The Adolescent Community
A bilingual Montessori program for adolescents 12 to 16 years old
THE ADOLESCENT COMMUNITY
Since opening the Adolescent Community in 2017 it has been our aim is to build a learning community organized around the values of perspective, collaboration, continual growth, self-knowledge, benevolence, and individuality.
The important work of abstracting and creating meaning through the use of concrete materials and lived experience continues and expands in the Adolescent Community, where trained adults create an environment in which the adolescent can find meaningful work, acceptance and membership in a working community, and inspirational adult guidance.
Classroom work in Mathematics and Language continues, while the work of the Humanities and the Sciences is grounded in the real work of the land and authentic interaction with society. In the Adolescent Community, a significant part of the week is set aside for the essential work of self-discovery through physical and creative expression in the form of song, making, cooking, conversation,, Aikido, hiking, and entrepreneurship .
The Adolescent Community is a collaborative learning community of adolescents and prepared adults working shoulder to shoulder on things that matter: how to learn, how to study, how to present one’s ideas, how to talk to others, how to cook, how to organize one’s thoughts and one’s work, how to create a business, how to work as a team, how to negotiate, how to defend oneself, how to listen, how to calm oneself, how to make music together, how to help others, how to recognize art, how to make art, how to safely let one’s guard down.
The continuum of permanent learning and growth begun in the Children’s House and continued through Adolescence, becomes a way to respond to life, a way to understand the world: a collaboration between one’s inner impulses and the world’s opportunities and challenges. Moving along this continuum the adolescent creates meaning, slowly building an autonomous personality with a unique understanding of the world.
“Yes,” is our answer to the adolescent.
Yes, we see you.
Yes, we respect you.
Yes, we understand you.
Yes, we want to hear you.
Yes, we value you.
Yes, we think you are great!
