Education & Philosophy

Our Learning Community

• Our multi-age learning collaborative allows for mentoring, a diversity of learners, and an autonomous learning environment.
• We focus on the social curriculum as a key aspect of the classroom community. We incorporate the Northeast Foundation for Children’s Responsive Classroom approach, using, for example, a daily Morning Meeting to create and maintain a positive and successful learning environment.
• The school day incorporates regular team-building and group challenge activities that include sharing work and ideas, collaborating in small groups, and reflecting together to ensure that all voices are heard.
• We foster academic choice and intrinsic motivation using an inquiry-based learning approach that allows students to explore what they are most passionate about.

Our Place-based Academic Curriculum

• Students make connections and develop ties to the natural environment and the local community through investigative, hands-on learning.
• Place-based education is meaningful and authentic, integrating all disciplines, and designed to meet children where they are, academically, developmentally, and socially.
• Place-based curriculum engages reasons for and solutions to real-life problems and fosters problem-solving and critical thinking skills that will be essential tools for this generation.
• The curriculum is standards-relevant: the Next Generation Science Standards, National Council for Social Studies Learning Targets, and Common Core standards for Math and Literacy serve as guides and benchmarks for teaching and learning.
• Place-based curriculum moves students through a progression of Chewonki’s varied resources, such as our wildlife lab, surrounding forests and intertidal shoreline, and farm, allowing myriad opportunities for hands-on learning.

Core Values of Our Program

• We draw from a wide variety of educational philosophies and styles of learning and choose to employ what we feel are the best, most progressive techniques for supporting our students’ success.
• We educate the whole child and focus on the social, emotional, physical, and academic growth of each individual. We also emphasize an awareness of others within the learning community, teaching children to learn and benefit from each other.
• We encourage children to delve into and enjoy the quest for knowledge. Our focus is on cultivating lifelong learners.
• We believe that the outdoors is a powerful classroom for integrated learning.
• We focus not only on the end product of education but also on the entire learning process.
• We foster grit and perseverance.