I am often asked the question, “If you give kids this much freedom, do they really learn anything?” Even more often I am told, “If you let kids decide, they won’t learn a thing.” So, I took a survey of our students. “What have you been learning about?” I asked. The following is a list of their answers:

Math: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, making a budget, calculus, statistics
Science: physics, history, space exploration, animals, dinosaurs and ancient life
Reading/Writing: Poetry, fiction, non-fiction, Shakespeare, the alphabet, English, spelling, writing stories
Music: Piano, guitar
Arts: Dance, performance, drawing, crafts, sewing
Physical Activities: karate, meditation, Tai Chi, basketball, hula-hooping, swimming, juggling, exploring at the park, playing at the playground
Computers: PC use, web design, computer gaming, internet usage
Languages: French, Japanese, Spanish
Other: Film Making, architecture, carpentry, business design and development, Anime, drama, culinary arts & cooking, philosophy, gardening, floral arranging, Judicial procedures, Roberts Rules of Order

Hmmm, seems to me our students have been busy. And that list was made the third week of school – in late September. Here is just a handful of other things I know I could add to the list now, after observing and interacting with students through the year:

Child care and supervision; committee process; making natural beauty products; nutrition; caring for small animals (our gerbils), and larger animals (dogs and cats at the Human Society); running a corporation; mediating disputes; growing vegetables & pruning trees; using a computer database; chairing a meeting; building a shed; tree-climbing; preparing for a GED; building a darkroom; photography.

We have taken excursions to the State Fair, Hogle Zoo, Tracy Aviary, Humane Society, Wasatch Community Gardens, and more. Two students had an internship at a pottery studio. For months, we had students volunteering at the Human Society on a weekly basis. Corporations have been formed for cooking, gaming (computer & video), photography, and some others that came and went pretty quickly.

Students have worked with students to create policies on TV/movie viewing, pets in the school, our elections process, and how we handle volunteers in the school. We also spent hours grueling over fine-tuning our judicial procedures. We have created, debated, and passed rules about swearing, cleaning, computer use, care of the building, and supervision of young children (to name a few). We have heard over 150 Judicial complaints, and gone through the fair process with each.

In short, it has been a busy year. Our students have learned many things they never would have in a traditional school setting, and of course there are things they would have learned somewhere else that they didn’t learn – yet. Their patience, dedication, and willingness to participate in the process has been outstanding. We will never know all that our students have learned, but to the skeptics I say: here, they learn it all. And then some.