FAQ
Are you an accredited school?
No, Wild Learning is a non-profit that provides a learning space for young people who are categorized as attending a “Exempt School” or also known as homeschoolers. We operate as a robust homeschool resource center/ exempt private school that provides full time programming. Our facilitators operate as “instructional monitors”. Please refer to the Nebraska Department of Education’s Exempt School FAQ page or reach out to us to learn more about homeschooling. To register your child/ children for Exempt School Status, please check out this site, look at this guide and click here to begin the online process.
How does Wild Learning meet kids’s needs?
Kids, like all people, need autonomy, a sense of belonging and to feel competent. These are three critical emotional and social needs in order for people to develop into adults with integrity and who can maintain healthy relationships.
Freedom is autonomy in action. Freedom means that kids can be who they really are and to make their own choices. Kids also need to belong, and this is where a caring community can play a vital role in meeting kids needs. And finally, kids need to feel competent. They need to learn and grow and feel like they are mastering new skills and gaining valuable knowledge.
Wild Learning, like many other Democratic and Self Directed Learning, are structured to meet these three very critical needs.
Self Directed Education allows young people to show up authentically. Kids can name their experiences and feelings, and pursue their interests and passions. In a sense, they have freedom here. This means also they can master skills and gain knowledge that is meaningful to them, and ask for help without judgement or competition from peers. They can gain the critical skill of differentiation, meaning they can develop both a strong sense of personhood while also learning to connect and build healthy relationships with others. They can tell the difference between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, they can tell the difference between their emotions and another person’s emotions, they can tell the difference between their experience and another person’s experience. This skill of differentiation is vital to building and maintaining communities as well.
Democratic Education allows young people the tools to work with others in healthy ways that recognize different kinds of power and to share power with others. Using democratic practices help build thriving communities. Kids feel like they belong when they can make meaningful contributions to a community.
Our Conflict Resolution Skills also support kids showing up as themselves, while building skills to create powerful connections with others. When kids experience and practice conflict resolution, they are being cared for and learning to care for others. Without conflict resolution skills, young people find it very difficult to feel like they belong. Conflict resolution allows kids to develop those critical differentiation skills. Meaning, they can accurately reflect and decide on who they are and who they want to be, while simultaneously attuning to other’s identities and emotions. True belonging comes from knowing who you are, being authentic while at the same time building healthy relationships and being close to others.
What do Facilitators do? Or why don’t you call yourselves teachers?
The word faciliatate means to make easy. In a sense, the adults in the space provide supports and resources to help student’s gain the experiences and knowledge they seek. We try to aid students in their curiosity and remove obstacles to their goals. Teachers give explicit instruction and determine the activities of a class. Sometimes during our offerings our Facilitators act as teachers. But during circle time or open time, our Facilitators hold space for student’s to show up authentically and pursue their own goals and passions.
How do kids learn if you don’t make them do things?
Schooling and education are two different things. People can become educated through a wide range of activities and experiences. Kids are naturally curious. And learning is happening all the time. When any person of any age are intrinsically motivated to learn, meaning they are being motivated by their own passions, interests and goals, powerful and deep learning occurs.
How do kids learn to read or do math if you don’t make them?
Again, young people want the tools of the culture they live in. Young people want to connect, create, and play. So much of our society involves reading, writing and basic math skills. When kids connect these skills with their own passions or goals, they will learn them.
There is no sensitive time period for reading or math, so these skills can be learned at four, at eight, or at twelve. Forcing kids to learn or develop a skill when they are not ready can lead to frustration, resentment and a negative relationship to learning.
Here at Wild Learning, the young people have decided to work on these skills on special days. We have Math Mondays, where young people grow their math skills by working in small groups or one on one with a facilitator. We also have Language Arts Tuesdays, where young people choose what skill they want to work on, like spelling or reading. And then that day for closing circle, we have a discussion called It’s Lit, where we share our favorite literature or current books we are reading.
Furthermore, during Open Time, young people engage in Self Directed Learning. Whether they are playing a game that involves addition, reading a novel, or working on a presentation with a partner, they are using and growing a wide range of skills that include reading, writing and math.
How do you know kids are learning if you don’t have grades or tests?
Grades and tests are used as assessment tools because of efficiency, not because they always accurately demonstrate the depth of understanding or skill level a person possesses. Because Wild Learning can focus on individuals, we see, discuss and record students' growth every day, throughout the week and over a year.
During Care Circles, we openly discuss and share what has been learned, what skills are developing and areas of growth for each young person.The students themselves reflect on their own understanding and growth through discussion, written reflection and presentations.
Facilitators keep records of where students are for certain skills like reading. We are transparent and honest with young people about their strengths and the challenges we are observing. Student’s grasp of ideas or their skill level regarding a particular content area is not a mystery to be revealed to them by a letter grade once in a while. They are active participants in assessment and reflection.
Furthermore, learning can be organic and often spontaneous. What an adult learns from an experience may not be the same thing a child learns. One lesson can offer several different insights or new knowledge, depending on the student’s prior knowledge and their past experiences. Young people bring their own personalities and knowledge to every lesson and activity. The learning they do can be extremely unique to that individual. We embrace that here.
So there are no standards? You don’t make students be able to do certain things by a certain time?
Our standards are around issues like self awareness, self-respect and building and maintaining healthy relationships. Again, young people want to be proficient and have the skills they need to navigate, explore and be active participants in the world around them. You don’t have to force them to learn. Their innate desire for independence leads them to discovery.
Just because a child is six, or twelve, doesn’t mean all six years or all twelve years should know or be able to do the same things. Diversity in skills, interests and goals is important for a healthy community.
Our goals for young people are to create their own standards for a meaningful life and have the freedom to explore the diverse ways they can impact the world around them.
What if a student needs extra support, how do you assess that?
Because we work so closely with young people, we are able to see what comes easy, and what is more of a challenge. If we suspect that a student may need extra support, or other interventions, we communicate that with the families. If everyone consents and agrees, we provide extra time and support for young people.
The beautiful thing here at Wild Learning though, is that we can easily individualize learning supports for young people because we have built trusting relationships with them and their families. And because there are no grades or tests, young people don’t feel judged or embarrassed to ask for help. In fact, we embrace making mistakes, asking for help, and moving at your own pace here.
If a student needs support that we can’t provide, we work with their family to get outside help and support. If the family or young person thinks they are not getting their needs met at Wild Learning, then we help them transition to a learning environment to get their needs met. Our goal is not to force students to stay here, but for them to discover who they are and identify how to meet their goals. If that means transferring somewhere else, then that is part of our mission.
If there is no punishment, how do kids learn to obey the rules?
At Wild Learning, we are not interested in obedience. We are interested in young people building healthy relationships. One way we do this is young people create the rules and norms of the space through consensus decision making. They base these rules and norms on three of our community agreements. Those agreements are…
Take Care of Yourself
Take of Each Other
Take Care of the Space
When young people think deeply about relationships and community, and they come up with the rules and norms, they follow them not to avoid punishment, but because they know it promotes emotional and physical safety. They then embody these rules and norms, not out of fear, but from a place of understanding and deep care.
What about rules around safety?
We do have safety rules, as well as requirements that involve safety and health and conflict resolution, that the Facilitators create and hold. We take an authoritative role when it comes to safety, meaning we do not negotiate on safety rules, and at times will have to intercede or take control when a child is not being safe. For instance, if a child were to engage in physical violence, we would immediately remove that child from others for their safety and the safety of the rest of the community. We discuss often the difference between risks and dangers. We allow young people to take risks, like climbing a tree. But we will mandate students to stay away from danger, like crossing the street if a car is coming or handling something that could burn them. We also want Wild Learning to be emotionally safe, therefore, we do not tolerate any form of harassment, hazing or dehumanization.
But seriously, if you don’t punish kids, won’t they do whatever they want?
In today’s culture, we often conflate punishment, with boundaries and with consequences. The intention and outcome of punishment is often to cause discomfort, hurt or harm. Punishment also is disconnected from the original conflict. A child hits another child. They lose recess. At Wild Learning we believe that punishment does not support people in learning or growing skills, nor does it provide healing or resolution.
There are natural consequences to our decisions. A student throws a ball inside, they break something. That is a natural consequence. Human created consequences are called boundaries. Boundaries can be communicated before, or they can be created after an event or conflict.
The consequences and boundaries we create at Wild Learning can happen organically in conversation within personal dynamics.
An example would be a student playing a scary prank on another student. The prank is not received well. The two have a conversation where a new boundary-no more scary pranks- is created and agreed on by both.
Or they can be created in more formal ways, like at our Change Up meetings when we make new rules and norms. Our Change Up meetings happen every Wednesday. At a Change Up, young people can discuss issues, general conflicts in order to focus on solutions. Some of these solutions turn into proposals that are then voted on. Through a consensus decision making process, new rules and norms are created and agreed upon by all. A five year old and a 45 year old have the same power in voting for or against any proposals.
Young people, especially elementary age children, have a strong sense of fairness. And all people are social animals. Our desire to connect, build relationships and our sense of fairness and justice help us be empathetic and build a community that serves people’s needs.
That being said, emotional regulation and social skills are something we spend a significant time discussing, exploring and practicing. Young people here can practice interacting, building relationships, and navigating conflict with the support of the facilitators. Our community agreements, boundaries set up by the facilitators, act as a safety net for the young people. The facilitators also provide modeling, guidance and direct instruction when it comes to social skills like giving and receiving consent, having productive conversations and navigating disagreement.
How do you deal with conflict between young people if there is no punishment?
At Wild Learning, we are committed to conflict resolution. Our conflict resolution tools and practices are varied and numerous.
The structure itself, one based on consent, power sharing and transparency, inherently removes common conflicts found in compulsory conventional educational settings. We also have specific conflict resolution tools we use. For instance, we use “Stop Seriously” as a safe word and we use Village Free School’s “I challenge You” process. If a young person needs something to stop because they don’t feel safe, emotionally or physically, they can say “stop seriously” and the other persons needs to stop what they are doing.
If “stop seriously” doesn’t work, then the person who said the safe word, can move on to “I challenge you.” The person they challenge must go get a facilitator, and the people in the conflict will engage in a conversation with the help of a facilitator. The facilaitors’ role is not to solve the problem for the kids, or to figure out who is to blame and dole out punishment. Instead, the role of the facilitator is to be a mediator. They help the people in the conflict communicate, share feelings, listen to each other, and make a plan moving forward. Sometimes this plan is a new personal boundary, “Don’t comment on my hair.” Or they can result in a new community rule or norm. “Don’t comment on people’s looks without invitation.”
If the same conflict keeps arising, and is not being resolved through mediated conversation, then the young people or adults can call a Care Circle. A Care Circle is like a student teacher conference, except it can be led by a facilitator, a young person, or a family member. A Care Circle is an opportunity to continue deeper conversations about the conflict, and what supports or skills are missing that could be causing issues or conflict.
How do kids transition to conventional school?
Kids academically do great when they transfer back into conventional school, especially if they know ahead of time that transition is going to happen. For example, we had an 8th grader who was going to be in a conventional high school next year. They wanted to feel more prepared for the math classes they would be taking, so we worked on Algebra that year.
Some students find returning to conventional environments challenging because they have grown accustomed to directing their own education. Though this transition to highschool or college is smooth because at those levels there is so much choice and freedom. In fact, students who have experienced self-directed education often thrive in these environments because they are more self aware of their interests and their own learning styles. Younger kids moving back into elementary or middle schools may be frustrated with their lack of bodily autonomy in these spaces.
Conventional school often focuses on grades, test scores and following directions as indicators of a child’s growth, their learning and achievement. At Wild Learning, our goals are for student’s to be intrinsically motivated, and seek internal validation and meaningful results as indicators of their growth and success.
What is the Democratic part of Wild Learning?
Students use democratic tools to decide two things. The classes that will be offered and the rules and norms of the space. For the classes, the young people brainstorm ideas, and then go through two rounds of rank voting to decide the three classes we will have for five-six weeks. These three classes over a 5-6 week period are known as a rotation.
The rules and norms of the space are decided through a consensus decision making model. A student will bring up a proposal for a new rule. Then there will be discussion. Someone then can call for a vote, if it is unanimous, the new rule is adopted. If it is not, we go back to discussion to see if changes are needed to the proposed rule.
Unconventional or conventional learning environments, public school classrooms and after school programs can use democratic tools to make collective decisions, share power and respect people’s autonomy.
How do you support goals around Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility?
DEIA can mean different things. There is the neoliberal political strategy of representation and the corporate strategy of public relations when it comes to ideas or issues around DEIA. We do not subscribe to either of these political or economic strategies. Our approach to DEIA stems from seeing people’s full humanity, respecting and celebrating differences, ensuring fairness and meeting people’s needs. Here at Wild Learning, we use words like liberation and anti-oppression and justice rather than the academic or corporate frameworks and goals of DEIA. Our goals spring forth from the values of sharing power, meeting needs, providing care, respecting all people and protecting freedom.
You can work on issues or goals around liberation and justice on the interpersonal level and the structural level. On both levels we are committed to being anti-oppressive.
At Wild Learning, because we are a Democratic Self Directed Learning space, our structures promote and support diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. Student’s identities are respected and their individual experiences and needs honored and supported. Democratic practices share power and embrace the values of responsibility, care and acceptance.
Another way we promote liberation and justice is with our sliding scale. We know private tuition can be a huge barrier to accessing unconventional education. With our sliding scale, we are committed to increasing the accessibility of these kind of education for Nebraska families
Conflict resolution practices also strive to reach the goals of justice by recognizing the ways punishment can reproduce harmful oppressive outcomes for different people.
The curriculum that is created by our facilitators is also anti-oppressive and seeks to provide students with facts and offer them the complexity and diversity of viewpoints on different topics.
We are committed to building liberatory spaces from a place of solidarity and recognizing and respecting differences. Differences in identities, experiences, beliefs, cultures and abilities are recognized, respected and at times celebrated. We take a both/ and approach. We also strive to find common ground, discuss shared experiences and explore universal ideas and concepts.
Part of this process is also being and acting in ways that are not oppressive. We are against the practices of dehumanization, humiliation, threatening or behavior that leads to intimidation and control. We actively engage with issues of identity as well as personal experiences, belief systems and economic systems, material realities and historical periods. We look at a wide range of histories, theories and thinkers in regards to systems of oppression.
We are not experts in anti-oppressive practices but we are committed to following the work, guidance and practices that are being created by a diverse group of authors, researchers, writers, artists, community organizers and others. We believe that there are many ways of looking at things and inviting and exploring diverse perspectives helps us all. We do not ascribe to a fundamentalist approach. We make room for our own growth and change, as well as others.
Children have rights?
Rights only exist when they are recognized, respected and at times protected. Children are people. And their human rights are outlined by the United Nations. Children also live within the United States. And because of that, their rights are also protected under the Constitution of the US.
But beyond legal documents, children’s autonomy, dignity and well being should be every societies’ goal. The Children Rights Movement is both a historical and modern political movement to ensure that children are not being oppressed, both within interpersonal dynamics but also structurally.
Wild Learning is committed to respecting children as people that can and do make their own decisions and at the same time who also need various levels of unique support and care.
We believe that children are capable. We believe that children are not empty vessels that need to be poured into, or lumps of clay to be modeled. Our educational philosophy and practices recognizes the reality of who children are and what they need. They are a diverse group of people, with diverse needs. But they all need care without conditions, support without control and opportunities without coercion.