Deepening Our Roots and Protecting Play

At our roots, we believe children thrive when they are trusted, respected and given agency. Over the past 4 years of being a self-directed learning center, we have observed young people grow, connect and even thrive. Yes, the learning here looks far different from modern day schools, but learning is natural and happening every day no matter what. We create a safe container by crafting a culture and boundaries together. This is a space where youth are respected and therefore they respect each other and the adults.

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We’ve hosted countless offerings covering math, science, technology, engineering, writing, reading, humanities, social studies, woodworking, plus all the arts. While this has all been really fun and engaging, we’ve struggled to work on larger, longer term projects. Following the kids’ interests and building offerings specifically curated is super hard when we have members joining us for just one day a week. The continuity to go deeper just hasn’t been there. This is why we’re so excited to open 4 days a week starting in August and completely relaunch with a whole new program.

We are so excited to introduce “Morning Workshops” into our daily schedule. We’ve been hard at work, behind the scenes, developing project-based learning within units asking big questions like, “How does a city decide?” During two hour sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays we will dive deep into 6 unit studies thinking hard, making things, arguing about ideas, and learning alongside mixed age kids doing the same. Tuesday and Thursday mornings connect with the unit studies but act as standalone days. This means you can choose 1, 2, 3, or 4 day enrollment that include (or not) Morning Workshop project time.

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We know that not everyone wants this level of support, which is why we’re opening up the afternoons to youth who want to be in community, play with friends and enjoy the freedom self-directed offers. We know the afternoon crew will arrive to see the morning workshops potentially still in action. This overlap gives kids a chance to explain (or teach) newcomers and inspire the afternoon play/offerings.

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Here’s why we think Morning Workshop matters for your family

It goes places self-direction alone can’t.

During our unit studies we will build scale models of a neighborhood, design a field guide to a local ecosystem, run a mock city council and more. These are projects that build week by week and thrive on multi-age collaboration and dedicated facilitation. Many kids don’t have the resources or support to follow through with these big ideas solo but together, we totally can.

It is a huge support to Heartwood families, making reporting a breeze.

Our units cover foundational ELA, math, science, social studies, and art in a dynamic, project-based group setting. Full time enrollment ties in a second language, book club, humanities and STEAM. The full program provides so much homeschool support that young people are free to play and engage in extra-curriculars outside of Morning Workshops.

It meets the benchmarks without feeling like it.

Our program is designed to naturally hit California state standards through real projects and genuine inquiry. We document everything in Prism portfolios and provide work samples for charter families.

We don’t sort kids by grade level.

Our program is mixed-age and not divided by grade. When we split into two groups for math, kids self-select which one to work in after facilitators present both paths. No one gets labeled or tracked.

We are a proud approved vendor for Heartwood Charter School.