- Sep 10, 2023

Weekly Update + Upcoming Offerings

THE AGILE TREE

This past Friday, Sapna families met at the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens for a magical evening of tiptoeing through the flowers and dancing among the paintings! We were having such a great time, we stayed until we were asked to leave, lingering like these last few days of summer...

While playing at the museum, a parent shared a story with me about a recent conversation they had with one of our Sapna students. The parent was asking their child how they felt the beginning of this year was going compared to the beginning of last school year. For this particular family, last year was their first homeschooling and this parent was in charge of most of the learning. This year they started at Sapna. The student answered honestly stating that she did not think she was "learning stuff", just playing and having fun. Then she looked at her parent seriously and shared that they felt they were "gaining knowledge".

This is what Sapna Academy, agile learning, and self-directed education is all about. We don't necessary get caught up in "learning stuff" (although we like to do that too!), we focus on gaining knowledge and insight, so students are prepared to face anything in their future. A big part of that is trusting children to lead their own learning. That same student drew and painted the beautiful picture (seen above) of a tree at the museum, capturing such a special moment in time. <3

The soil we grow from is trust: in students, in each other, in you.

AGILE LEARNING CENTERS

EDUCATIONAL MODEL: The Agile Tree

Some things are central to what ALCs are about, while other elements are flexible and may vary between communities. We use a metaphor of a tree to illustrate this aspect of the ALC educational model more clearly.

The soil we grow from is trust: in students, in each other, in you. The four assumptions—roots—which ground us are as follows:

Learning: Learning is natural. It’s happening all the time.
Self-Direction: People learn best by making their own decisions. Children are people.
Experience: People learn more from their culture and environment than from the content they are taught. The medium is the message.
Success: Accomplishment is achieved through cycles of intention, creation, reflection and sharing.

We recognize twelve guiding principles as branches which communities refer to when developing new tools and practices.

LEARN MORE ABOUT ALCs HERE

Another special moment at Sapna this week was the Fancy Restaurant constructed on Thursday morning. Kids got to work right away, skipping the morning offering in order to create their own. I had something planned that I was sad to miss, but I trusted the children and boy, am I glad I did!

Everyone was working, the center was buzzing. We announced the offering was starting and no one even looked up. In the open play room, a restaurant was coming together, but there were limited seats... Another student got to work, creating another table, however it was not sturdy enough and more customers kept coming. They soon became overwhelmed and closed the cafe.

Seeing a friend in distress, the original restaurant owners starting working on a bigger and better, even fancier restaurant for all of them to use together. With the help of Mr. Nick, the group finally finished and were ready for the big reveal. They made their friend close their eyes and walked him into the "venue". 1 - 2 - 3 - SURPRISE!

His jaw dropped, he fainted, everyone laughed! It was so sweet and simple and perfect. Soon, everyone was seated and ordering anything their imaginations could dream up while the chefs prepared the incredible dishes.

There is no offering we could plan or prepare that could surpass the knowledge that was gained during this play. We honor that here. The soil we grow from is trust.