Curriculum

Due to the fact that each and every child is an individual, the curriculum at the the School of Now will be constantly changing to meet the needs of the children.  At the School of Now, we do not want children to believe that they must make a square peg fit into the round hole.  We want the children to be the individuals that they are, knowing that there is nothing wrong with them and to encourage each child to be all they can be.  The classes will have no more than 12-15 children in them and some classes will have even less children depending upon their needs.  The classes will be taught at 25 minute increments with a 5-7 minute break in-between increments.  All state and national standards will be met or higher achievements will be attainted.  Mainstream educational models have shown itself to be an imbalanced and limited system due to its primary outdated book learning, the way children are taught, its test-orientions, and very limited hands-on experience.  Imagination and development of  creative expression, are not only suppressed, but in many schools are being taken out of their curriculum (like music, arts and physical education) leaving the children without any means of release.

The School of Now will encourage the children to use their creativity, to reach the goals they set for themselves and not be afraid to trust who they are inside.  

With helping the children to empower themselves, we help to create a lifestyle for our children that addresses the pressing challenges of today and the ones yet to come, and prepares this generations and the other generations to come for a rapidly and exciting changing world knowing that they have helped to create it for the betterment of mankind.

Through hands-on experiences part of the School of Now’s curriculum is to help the children learn to share, practice and evolve sustainable lifestyle practices, which in turn will help to keep this planet a more balanced place to live.  Part of the curriculum is for the children to grow their own organic gardens, as well as, learning the important balance between humans, animals and Mother Earth. 

The School of Now would work with themes, for example a theme would be for the entire school to participate at the same time, but at different levels:

A theme for a month would be:  Water, Air, Earth, Plants, The Human Body, Food and Techniques needed to help them maintain a healthy mind.   These are general ideas that teacher could run with and create cohesive units.  Students would do math, reading, and science ect… based around these themes.  So that although the classes are short they are weaved together to create a bigger picture for the student.

These examples of other teaching institutes would also be incorporated in the learning process: 

Waldorf theories ask students to use all parts of their brain through music, movement, and hand crafts such as knitting.

International Bacclaureate asks students to become global citizens aware of the state of the world and how to work in other countries and diverse groups.

Backwards design is a way of reaching towards a life long concept, and designing lessons to meet this goal.

A very good video to take a look at is: