Pathfinders Learning Pods
This option would exist for kids ages 7 - 14 years old who are interested in a rich, child-led learning cohort one day each week, where "agency" & positive relationships are nurtured.
Unlike our one-hour Build-Your-Schedule "a la carte" classes which register each session, with students changing subjects & classes hourly, Pathfinders is a five-hour drop-off program that continues throughout the academic year (with breaks every 7-8 weeks). Registration for Five-to-Thrive would be for the entire "school year."
(No "a la carte" class offerings would occur this day.)
Kids would stay with their Pathfinder Learning Pod all day, grouped loosely by age/readiness. The expected cost would be somewhere around $900 for the year plus membership and some supplies. Students would follow this schedule:
10 a.m.
Greeting
Explore the week's news in an age-appropriate way. Use guiding questioning to help kids explore the social, cultural, and historical context of what is going on in the world. Instructors facilitate the conversation & help students explore resources for more information in order to help students form their own views, rather than pushing a particular worldview.
In addition to learning about the world, children will practice expressing their views, read and research together, practice discussing and disagreeing civilly, practice evaluating an information source for credibility, and learn how to seek out information. (The week's news source will be the weekly publication for kids, "The Week, Junior," so that families can know exactly what we're discussing & get in on the conversation at home!)
10:30/45
Project-Based Learning in small groups. Children will be given a real-world problem to solve, and over the course of the session will use critical-thinking to create a solution. For instance, "The local zoo needs to create an engaging exhibit to humanely house "x" animal and teach the public about its endangered status. With your group, design a zoo exhibit that meets the following requirements: adequate square footage per animal, etc." In the process, students must collaborate, research, design, write, compute, and more. Projects will be displayed at Harmony for children to present to their families upon completion.
Click here for a good definition of Project-Based Learning: https://www.teachthought.com/learning/what-is-project-based-learning/
11:45
Group de-brief: Where are you in your project? What's going well/not going well? What challenges did you face and how did you (or will you) overcome them? What do you need for next time and how are you going to get it? What's your next step?
Clean-up; transition to lunch
12:00 p.m.
Community lunch: kids all sit together (outdoors when possible!), eat and chat.
12:30 p.m.
Free play (outdoors when possible!)
1:00 p.m.
Independent reading and journaling. Students bring a book from home that is selected by them and approved by a parent. Books should meet a reasonable standard of academic rigor (think historical fiction vs. Dogman), ideally will have a narrative text for language enrichment, and provide a "manageable challenge" for the child. Students then journal their thoughts, feelings, reactions, questions, summaries, illustrations, etc. Instructors & students communicate through the journal weekly.
1:30 p.m.
Stewardship hour. Students engage in rotating chores that care for the physical space indoors and out. They clean and organize, plant flowers, pull weeds, design gardens, build things, paint murals, shovel snow!?, possibly care for/engage with our animals if we have them. In the absence of adequate outdoor tasks (like during sub-zero days), students may alternatively work on volunteer service projects together. Why? Chores and service projects all foster a sense of belonging, pride, fulfillment, and happiness, as well as beautify their environment and the world!
2:30 p.m.
Transition back to indoors. Student-led community meeting.
Exchange updates (e.g. The blue shovel broke. Fluffy the Bunny needs more hay. Etc.).
All share gratitudes for the day and de-brief about the day's events.
Address questions/concerns for the group and reflect/problem-solve together.
Read a story together & discuss it, play a game, do a community-building challenge, etc.
3:00 p.m.
Pick up!
