Students spend most of their time in free play—exploring, creating, and learning naturally—because it nurtures their curiosity, creativity, and problem-solving skills, making learning joyful and self-driven.
The Open School rejects many of the core features of typical schools. We don’t have required classes, mandatory assignments, or tests. So what do we have?
Students spend most of their time in free play—exploring, creating, and learning naturally—because it nurtures their curiosity, creativity, and problem-solving skills, making learning joyful and self-driven.
Although students can sign up for as many planned activities as they want, they spend most of their time in free play. This means they are left to their own devices to do what children do naturally, without adult direction or suggestion. They may be engaging in imaginary play with their friends, having conversations, playing games, building things, or exploring the school’s resources such as art supplies, musical instruments, kitchen appliances, computers, sports equipment, and more.
This is so important because it nurtures the child’s creativity, curiosity, and ability to solve problems. Free play is a powerful engine for learning because it goes with children’s nature rather than against it—and this is also why our students are so happy.
We provide a schedule of activities for students to dabble in a variety of experiences. These may include art projects, cooking projects, academic classes, group games, workshops, science experiments, physical activities, and much more.
Students can propose an activity by dropping their idea into the “idea box,” or they can request a class or workshop from among the ones offered by adults in our community.
All activities are voluntary, meaning some students won’t sign up for any of them. This is fine with us because we know that kids naturally learn through free play (see above) and we trust that they will reject things that don’t serve them. It’s important for parents of Open School students to adopt this mindset as well, and accept in advance the possibility that your child may not sign up for any classes or workshops.
At The Open School we love to get out and see the world, so we do a field trip every 1-2 weeks.
Locations are based on student interest, and may include parks, zoos, museums, malls, specialty stores, movie theaters, beaches, skating rinks, and so on. Sometimes we do overnight camping trips. All field trips are voluntary, and students who opt out stay on campus for a normal school day. Some students go on every field trip, while others never go. Again, we trust that students will choose experiences that serve them and reject ones that don’t.
While students learn a lot at The Open School, we think of our school as primarily a place of community. Learning can happen anywhere, even at home; but community, it seems, is becoming harder and harder to find in our world.
A few example of tools we use to build community are:
All-school Meals
which are prepared and served by students and everyone in the school comes together to eat
Community Hours
which is a 3-hour period each day when everyone puts their personal devices away;
Monday Morning Meeting
a weekly time when all students come together to share news and participate in a brief activity
Attendance policy
to make sure students are showing up consistently and so they can rely on their friends being present.
While generally students have the right to say no to anything, there are some things that are essential services to the community.
cleaning up personal messes and
participating in all-school cleanup
coming to Civics Board (our judicial body) when they have broken a rule
serving on the jury when called
participating in the weekly all-school meeting
following the rules
Through community responsibilities, students get used to being a part of something bigger than themselves, and learn to make compromises and serve their community.
The Open School doesn’t have a “student government”—students are equal participants in THE school government. This means they can participate in debates and voting at the school meeting, and they can join committees to help with the work of running the school.
Through these experiences students learn that they are powerful and that they can enact change in their community. They learn to take initiative and think critically about issues. Through serving on committees, they can also get leadership and work experience.
Some of the committee opportunities are
and many more.
What do students learn in this kind of school?
Though we don’t have mandatory assignments or tests, all students learn to read, write, and do arithmetic. Why? Because those things are a part of real life.
Text is woven into the modern world, and kids want to be a part of that world. They have to be literate in order to be able to text their friends, play most video games, read menus, and surf the web.
They also need to know arithmetic to be able to count their money and make change, tell time, bake recipes, plan ahead in strategy games, and many more things.
Beyond those basics, every student will learn different things. They won’t learn all the subjects on the standard curriculum, like chemistry, calculus, or Civil War history. But one student will become a history expert, another will be a math wiz, and another will become an authority on black hole physics.
Most amazingly, students will learn things we never knew, like how to make a stop-motion movie, how to climb a mountain, or how to create the next big social app.
But learning is not all about practical skills. Through real life, children learn the most important skills they will need, like how to get along with others, how to take risks and learn from failure, and how to set goals and accomplish them.
At The Open School, students have the freedom to explore the campus independently, fostering responsibility, problem-solving, and confidence—while knowing that a supportive community and attentive staff are always there when needed.
At The Open School, students are not always supervised by adults. We have a large campus, and students are free to roam as they wish.
We believe that children need time away from adult eyes and ears, to practice problem-solving and conflict resolution on their own. While away from adults, children can push on the boundaries of their comfort zones and develop independence and responsibility.
However, it is important to recognize that no student at school is ever truly unsupervised. Students at The Open School know that they have a responsibility to look after each other, and to hold each other accountable for their actions. If they ever feel unsure about safety, they have no hesitation about finding an adult.
We accept that the occasional bump or scrape is an essential part of growing up and learning to manage risk. Therefore we don’t prohibit slightly dangerous activities such as climbing trees and running outside barefoot. Nonetheless, the staff are very safety-conscious and will intervene in any truly dangerous situation.
Let’s see if our school is a good fit for your family
One of our admissions coordinators will reach out to you soon and will happily answer any questions you have—whether it’s about our empowering educational model, the admissions process, tuition, or anything else you’d like to know.
We’re excited to connect with you!
A K-12 Self-Directed Democratic School Where Learning is Real, Meaningful, and Student-Led