The Secret Ingredients
You can consider us an independent, self-directed, communal learning space or micro-school. We are also an Agile Learning Center, a global expanding network of self-directed education micro-schools.
What does all of this mean? We are independent enough to not abide by any pre-set, institutional curriculum, compulsion or standardization among students; and micro enough so that every learner can have an individualized relationship with their learning facilitator.
We are communal in the sense that we are a learning space for children, tweens and teens ages 5 – 16 years old. Our community consists of children (ages 5 – 17 years old), learning facilitators, parents, volunteer grandparents (wisdom council), and resource people with specific expertise in different areas of knowledge. We expand knowledge and learning resources to all life forms and do not limit them to textbooks.
Our governance and culture is collectively created by the community’s members. We are the first, completely, self-directed education community for children in Egypt. Where kids get to say what they want to learn and how they want to learn it!
We are self-directed in the sense that every learner fully designs their own learning experiences. Learners set their education intentions in any particular field, create and implement their own education experience, reflect on the experience, share it and they get to keep re-iterating the process, learning from their failures as much as they do from their successes.
Learning is Natural and Communal
We see learning as a natural bi-product of every human activity, and the real needs of young people shape everything we do and offer. We use a philosophy of free exploration, self-directed learning and a host of agile education tools and liberatory pedagogies (ways of teaching). Students learn to manage themselves and take active responsibility of their own learning process while being in a supportive and a safe community. Our learners develop capacities and abilities they need as human beings at the same time as they are having fun, happy and creative times!
We balance between a community spirit and individual differences; we embrace choice and freedom along with collaboration among the community of learners. We allow for learning and unlearning. We support and hold space for learners as they discover their sacred path in life.
Authentic Relationships
We convert the role of a teacher from an authoritative figure who imparts knowledge to a guiding facilitator that supports children as they build their intentional culture of learning and self-organize around their own individualized learning plans.
Know more about our vision, mission and who we are for! OR Go directly to how a day at our community looks like!