Mountain Sun Community School

THE HOLISTIC APPROACH: The vision of our school is to nurture the child’s mind, body, and spirit through incorporating innovative holistic approaches to education.   Teachers should embrace the concept that each student has an innate desire to learn about the world around them, that they learn in their own way, and that learning is organic and dynamic, therefore flexibility and creativity is key.  Teachers should be free to apply proven methods of teaching which are compatible with the growth and actualization needs of each learner and the mission of the school.  We believe some of the key holistic educational leaders whose techniques and practices support our mission include Rudolph Steiner (Waldorf), Maria Montessori, and Howard Gardner.

THE BRILLIANT CHILD: We envision the school providing a solid academic understanding in the subjects of math, language arts, and science, among others, while honoring each child’s unique blend of intelligences (i.e.: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist and others).  Daily opportunities should be provided for children to cultivate creative expression, and integrate such expression into the learning of traditional academic material.  We believe connection to the natural world cultivates learning from within, fosters whole child development, and reinforces care for self.  This connection will be facilitated by practicing environmental responsibility in all aspects of school life, creating hands-on learning opportunities within the natural world, and providing ample unstructured physical exercise and exploration in the outdoors.

THE MULTIAGE CLASSROOM:  We believe children thrive in the intellectual and social diversity of multiage classrooms where competition is reduced and collaborative learning is balanced with independent initiative. In this setting, every child can focus on his or her own individual path within a continuum. This in turn fosters responsibility to self and others. We believe that for educators to support the needs of individual learning styles they will need to remain active learners themselves through study, workshops, and teacher exchange opportunities in other holistic schools.

THE COOPERATIVE COMMUNITY: The School should also play a critical role in the development of a child’s communication, conflict resolution, cooperation, and collaboration skills.  To help facilitate this, our school should model consensus based decision-making.  We envision the school having parents & students working enthusiastically with teachers and administrators on many levels to advance the school’s mission and model desired student outcomes. This would include regular participation of parents in support of the day-to-day curriculum such as project-based learning, organizing community service and action, facilitating field trips, and creating opportunities for learning in the greater Brevard community.

**This information is taken from Mountain Sun Community School's website.