by Jerri Jensen, Hannah Lake, and Hazel Schrage

  The Lighthouse School was founded by parents in 2001. Their mission was to “provide students and parents with a challenging learning environment dedicated to academic excellence and to utilize an eclectic approach to holistic education,” the Lighthouse Schools Mission Statement says.

The school started as a part of the North Bend School District. It first started with grades K-2, with the first and second grade working together. They added a new grade every year.

The beginning years were a difficult time for the school, as the space was small and they shared a building with North Bend Middle School. 

 “The space was small and sharing the building and services was pretty challenging. So we moved to the Coos Bay School District in 2017,” said Julie Graber, one of the school’s founders.

Lighthouse School moved to the Coos Bay School District in 2017. Over the years,  they’ve built a great program and sent many students to local high schools. 

Lighthouse students are successful in high schools and beyond. The school tries to stay connected to former students. Former students say they value the unique learning environment.

“The Lighthouse School is unique for many reasons,” Graber says.

“We are the only K-8 school in the area” that have gardens and an outdoor classroom, which is where the teachers bring their students outside to learn about their surroundings and nature, Graber said. 

Lighthouse students get to participate in many unique field trips. Kindergarten goes to the pumpkin patch and Sunset Bay tidepools, first grade goes to the pre-historic gardens and the Gift of Literacy.

Second grade goes to the Butterfly Pavilion and the Umpqua Fort in Elkton, third grade goes to a farm, fourth grade goes to the Tsalia festival and Coos History Museum.

Fifth grade goes to the Greek Festival, sixth grade attends outdoor school, seventh grade goes to the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, eighth grade goes to the high ropes course in Eugene and has a special end of the year field trip.

Other schools use textbooks and worksheets but Lighthouse uses main lesson books.

Mainlesson is a book where students can draw and write about what they have learned. It helps them see things visually. It is a big part of the Lighthouse School which is inspired by Waldorf curriculum. 

Main lesson has been part of the school it since the beginning. One of the eighth grades favorite main lesson pages this year was when they drew a picture of a cotton plant then they put real cotton on the picture of the plant. They the wrote about the cotton plant and it’s importance to the world economy.  

“We want students to develop critical thinking skills with our approach to lessons, so we ask them to wonder and think for themselves, rather than just working through textbook pages and worksheets. This is learning that stays with you as opposed to memorizing disconnected facts,” said Graber. 

Lighthouse “ incorporates art, handwork, drama, nature and movement in our lessons,” Graber said. They also have a wide range of electives for middle school students including: Cooking, strategic games, archery, yearbook, speech and improv, Do It Yourself (DIY), handwork, and comic book art. 

Lighthouse teachers are learning and growing, too. “In our original charter agreement, we stated that as the acting adults with responsibility, we would never stop learning. We must continually seek out the latest research and best practices. When we find something that enhances learning, we make adjustments to our curriculum to include it. Our philosophies may remain the same, but some of our approaches have changed over the years, and will continue to do so,“ Graber said. 

COVID-19 interrupted a lot of the unique aspects of Lighthouse School such as field trips, community activities, and cross grade interactions. When all of this was happening people were upset because they just got let down. So many exciting things were planned that students did not get to experience.  

 “We didn’t have any field trips or after school activities, we had to stay in the classroom in 6th grade,” Paige Horlacher, 8th grade student at Lighthouse School, said. 

That feeling of connectedness among the grades will take time and effort to regrow into what Lighthouse School used to be,” Graber said.

“If we could really focus and craft a dream school, it would take our current philosophies and concepts to a new level. I envision us on a large property with access to farm, fields, forests and water sources to explore. We'd love to add more skills to the students, such as woodworking, pottery, and chemistry. We'd have more time to include all the arts, movement and nature in daily learning, and would give students more opportunities to explore and stretch their minds with hands-on learning, leading to deeper thinking,” Graber said.

Lighthouse School’s unique way of doing things helps students learn in a way that is best for their own unique self. 

Photo credit: Kora Moore, used with permission