What is a Studio?

School as we know it was designed in 1893, and we think it's time for a change. In a continued effort to try and re-imagine school, we call our space a STUDIO. A studio is simply a safe, fun, and inviting workplace for young people.  Here there are no set desks and specific workplaces. There is freedom for learners to access books, games, art and craft supplies, and all other tools and resources they need for their Hero's Journey.

What is a Guide?

It may help to picture a trail guide who helps assist others in traveling on a path across a wild region and over a rough country by showing them the way. All the while, offering advice, and counsel as needed. Instead of traditional teachers that tell students what and how to learn, our guide is there to ask questions that encourage individual responsibility and growth.

A Guide's role at Idaho Evergreen is also to prepare the studio, set the schedule, choose which challenges to offer, deliver launches that follow a daily, weekly, session, and annual learning arc, and model and pass along the key skills to older learners.

What is a Session?

A session is a 5-7 week sprint of learning, followed by a break. At the start of each session, the learners begin a new collaborative quest that they will exhibit at the end of the session during an exhibition. 

What is an Exhibition?

At the end of each session, learners are in charge of planning an exhibition to show what they have learned during the past session and how they have grown. We like to think of this like a report card. Instead of showing grades on tests and assignments, they get to demonstrate and show the work they've done to parents and other community members.

What curriculum do you use?

We don’t! As if you thought our little school couldn’t be more different. In this modern era, technology has brought so many platforms on which learners can master subjects at a pace that works for them without waiting for others to understand a concept, or not fully understand it before being forced to move on. Salmon Khan, the founder and creator of Khan Academy, calls this “swiss-cheese learning”. By giving students a passing grade of a C or even an A-, we are still advancing them to the next grade level with holes in their understanding. This only makes it more difficult as they continue with the holes only getting bigger. We use resources like Khan Academy, Lexia, Typing Club, Vocabulary A-Z, Zearn, IXL, and others! We are always growing and adding more amazing resources!

How does the grading process work?

We don’t use traditional grading at Idaho Evergreen. Rather, students work towards completion and mastery in each area of learning. For example: when working on math in Khan Academy, learners can not advance until they have 100% mastery of each concept. This avoids the “swiss-cheese learning” that is prevalent in traditional school environments. Instead of learners moving forward without fully learning each concept, they confidently advance with full understanding, and if needed can always go back for a refresher.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU DO TESTING?

We do not do regular testing at Idaho Evergreen. We may choose to do periodic testing to help learners develop skills necessary for their future, but we do not look at testing as a gauge for “how smart” they are, or what grade they should be in. We view testing as a way to collect a small amount of data about each learner.

What grade level will my child be in?

Our academy allows learners to advance at their own pace in different subjects. This may mean that a ten-year-old learner could be in “7th-grade math” and reading at a “4th-grade level”. Learners have the ability to advance in any or all areas as they grow.

What is a learner-driven Environment?

A learner-driven environment is simply a place where the learners are in charge of their own learning. We give them the tools needed and then set them free to learn at their own pace in an environment set up to help them thrive and develop a love for life-long learning. They set their own SMART goals, track their progress in Core Skills, and deep-dive together in Quests of focused learning on a specific topic.

Will my learner be on a computer all day?

Not at all!! There are a few subjects, such as math, grammar, typing, etc that are done on the computer, but there is so much more time for the learners to discover and learn without the aid of screens. Computers are valuable tools, especially in our day and age, but they are just that, one of many tools available.

What about internet safety?

We use a platform called Canopy which helps us monitor internet use and does a good job of blocking questionable or dangerous sites. It also blurs out any questionable images (such as bathing suits, excessive skin exposer, etc) while still allowing learners to search for relevant work online. While no filtering software is perfect, we feel Canopy is a great first line of defense against harmful internet sites. We highly encourage parents to keep an open conversation about internet safety at home.