Our Philosophy for Great Education
[this page is a mess and still a work in progress]
At such a song a young age, what kids need most is a strong foundation on which to build their lives.
Roots to grow from. A stem to branch from. We should be careful not to force them to become branches before they become a tree. According to Tzedakah's 8 levels of helping, the highest level is to help others become self reliant. Teach to fish, find lakes and make fishing rods. That is what we aim to do.
We will provide wisdom that'll make adults say "I wish I learned that in school"!
Our approach is based on the best aspects from various schools, including Montessori, Waldorf and Reggio. And we've included a aspects that we thought were still missing.
We divide our curriculum into three main categories, as can be seen below.
But they overlap a lot and naturally transition into each other.
Competence follows desire.
And desire without competence is futile.
So, our goal is two-fold:
1. The will to contribute
Prosocial and moral norms, ambitions and ideals.
2. The skill to contribute
To be good at finding, creating, evaluating and applying insights.
The curriculum
The world within you
Know yourself.
- Socrates
Here, we understand the world within us. The body and mind that we live inside of, and that we are.
Here we delve into the psychology that runs our mind, which in turn runs our lives.
Our operating system, if you will.
What motivates us?
Maslow's pyramid
Hedonic and Eudemonic desires
Dealing with feeling
Discovering yourself
who you are, how you work,
what you enjoy, what you want to do,
and who you want to be
Critical thinking
Bias awareness
Fallacy awareness
The link
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors;
we borrow it from our children.
Here we understand the intricate interplay, interdependence and mutual influence of the world within us, within all of us, and the world around us.
How the world shaped us
How we shaped the world
How you shape the world
Ecosystems: The interdependence of all life forms
Societal ecosystems: The interdependence of all members in their societies
Moral ambitions: A sense of purpose and responsibility for both giving and taking.
A good life for you, and by you.Critical thinking
Effective discussions
Resilience against common political and corporate marketing techniques
The world around you
Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning.
- William Arthur Ward
Here, we understand the world around us. Both the natural world, and human societies.
This has traditionally been the sole focus of the common education system.
Language
STEM
(science, technology, engineering, math)Economics
Culture
Digital literacy
Religion
History
Physical education
Teaching methods
Curiosity:
Self-inspired exploration
The only way to do great work,
is to love what you do.
- Steve Jobs
Project time.
The first two hours of every morning is spent on a project the student has chosen themselves. They set their own goals, manage their own time, and solve their own problems as much as possible.Unguided learning challenges.
During normal lessons, kids are posed with a question, but not told how to find the answer. They can use whatever resources they wish. Books, Google, video's, ask AI, ask experts, etc. Problem solving in the same way they'll do as adults, when there is nobody to guide them. This way, they learn how to learn!
This way, we truly teach them how to fish.We try not to give answers, only reachable challenges. Never help someone with a question they can absolutely figure out by themselves, because you'd be cheating them out inspiration.
Every week, kids get to
Learning should be fun:
Engaging lesson material
Awesome quote.
- Person
Some subjects just need to be taught, even if the child does not actively seek them out. But they can be taught in far more engaging and effective ways than we are used to.
Learn by experiencing
Edutainment
Guest speakers: get inspiration and insight from great people
Incentives
Carrots. Not just sticks.
- Person
Conventionally, children are motivated to perform school work by the threat of punishment if they don't. We believe there should also be more positive incentives, that make it appealing to perform well!
Presentations after project time.
A reward system. You can earn 'carrots' (points) for trying and/or doing something well. Specifically things that everyone can do, not just academic intelligence dependent. Helping someone, not giving up on something, challenging yourself, responding positively to feedback, giving constructive feedback, ,
Money!
Self development and
self appreciation
The only way to do great work,
is to love what you do.
- Steve Jobs
Project time.
The first two hours of every morning is spent on a project the student has chosen themselves. They set their own goals, manage their own time, and solve their own problems as much as possible.Unguided learning challenges.
During normal lessons, kids are posed with a question, but not told how to find the answer. They can use whatever resources they wish. Books, Google, video's, ask AI, ask experts, etc. Problem solving in the same way they'll do as adults, when there is nobody to guide them. This way, they learn how to learn!
This way, we truly teach them how to fish.We try not to give answers, only reachable challenges. Never help someone with a question they can absolutely figure out by themselves, because you'd be cheating them out inspiration.
Engaging high quality lessons, consistently
Awesome quote.
- Person
Some subjects just need to be taught, even if the child does not actively seek them out. But they can be taught in far more engaging and effective ways than we are used to.
Learn by experiencing
Edutainment
Guest speakers: get inspiration and insight from great people
Incentives
Carrots. Not just sticks.
- Person
Conventionally, children are motivated to perform school work by the threat of punishment if they don't. We believe there should also be more positive incentives, that make it appealing to perform well!
Presentations after project time.
Money!
So we introduce a new topic to the curriculum:
Fundamental Ingredients for Being Human
We consider the following topics to be of indispensable value to any human life
Know yourself: self-awareness, self-management and self-control
Human psychology
Critical thinking
Dealing with feeling
Discovering who you are, how you work, what you enjoy, what you want to do, and who you want to be.
Teamwork ability
Knowing how to learn
The desire to make a positive contribution
Moral ambitions, societal responsibility and a sense of purpose and belonging.
Sub goals to achieve the main goal, and subsequent structure of our curriculum:
Understanding of human psychology
Understand human nature (desires and motivations, strengths and weaknesses of the mind)
Anticipate human behaviors, and act wisely in accordance.
Reasonable, rational and ethical decision making (resilient to miss-information, propaganda, populism and marketing tricks)
Ethical ideals & moral ambitions
Desire to positively participate in society (the desire to live a life with a purpose larger than yourself)
Resistance to negative additions in society (willing to sacrifice pleasures to limit suffering of other lives)
Understanding of the world around you
Scientific method
Politics & law (democracy and other systems, the flows of power)
Economics (capitalism and other structures, the flows of power)
STEM
Other fun ideas
Weekly theme / quote of wisdom of the week. Or 2 weeks or whatever.
Kids are fully aware of our philosophy, goals and methods!
Challenges with local government and companies.
Every week, you get 4 hours in which you are free to choose any subject/teacher to work with
Kids can choose their own mentor person, who'll actively be involved with them throughout their school career.
Teachers can give you an insight into where you stand as a person (some evaluation, kinda grading), but the kids also fill in their own evaluation/grading of themselves. We can then compare the two, and discuss discrepancies to gain further insight. Teachers are not always right, and neither are kids. But this way they learn, their own perception of themselves matters. Their value is not purely determined externally by some other individual.
And these evaluations happen frequently during the learning process, not (just) at the end of a period.At the start of every learning period (maybe 10 weeks?) you write down for yourself what you'd like to gain from it. What you want to learn, do better at, etc. And this can be many things. Interpersonal relations, personal health, topic knowledge or skill, etc. This way, kids also learn to very closely pay attention to where they stand (self awareness), and that you can always progress. Deliberate personal development, and life-long-learning, become an ingrained habits.
Kids are asked to provide feedback on teachings, teachers, methods and materials. They are also invited to become involved with development of teachings.
Perhaps, every week there is 20 minutes available for someone who really wants to talk about something. No pressure, no expectation or obligation. We could even do this in smaller groups, to lower the barrier to entry and increase quantity.