“Naturally Curious”
Our Vision
To foster children’s physical, mental, and emotional health and growth producing children who are happy, calm, and independent, with a restored joy for learning!
Our Mission
To model the love and hope of Christ in our community and beyond.
To provide a holistic education, rooted in nature, while nurturing and guiding the next generation to be world changers.
To place emphasis on developing compassionate and considerate individuals who always strive to understand the world around them and its Creator.
What we believe
We believe nature has a lot to teach us about relationships.
We believe in fostering children’s innate curiosity to develop lifelong learners of our world and all it has to offer.
We believe it is our duty to model love to our community.
We believe each person has been given a gift that can impact their surrounding community and world greatly.
What we promise
Dirty, joy-filled children with a renewed spark for learning!
We believe each person who enters our School of Holistic Education has a unique talent and will find a calling that uses their gift to impact the world in a positive way.
We promise, through holistic and experiential learning, to coach each member of our community to utilize their natural God-given curiosity to
discover their own unique gifts and talents
gain independence
develop strong and lasting character traits
value and contribute to their community
Our A-Z
Guiding Principles
Authentic, Balanced, Confident, Diverse, Entrepreneurship, Fearless, Growth-Minded, Hopeful, Innovative, Joyful, Kind, Loyal, Magnanimous, Nurturing, Optimistic, Perseverance, Quest-Seeking, Respectful, Servant-Minded, Trustworthy, United, Valiant, Wise, eXemplary, Yearning, Zealous
What our learning environment looks like
Experiential Learning
What better way is there to learn than through doing? At Rooted, we believe in hands-on projects, working in groups of similar and varying ages, exploring different learning styles, and problem-solving exercises. Our goal is to engage your child in the learning process, which studies show will help commit information to mastery with a 90% retention rate; versus the all too common “learn, test, & dump” model seen today with only a 5% information retention rate.
An example of experiential learning you might see at Rooted might look like:
Children visit a nature center on a school day with us. Whilst digging around the nature center, they find an earthworm. The children are encouraged to touch, feel, hold, and inspect the worm, and return to playing and digging. Later, they pause to reflect and journal about their experience with the worm. A review about the fun day at the nature center prompts a discussion about earthworms. The children then take a vote and decide to research worms (or maybe the vote is denied but one child still wants to research on their own). More discussion is held regarding all the new information that was discovered about worms during the research phase. And (usually) children discover something about themselves in the process… some may discover they love worms and/or digging in the dirt and decide to learn about what careers/hobbies allow you to do that. Others may discover they find worms repulsive. Either way, they learned something about themselves and more about worms than they would have simply by reading a book!
Did you know earthworms breathe through their skin and have 5 hearts?!
Self-Guided Learning
At Rooted, we turn learning upside down and inside out. We give students the freedom to choose to work wherever they feel most comfortable (indoors or outdoors) and to learn at their own pace. There are no timed tests and no timeline they must make before moving on. We believe in a culture that allows for personalization in every area, including learning style; quite the opposite of a one-size-fits-all model. If one child wants to stay focused on a specific topic longer than their peers, no problem! Rest assured, self-guided learning does not equal the abandonment of all learning, but rather the freedom and flexibility to learn at your own pace. As an added bonus, and accountability, children have “battle buddies” to help them stay motivated! Emphasis is placed less on what you know and more on how to learn through goal setting, resources needed to achieve goals, executing the goal in a personalized and timely fashion, and assessing the process once the goal is reached.
An example of self-guided learning you might see at Rooted might look like:
A child decides they want to read Pride and Prejudice, a literary classic. The child decides in what time frame they would like to finish the book and how many pages that means they need to read each day or week. For this goal, they assess that the only supplies they will need are a copy of the book and a “running partner” to help them stay on target to reach their goal. The child will review their goal and assess their progress along the way, all while learning some very important life skills (goal setting and time-management) at the same time they are enthralled with their novel!
Did you know there are literally hundreds of editions and adaptations of Pride and Prejudice? There’s bound to be one to pique your child’s interest!
Multidimensional Learning
Traditional learning environments consist of boxes; throughout the day, children cycle through box after box, learning one subject at a time, taught by individual teachers, and completely disconnected from the next box. However, the real world is not designed in boxes, and at the end of the day, children in traditional learning environments have no clear understanding of a particular subject and how to transfer the material into a real-world setting. Interdisciplinary learning (also known as unit studies or thematic units) is a sensible and balanced approach to learning which allows students to discover clear and relevant connections across the curriculum and weave different subjects together. Through exploring an issue within multiple subjects together, cognitive growth is greatly improved, learning is rich and deepened, and children are better able to make sense of any given material and how it relates to the world around them.
An example of multidimensional learning you might see at Rooted might look like:
-Learning about fractions through practical use in cooking class
-Learning simple and more complicated math concepts through money management at our children’s business fair
-Social studies of different countries, combined with map reading, cooking classes on countries’ most famous dishes, and major historical events from each of the countries
-Exploring our local creeks and wildlife whilst learning about erosion and various ecosystems
Did you know Augusta sits on top of a geological fall line, providing two very distinct types of both plant and animal communities in our backyard to discover?!
Community Engagement
Everyone knows it takes a village to raise a child. At Rooted, we believe wholeheartedly in the importance of community involvement and fellowship with others. Children need a community in order to feel connected to the world around them and in building their identity. They develop long-term benefits socially, emotionally, and intellectually through relationships established within their community.
Community engagement at Rooted might look like:
-inviting our local community to attend and participate in our children’s business fair
-students maintaining apprenticeships and internships with local businesses in their community
-inviting local businesses to partner with us and share their knowledge on a particular subject with our students
-students volunteering within their community in a myriad of ways and locations, for example, helping to keep a community garden growing and thriving
Striking the right chord?
Reading all this and excited to connect with us? We want to hear from you! Our community is a symphony of like-minded families anxious to make a noise in their community and make a difference in the next generation.