It’s Deeper Than Socialization, its about a place to belong!
Built upon a belief of “How can we say YES?,” a timeline set by PrN Learning and a foundation of democracy, decentralization and Self Directed Learning, The Genius School’s vision is to discover the Purpose of each Learner by focusing on creating Good Experiences that culminate in Genius students solving industry, community and global problems wrapped in scalable profitable solutions. The Genius School wants to bring each person’s gifts to the world by creating a welcoming space where kids know they not only have a voice, but they ARE the voice that guides how, when and what they learn.
HOW IT WORKS
We market, promote and advertise SDL education for the purpose of increasing Awareness & Accessibility!
THE FOUNDATION
Deschooling & Decolonized Parenting
Built upon a belief of “How can we say YES?,” a timeline set by PrN Learning and a foundation of democracy, decentralization and Self Directed Learning, The Genius School’s vision is to discover the Purpose of each Learner by focusing on creating Good Experiences that culminate in Genius students solving industry, community and global problems wrapped in scalable profitable solutions. The Genius School wants to bring each person’s gifts to the world by creating a welcoming space where kids know they not only have a voice, but they ARE the voice that guides how, when and what they learn.
Decentralized & Democratic
Unlike most traditional schools where the curriculum is the central guide for what students learn, learning at The Genius School begins with the one doing the learning; THE LEARNERS! Learners follow their interests, passions and curiosities to feed their hunger for knowledge. Geniuses can learn from other Geniuses, staff or hired tutors and members of the community.
“Student Buy-In” is a natural by-product when students are in charge of governing their learning environment. Every Learner, Facilitator and Director have a vote in making the agreements that govern their 5 Pillar Genius Community. Instead of a punitive Judicial Council, the community meets as a whole to express Community Awareness of what works and what doesn’t, decides what to implement and practices the implementation until it becomes the culture of the community.
Self-Directed & PrN Learning
PrN is the Latin term Pro re Nata, meaning “as the situation arises.” The definition of learning is “the acquisition of knowledge.” The question is WHEN is knowledge acquired? The Learner determines when they need to know something based upon love, curiosity and relevance! There are no deadlines or dates to follow with PrN Learning, only the natural curious timeline of a person as they brush up against something new and either curiosity, love or necessity spark the need or desire to learn.
Child-led learning places the child in the driver’s seat of their learning. Cooking is to eating as teaching is to learning; one does not guarantee the other! Child- led learning decentralizes the teacher’s responsibility of learning by removing the acquisition of knowledge from the job of the teacher to the job of the student. 5 Pillar Genius Communities allow students to discover their GENIUS and to follow their interests by selecting which learning activities to engage in, if any at all.
THE 5 PILLAR INVITATION
OUR X-FACTOR
Pillar 1: Know thy self
Geniuses are invited to learn what their genius is by creating “Good Experiences(GE’S)” GE’s are student initiated activities that the learner enjoys, does well and is proud of. GE’s are created through play, projects, real life experiences and work within interest driven, student run corporations.
Pillar 2: Know thy source
Geniuses are invited to learn about any practice that maintains mental, emotional, social and physical well-being. Using techniques including meditation, stretching, mindfulness, yoga, visualization, exercise and nutrition, therapy, counseling, epigenetic tools and other self regulating techniques, Geniuses are invited to learn how to RESOURCE themselves and gain an emotional intelligence to balance life.
Pillar 3: Know how to be Financially Self-Sustaining
Entrepreneurship is a natural by-product as student run corporations decide how to add value to the student body and the community at large. Geniuses in interest based corporations are invited to also learn how to raise capital to purchase material and hire a tutors, if desired. Local business owners prepare Genius Learners for job readiness. Board games such as CashFlow 101 and Monopoly also gives Learners opportunities to gain entrepreneurial skills through real life experiences. But what about Financial Self Sustainability in other forms? Genius Learners are also invited to learn about the Gift Economy, Sustainability and Solidarity.
Pillar 4: Know thy world: EXPEDITIONS!
Local, regional, international & domestic travel
Genius Learners 13 and older are invited to gain independence and autonomy as they navigate the adult world without adults! Geniuses receive a skeleton agenda and are invited to collaborate, research, add to the agenda and plan their trip. Expeditions can include independent trips to museums, talks, book stores, cultural and historical places. Younger Genius complete field trips with their 5 Pillar Genius community and family, but they are also invited to plan all the details of the field trip (with a lil help from grown ups :)
Local Expeditions are completed autonomously by middle/ high school students.
Pillar 5: Know how to Serve thy community with Thy Genius
What good is being a Genius if you don’t know how to leverage it to benefit your own backyard? Once Geniuses engage with Pillar One Invitation and know what their Genius is, they are invited to participate in a “reverse pitch;” community leaders pitch Genius Learners community problems to solve, beginning with the youngest Geniuses. Learners collaborate, operating in their strengths to create real solutions wrapped in a sustainable that benefit their own communities!
CORPORATIONS
Student interest is housed in corporations led by other students and staff with shared passions.
Students decide meeting time, activities, materials, tutors and budget within each corporation. They are responsible for raising capital to achieve goals.
The goal of interest led Corps. is for Learners to create Good Experiences and utilize their Genius through projects that benefit the community. Corporations collaborate in Partnerships of Excellence to solve community and industry problems by creating viable scalable solutions.
