Models we employ

The Whole Life Charter School's educational design was formulated on the successful practices of these other school models. 

Big Picture Learning – First opening its doors to students in 1995 with a school in Providence, Rhode Island, Big Picture has grown to be a network of 140 schools throughout the world. Their's is a project-based pedagogy with a strong emphasis on education in the real world through a strong reliance on internships for each enrolled student with mentors practicing in vocations of interest to the student. 

Edvisions Schools – Employing a project-based method with underpinnings similar to Big Picture, we were particularly interested in Edvision's utilization of technology, their egalitarian approach to school management, and the model's compliance with State academic standards. We incorporated these particular elements of their design into the design of the Whole Life Charter School.

MicroSociety – We are very excited about our partnership with MicroSociety and we are thrilled to bring this very engrossing learning experience to our lower and middle school students. To quote their brochure, "Imagine a place where children learn math by holding jobs, paying taxes and owning businesses that sell everything from pom pom pencils to potpourri pillows. A place where students study logic and law by taking their peers to court and fining them in the school’s own currency. A place where kids come to understand politics by drawing up their own constitution, drafting laws and deciding which days of the week that baseball caps may be worn to class." The link at the the beginning of this paragraph takes you to the MicroSociety website. Download the MicroSociety brochure to learn more about this exciting entry into our curriculum.

 

Resources that inspire us

There are a great number of resources we look to for ideas and inspiration. Our favorites are listed below.

Edutopia

Coaliltion of Essential Schools

 

Resources for parents of children with ADHD

There are a plethora of ADHD resources on the web. The following are the sites we go to for the most useful information.

U.S. National Library of Medicine – A very easy to understand basic page with medication listings and basic identifiers. A simple good start. 

National Institute of Mental Health – This link will take you to the ADHD page of the NIMH site. More in-depth than the site above, this page will give a a fairly good baseline of information on everything from the ADHD symptoms to treatment.