Our educational philosophy will help you build the framework for your child’s journey. The path will be different for everyone and you can’t simply rely on enrolling in a program, completing a yearly reading list, or following a prescribed checklist of approved activities to achieve those goals. You have to make deliberate choices based off the knowledge only you possess about your children’s aptitudes, interests, and abilities.

 

OUR PHILOSOPHY CAN BE SUMMED UP BY TWO UNDERLYING TRUTHS AND THREE PILLARS OF ACTION

 

1. You are responsible for the results;

2. Intensity of your effort shapes your outcome.

 

It is easy to justify failure. The teacher isn’t really invested in my child… The animals in daycare have been a bad influence on my kid… My child is operating at a different level and simply isn’t challenged…. It is difficult to acknowledge your responsibility, but you are ultimately left with the results whether you acknowledge your role or not. Taking ownership for the results means that we have control over the content and direction of our children’s education and is an empowering truth.

 

The intensity of effort will shape the outcome of the educational journey. Applying appropriate effort should not be conflated with the analogy of intense heat fashioning strong metal. Your child is not an inanimate object. The forging of steel paints a vivid picture, but children need a personalized approach that builds on their intrinsic strengths and weaknesses. This can only be fully realized by drawing out the maximum effort from the full network of individuals taking a role in the learning journey. This is no small task and it doesn’t matter if you are a single parent, married, or relying on extended family for support.

 

If this isn’t the message you want to hear, you are in the wrong place. This is said with no judgement, and our only goal is to provide value to you by inviting you into our journey, but if we can’t agree on those two truths, then we don’t think we can help you.

 

IF YOU ARE STILL HERE, THEN LET'S PURSUE OUR THREE PILLARS OF ACTION TOGETHER:

 

1. Build a story, create an adventure, and share an experience;

2. Create a sense of intellectual curiosity through problem solving;

3. Integrate delayed gratification into every activity.

 

Visitors here will see additional content related to the three pillars of action and we will offer up some concrete examples to help other’s find what is right for their journey. Our journey is heavily influenced by the Montessori method and pulls in the best of what we can find from traditional and non-traditional sources, but let’s briefly define the pillars.

 

Storytelling is the deliberate act of building an experience. Our responsibility is to structure that experience through inductive discipline and parent modeling while including lessons incorporating on empathy, self-motivation, and imagination.

 

Create a sense of intellectual curiosity through problem solving. Make intellectual curiosity an end unto itself. Everyone has experienced that minor sense of euphoria when we solved a math problem or captured that nagging missing word in a crossword puzzle. There is a whole complement of literature that defines this as a necessary requirement for educational growth. In a literal sense, that eureka moment builds biochemical structures in the brain. We release endorphins and it activates the same neurological systems involved in addiction. Wouldn’t it be great if all children were addicted to curiosity and problem solving?

 

The most difficult of the three pillars of action involves building a framework that self-motivates a child to engage in delayed gratification activities. A child’s ability to understand the value of, participate in, and effectively execute multi-layered delayed gratification activities is one of the biggest indicators of a child’s future success.

 

One consideration we offer as we help our children develop is the need to be consistent, but also give ourselves the reasonable freedom to make honest mistakes. It may sound trite, but the best response to a misstep made with the best intentions in mind is to pick yourself up and just try again, and when your child falls short encourage them to follow your lead and give it another go. The outcome of a lot of success with a handful of minor failures is on average still a success and the failures are the best path to growth.

 

The last consideration we incorporate into our educational journey is Angela Duckworth’s excellent work on “grit” which is defined as a combination of persistence and passion. It doesn’t have the same kind of scientific backing and years of practical experience one finds in the Montessori method, but it resonates with natural common sense and we think it is an important physical, emotional, and educational attribute we value.