Curriculum: A child’s social interactions and emotional development are equally important as intellectual growth. Social studies is the developmentally-appropriate core subject for elementary students, focusing on people and what they do. Language use, mathematical thinking, historical thinking, scientific thinking, the arts, and healthy behavior are all essential, interrelated subjects of study around a social-studies theme.

Teaching: Teachers are knowledgeable, expert guides who collaborate with students and parents to design curriculum, refine the learning process, enforce the school rules, and carry out our mission.

Achievement: Each child has individual strengths, talents, desires and challenges. Basic skills are essential foundations for the goals of learning: Problem-solving, critical thinking, and understanding.

Equality: All people deserve equal opportunities. Children have different backgrounds and experiences to build upon. Given equal opportunities, learning outcomes will not be exactly the same for everyone.

Standards: National, state and local standards for education in each area of study are guidelines for achievement. While keeping grade-level expectations for skills well in mind, we know that children reach different levels of achievement at different times. The body of knowledge readily available for study is vast, thus we do not use checklists of specific topics that must be learned in grade school.

Diversity: Children benefit from interacting with all kinds of people. Different learning styles require differing approaches to learning. Some special educational needs require special learning environments which we cannot always accommodate.

Assessment: Children should be able to demonstrate their understanding and share it with others. Their progress is individual, not graded or competitive. Portfolios of their work are the best indicators of improvement. Well-designed tests can only measure specific, limited knowledge or ability at one point in time.

Behavior: Becoming a life-long learner requires developing a personal work ethic as well as essential tools for learning in time management, ownership of behavior, group participation, treatment of others, risk-taking, dependability, and reflection.

Economy: Quality education should be affordable for all people. We are a not-for-profit, community organization that provides opportunities for families of all economic levels. All parents should have a choice about where their children go to school.

Environment: We believe the earth has limited resources, thus we must conserve them through reducing our impact, reusing materials, and recycling. Caring for the environment is one of each citizen’s responsibilities.

Rules: Be safe, be kind, be productive.