children are naturally curious and capable. In a rich and stimulating environment, we don’t have to try to teach them anything: they teach themselves or ask (of each other and facilitators) to be taught. When they need math to play a game, track their favorite sport statistics, bake muffins, budget for a trip, or otherwise navigate the world, they will learn it. When they need to read and write to create stories with their friends, manage their own blogs, use community tools independently, find out what happens next in their favorite book series, decipher notes from friends, experiment with acid-base reactions, or otherwise navigate the world, they will learn it. Especially in an environment where facilitators model passionate learning and the community supports–rather than shames–children who learn at different paces and methods, kids stay curious and eager to keep learning.

We don’t sort knowledge into traditional subject areas, as doing so discourages learners from interdisciplinary thinking and exploring innovative applications they may invent.

Learning isn’t about amassing data; it’s about making connections, deepening understanding, solving problems, creating, and sharing. Facilitators support students in exploring the relatedness and convergence of learning domains, both in a learning community, and in the world around us. Sorting or prioritizing traditional subjects is rarely useful from this perspective.

Kids today have access to more information in the palm of their hands than most people had in an entire decade of schooling a mere 50 years ago. They can have the wealth of almost the entire documented history of human knowledge at their fingertips.

Then we tell them to put down their devices; we lock them in classrooms and spoon-feed them bits of information, isolated and out of context. We tell them that they need to memorize things they could look up in an instant. Then we grade them on whether they can regurgitate the current politically correct answers on a test. The assumption behind this question is upside down.

Traditional schooling cuts students off from the flow of information available to them and divides selections of that information into little boxes disconnected from their lives (English, Math, Social Studies, etc.), then presents this information as if students would never have encountered it otherwise. Knowledge is something holistic and integrated, and students are integrating it all the time — whether or not they’re in school.

The real question today should be: In this staggering flood of overexposure, how will my child learn to filter what is important to them, to focus on their domains of passion, and to use discernment when it comes to information. These are the important skills for a modern child - skills they won’t get from some school board doing the filtering for them.

At Sky Bear, we encourage children to try new things by setting the environment in a way that welcomes them to the opportunity. One way looks like leaving puzzles of various complexities out on low tables, easy to access. A second way is in facilitators working on projects that they find interesting and inspiring. If someone in the room is focused on something that they are showing passion for, people will generally express interest in it as well and want to try, help, or even just watch and ask questions about.

By engaging with it consistently. Our agile learners recognize that the whole world is their “classroom.” They observe soccer matches to reflect upon and practice various tactical strategies, spend time in local parks, order what they want from a coffee shop and handle the payment process; they organize field trips around their interests, create entrepreneurial opportunities, and participate in community activities. They can do all these things and more on any given day. In fact, they’re encouraged to.

Our communities set boundaries to create safe, legal, and respectful environments.

Agile learners commit to uphold certain agreements to be part of Sky Bear ALC. Learners meet as needed to review community awareness and create new agreements together. The extent that this question asks whether rules and limits on individual freedom exist, the answer is ‘yes.’

But what if we define “boundaries” more broadly than just as “rules”? Then this question becomes an interesting one about priorities and opportunities to practice 21st century skills that children will need to grow into empowered individuals. In environments where learners don’t get a say in their work loads, levels of physical activity, or collaboration styles, they don’t have as many opportunities to practice recognizing, setting, or holding personal boundaries. We recognize that these are vital life skills; as such, ALFs are intentional in both modeling boundary management and supporting learners doing the same.

Facilitators witness.

Facilitators model.

Facilitators reflect.

Facilitators facilitate.

Facilitators hold the space.

Facilitators support learners in clarifying their intentions, getting connected to the resources they need, reflecting on their decisions, engaging with the community, and sharing their learning. They work to keep the space safe, legal, and respectful. They collaborate with children to develop a powerfully positive culture. Facilitators model clear communication, collaboration, and authenticity. They embody our Agile Roots, and they are grounded in trust.

If you have experience with small children, you’ve probably seen them incredibly focused while persistently working towards a goal: stacking all the blocks, trying to reach something out of reach unassisted, mixing ingredients into cookie batter, brushing the cat’s fur, etc. When kids are intrinsically motivated to pursue a goal--be it a fort or independence or dessert--they typically practice self-discipline where necessary without being bribed or threatened by adults. And when the goal is their own rather than an adult-imposed one, achieving it establishes a coherence in their experience between self-discipline and satisfaction. They know and practice self-discipline; they learn that it has value.

When we hold space for another person, we make ourselves present to witness and support their journey, without judging and without attempting to control their path or outcomes.

Kids, especially older ones, coming from traditional schooling usually have a “detox” period where they test their limits to be sure that they really aren’t going to be forced to do things or graded on their “performance.” When it turns out that there isn’t much to rebel against, boredom and positive peer pressure usually motivate them to start trying new things and engaging with the community.

Learning is always occurring. As a result, learners coming from traditional schooling arrive having learned communication styles, value judgements, and assumptions about power dynamics (and their own capacities) that they then un-learn at ALC. Kids who choose to return to traditional schooling have experience communicating clearly, managing their time, and finding information/resources they need to achieve goals. They take these skills with them–along with the knowledge that they’re choosing to go for a reason. As a result, they usually transition smoothly.

Our assessment is that each child is a capable and powerful human with value to add to the world.

How do we track learners’ growth and progress? By developing authentic relationships in which we support their self-reflection and bear witness to their journeys. Learners document their reflections and projects on their notepads and the community white board and through group discussion, where both form and content illustrate the evolution of their thinking and skills.

If that’s the direction a learner chooses, yes. Colleges have been accepting learners from homeschooling families and non-traditional schools for as long as colleges have existed.

When a self-directed learner decides they want to go to college, they know why they want to go. Many students unquestioningly spend thousands of dollars and several years of their lives going through college because that’s what they think they’re “supposed” to do.

Intentionally entering a learning environment to accomplish a specific purpose is more likely to bring about positive outcomes.

We don’t yet have longitudinal data specific to ALCs, but we do have it on self-directed education.

Most of the kids who want to get into college do. Having alternative forms of record keeping and evaluation has not been an impediment for kids who want to go to college. In fact, there’s a proven advantage for people whose college applications can’t be tidily ranked by GPA and academic track: a human has to actually look at their portfolio. ALC learners document their learning. As a result, they typically find it easy to construct a rich portfolio.

Montessori: Montessori schools and ALCs both practice age-mixing and supporting students in self-directing their learning. Montessori age-mixing involves grouping students who would typically be in three different “grades” into a cohort; ALC age-mixing is much broader, usually separating only very young students, sometimes only for meetings. Montessori students self-direct through a prescribed menu of subjects and concepts that changes based on the age range of the students; ALC students self- direct based on their interests, passions, and the opportunities they see in the world around them

Reggio: The basic assumptions informing Reggio education are highly complementary to those informing ALC education. Reggio was created based on the belief that humans are born with many forms of expression–languages–available to them. Most forms of schooling only develop literacy in three of these languages: reading, writing, and arithmetic. Reggio seeks to provide acknowledgement of and opportunities to develop as many of these languages as possible through themed “explorations,” The Reggio model recognizes the environment as a powerful teacher; thus, Reggio schools are carefully designed with goals of sparking inspiration, encouraging curiosity, and facilitating interpersonal activities. ALC philosophy shares a view of the child as powerful, competent, and full of potential. We also share the recognition of the environment as a teacher and the emphasis on the importance of social relationships. We’re different in our emphasis on intentional culture creation, our documentation practices, and our structures for supporting student self-direction.

Steiner/Waldorf: One similarity between ALCs and Steiner/Waldorf schools is that both approach education holistically. Though in many ways Steiner/Waldorf schools advocate a single developmental trajectory for all children, it is also true that Steiner/ Waldorf schools and families honor children’s individual timetables for learning. Particularly with literacy, you will find stories of Waldorf students who learn to read in the traditional sense at a wide variety of ages from 5 to 12 years old. ALCs see “development” as even more complex and expect students to have different learning journeys, and our staff aspire to support students in creating their own adventures.

Democratic Free School: ALCs are similar to Democratic Free Schools in that our students contribute to decision making at the school, direct their own learning, and participate in meetings. Many of the differences between ALC and Free Schools developed in response to challenges Free Schools commonly face. For example, in some Free Schools decision making is consensus-based and adults strive to influence students’ learning journeys as minimally as possible. ALC decision-making more closely resembles a discussion of ideas followed by a trial period than consensus, and our staff comfortably make suggestions the way they would to friends they were trying to support. The former change leads to faster, more action-focused meetings; the latter gives students opportunities to practice the valuable life skill of navigating attempts to influence them. The main differences between ALCs and Free schools are that our students focus on creating culture rather than running the school, use structures to support intention-setting and reflection on their learning journeys, and explicitly aim to keep 90%+ of each day meeting free so students can focus on their learning.

Unschool: Unschooling looks different for each family, so it’s difficult to compare a “typical” unschooling experience to an ALC experience. Both Unschooling and Agile Learning relationships with learning come from trusting that the individual—adult or child— knows best how to design their education and should be supported in doing so. The difference is that unschoolers focus on their individual paths, while ALC students engage in active culture and community creation. The social and community building component is foundational to Agile Learning: children learn from, inspire, negotiate, and collaborate with each other on a daily basis, enriching each other’s learning and challenging each other to constantly improve their social skills.

Homeschool: Homeschooling looks different from case to case, but it typically involves traditional subject areas and maybe limited opportunities for social interaction. Students can set the pace of their studies, but their topics are still usually informed by state or parental standards. ALCs see students as self-directed learners in a world where all learning is interdisciplinary. Our students decide the pace and the content of their days. They also learn from, inspire, negotiate, and collaborate with each other on a daily basis, enriching each other’s learning and challenging each other to constantly improve their social skills. Since so much learning happens in interactions with others, the emphasis on creating opportunities for high quality interactions at ALCs is one of the main factors differentiating us from homeschooling environments.

You can view our monthly program fees here. We offer a tiered program fee structure, and ask each family to pay generously and equitably, according to their financial resources. Our fees are designed to maintain a low youth-to-facilitator ratio and meet all of our financial obligations, including paying facilitators an equitable wage.

Yes! If the Adjusted Fee in our tiered fee structure doesn’t work for you family, click here to apply for financial assistance and request a Family Individualized Fee.