Creative Learning Centre

Aims and Objective

I will have clear boundaries however within those boundaries I have absolute freedom. I will develop a high level of independence and self-direction, a comfort with collaborative work, and a love of learning for learning’s sake. I will treat each other with respect and be comfortable with the knowledge that each person has different strengths and challenges. I will learn techniques of reading, discussion and application to a task while developing personal dignity, social justice, observation skills and a positive sense of belonging.

I will engage in the immediate needs of the community: chores of dish washing and sweeping, weeding the garden, doing work at the farm, etc. In response to the stronger need for belonging and a growing ability to collaborate within a large group, I have a schedule for the day and work within the same curriculum area at the same time. I am expected to contribute my best effort to the topic or task at hand.

I am an agent of my own learning.

A conversation with the teacher about an art project is most important as it will be a barometer of success: my own knowledge that I have put forth my best effort. The mixed-age class supports me in applying myself in a unique way to a group experience. Longer blocks of time each day for subject allow enough time for me to follow personal threads of interest without interruption.

The curriculum is “society” and relates to the needs of the particular community.

While traditional education often teaches facts that are isolated from life outside the classroom, the Creative Learning Program offers lessons with practical applications that allow students to make improvements in your community. “What will I use this for?” is an often-asked question, as I determine how to use knowledge to DO something in the world. Projects such as creating an art project, building and maintaining a garden or baking bread, are real world opportunities for many lessons in science, maths, language, arts and practical life skills. I have the opportunity to work as a group to find ways of making money, a real experience of the economic connections in a society. The success of earning money for a job well-done is a strong source of validation for the person’s skills and contributions.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” - Albert Einstein