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THE SCHOOL FROM SCRATCH
An Educational Commons for students, teachers, parents, and other learners.
An Educational Commons for students, teachers, parents, and other learners.
The School From Scratch Operations.
The School From Scratch Operations.
We start operating with a maximum of 15 children, 4-18 yrs, in a multi-age learning environment with a minimum 3 day/week commitment.
We start operating with a maximum of 15 children, 4-18 yrs, in a multi-age learning environment with a minimum 3 day/week commitment.
9am: Arrivals & Circle Time
12pm: Lunch time
3:00pm: Circle Time
3:00pm: End of Day
Daily activities include:
Circle time: movement, singing, dancing, noticing, sitting quietly, announcements, wonderings, and sharing.
Exploring phenomena: interdisciplinary explorations of primary soruces, materials, and phenomena in diverse subject matters - from math to dance.
Dialogues & Inquiry: dialogues rooted in core questions of the week/month.
Independent Learning: time for self-directed reading, writing, drawing, movement, making, and other explorations responding to the child’s individual explorations.
Reflection Time: journaling, drawing, and group sharing.
Walks and Hikes
The root meaning of ‘school’ originates from leisure. The structure will prioritize a sense of leisure.
About
About
The learning center's base is at Regen Tropics, Oak View, (Ojai-Ventura route), California from where we will make frequent field trips to other spaces in around Ojai.
Exploring both the ‘outer world’ and the ‘world within’ and their relationship and interaction.
Transdisciplinary curriculum grounded in primary sources and phenomena
The environment does not promote: (i) reward and punishment, (ii) the avoidance of failure in the pursuit of success, (iii) conformity to authority (external or internal - i.e. our own conclusions and beliefs).
Dynamic structures responding to a rapidly changing world.
Beginnings and endings reflecting impermanence.
Curriculum and Teaching-Learning (a.k.a. The Learning Tree)
Curriculum and Teaching-Learning (a.k.a. The Learning Tree)
The curriculum is curiosity.
The curriculum is uncovered rather than covered - sustaining attention, engagement, and inquiry.
The curriculum is emergent in its meticulous attention to materials, phenomena, and the learning of the children and the educators. The curriculum and 'lessons' include intentionally planned and unplanned experiences and activities.
Curriculum: Roots, Provocations/Opportunities, Inquiry, and Explorations:
We learn deeply when we are genuinely curious about the world. Rather than dividing learning into separate subjects, we co-create an environment where explorations naturally arise from observations, questions, conversations, play, collaboration, silence, and a deep sense of connection with the world and with one another. These experiences may continue for days, weeks, months, or even a lifetime as explorations grow.
The teacher's focus is to: (i) be learning themselves (ii) make available and co-create environments for direct engagement with phenomena, materials, and the world (iii) understand how children make sense of the world - their observations, questions, ideas and how they carry them out, what they do (iv) inquire, observe, and document the process (not merely the product) of children's work (v) explore learning/unlearning that is not merely the accumulation of knowledge (vi) engage in a partnership with the parents in sustaining and documenting the above at the learning center and at home.
The investigations listed above are not a fixed curriculum to be covered or completed. Instead, they represent rich areas of exploration that invite children into ongoing inquiry. Through these experiences, literacy, mathematics, science, the arts, communication, and social-emotional learning emerge and develop naturally within meaningful contexts. Meaningful investigations often emerge unexpectedly from a child’s observation, a conversation, a walk in nature, a community event, a story, or an everyday experience.
Parenting-Learning
Parenting-Learning
This is also a space for parent learning and for parents to partner with teachers in close observation, documentation, and inquiry.
The ask from parents is:
parents commit to attending a monthly meeting for 2 hrs exploring with other parents and teachers – matters of learning, education, and life that are not focused on their own child (as there will be separate forums/conversation for this)
parents are invited to join a weekend camping trip with children two-three times in a year
parents maintain a notebook to document observations, activities, and questions of their child (this is an important resourse for teachers and also contributes to creating a consonance between life at school and life at home).
one day of the week is likely to include visits to the house of one of the students (by rotation). This is intended to get an understanding of the home environment, support the parent & family, and develop a sense of community or shared engagement in each other’s lives.
Parent-school or parent-teacher relationships are not customer-service provider oriented or merely a childcare focus but rather one of mutual learning. This requires sustained commitment and engagement from all of us.
Cost
Cost
This is not a for profit operation. Nevertheless, the running costs of the center including health care, basic needs, and livelihoods of the teachers need to be covered and parents and others contribute financially or in other ways that support the center. Since we would not like to limit the parent body to economically well off families, we encourage those who are financially more able to support other families. It is important that the ability to pay does not hinder a child and parent from joining.
Child Safety
Child Safety
Child safety is a priority at The Learning Tree and teachers have background check certification.
Sunsong (Susan) Clark (director, teacher, and safeguarding lead), served for years as government mandated residential school safe guarding lead and conducted child protection trainings for staff and teachers.
Dr. Gopal Krishnamurthy, Founding Director/Teacher, TEC, and Director/Teacher, The School From Scratch (Ojai, Microschool).
Gopal brings decades of experience in schools, universities, teacher education, and education in India, the UK, and the US. He has a PhD in education, and served as university Dept. Chair & faculty, school director, and teacher. He sees Ojai as a crucible for wonder, not knowing, and deep inquiry.
Sunsong (Susan) Clark, Founding Director/Teacher, The School From Scratch (Ojai, Microschool).
Sunsong's work entails developing rich learning environments where children pursue their trajectories of interest in an atmosphere of mutual learning alongside observant adults focused on understanding how the child makes meaning of the world around them and acts those meanings out. She holds an MEd with a concentration in the Reggio Emilia approach, and certificate in ECE. She spent 18 years homesteading off-grid in a small remote community. In addition, she is constantly amazed by nature and the everyday beauty of all kinds of things.
Amol Gejawar, Founding Director/Teacher, The School From Scratch (Ojai, Microschool).
Twelve years of expertise in natural learning, ecological restoration, organic farming, alternative architecture, and traditional craftsmanship, have cultivated Amol's diverse and impactful career. His commitment to sustainability and community-focused initiatives continues to drive his work in these interconnected domains. He holds a Bachelors in Engineering. Amol brings years of experience in educational leadership, and the observation and education of children.
Dharmakaruna Santhi Edara, MD, Internist, Dignity health- St. John Regional medical center, Oxnard CA. Founding Parent, The School From Scratch (Ojai, Microschool).
Being a mother of two young children and working as a physician, I have often questioned the learning I experienced in my own childhood. Modern education systems seem to be successful at dumping knowledge into children, rather than helping with knowledge creation.
It has become clear to me that there is no shortcut to true learning. A newborn rolls, crawls, sits, and walks on their own. In the same way, a child’s learning about the world needs to happen as naturally as possible—with time, freedom, curiosity, and their own experiences.
I firmly believe that ‘The School From Scratch' can provide a space where a child’s originality is protected, allowing their uniqueness to naturally blossom.
Maxwell Lommel, Web Design, TEC, and Founding Student-Intern, Teaching Apprentice, The School From Scratch, (Ojai, Microschool).
Maxwell has explored the educational landscape in different ways in and out of Ojai including attending both traditional and alternative school systems, and was selected to join the Education Reimagined Conference in Washington DC. He is a junior in high school currently taking classes at Ventura College as a dual enrollment student. Maxwell hopes to continue growing at The Learning Tree as the first teacher apprentice/student intern.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Will my child be able to obtain grade level standards?
Depth, breadth, and learning excellence in all areas are core to the center. We hold the question - what does it look like for learning rather than the measurement of learning to be at the heart of a learning endeavor? Nevertheless, should the students and parents wish to work towards meeting standards, the center will support them with this. The documentation of the learning activities and experiences can be used towards addressing the standards.
Is this a project-based, play-based, nature-based, inquiry-based school? Will it be a structured, unstructured, or semi-structured school? Will it be a self-directed learning school?
It is important for us not to limit and restrict ourselves to branding and slogans. We do not see unstructured and structured as opposites nor strive to find a semi-structured balance between the two. We are interested in the question - structured or unstructured with regard to what and for what? Having said this, there will be project-based, play-based, nature-based, inquiry-based, active, silent, dialogic, independent, and collaborative experiences and learning.
A surprise occurence in Ojai
For an inspirational resource/starting point see: Video clips (below) of Rishi Valley School's RIVER, MGML (Multi-Age and Multi-Level), 'School without walls', with narration from Education and the Significance of Life - Krishnamurti.
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