Dr. Maria Montessori is best known for her vision for toddler and elementary education, which is characterized by a respect for the child as a unique individual whose natural inclination is to work and learn.  Her visions for adolescent education, while never completed within her lifetime, is a continuation of this philosophy.  On the threshold of adulthood, adolescents should have the opportunity not only to pursue academic interests, but to prepare to take their place in society by practicing real adult work.  Self-confidence, societal contribution, and the feeling that their work is valid become increasingly important to the developing young adult. Montessori recognized a need to prepare adolescents for an unknown future, to equip them with the ability to think creatively and solve problems.  These principles continue to be relevant to the critical choices facing our society and world. 

Other hallmarks of Montessori education persist at the high school level: work choice, mixed-age classrooms, a prepared environment, self-paced learning, and work that is meaningful.  Opportunities and freedom are always balanced with intrinsic limitations and consequences. 

Dr. Montessori advocated that this practical, societal learning should take place on a land school, where students have the opportunity to engage as a small society in real work. Traditionally these land schools are located on an operating farm, but Montessori also suggested that they be located in a forest or on a coast.  Land schools provide opportunities such as caring for animals, growing food, and marketing produce to the outside community, all while instilling an appreciation for and responsibility towards our planet. 

More about Montessori education from one of our models, the Hershey School.

No! Our curriculum is intuitive and adaptive. Students will be expected to show initiative and take responsibility for their learning, but this skill will be scaffolded by our teachers.

Simply defined, a forest school is one wherein a significant portion of a school day is spent in a forest.  Many studies show that time outdoors in a natural environment enhances physical and mental health.  At Oak Forest Academy, the forest will be available both as a backdrop and as a laboratory.  That is, many ordinary classes can take place in an outdoor setting.  As a laboratory, however, the forest provides material to study the sciences, inspire the languages, populate mathematical problems, and exercise the body. Daily interaction with this ecosystem will instill a biocentric ethic, realizing all life is integrated with each other.  While the forest will be significant to the school, not all coursework will need to involve the forest.  Students will study traditional subjects and earn the credits necessary for a Minnesota high school diploma. Additionally, they will pursue topics specifically made available by the forest, such as environmentalism, bushcraft, and fine wood working. 

Adolescents have such potential for real work and learning.  Yes, anyone can benefit from spending time outdoors.  But we feel the potential of this forest opportunity blossoms when considering teenagers. They can grasp big problems and how to solve them, like protecting our trees from oak wilt and two-lined chestnut borer. They can do physical work like moving logs and lumber, pulling buckthorn, and hauling buckets of water and tree sap.  They can manipulate woodworking machinery to create furniture. Plus, just because they are big doesn't mean they have outgrown the ability to play, wonder, and be inspired by the outdoors.

A microschool is a small school which offers a comprehensive curriculum.  On paper, it is a collection of students whose parents have chosen to ‘home school’ and then work collaboratively to structure the educational experience. Our microschool will have hired teachers who work with the students every day, as in the traditional one-room schoolhouse model.  Academically, each home-schooling parent retains official responsibility for their child’s education but utilizes the school teachers to accomplish it. It is intended that students will attend school five days a week. The small environment allows the community to be agile, pursuing opportunities that meet the needs of the students. 

Two of the most significant challenges in creating a small high school are:

1.       Minnesota Department of Education requirements for high school teachers to be licensed to teach in specific academic areas (sciences, English, math, history, etc). Unlike elementary education, where a teacher’s knowledge can cover many subjects, high school typically requires individual instructors in each of these specialized areas.

2.   School buildings must meet specific standards. These include sprinkler protection, storm shelter, and full accessibility. This limits the choices of buildings that can be used, ruling out the option to be next to the forest.

A micro school structure would provide a way to mitigate these issues for a Forest High School during the first phase of its development. During the Covid-19 pandemic, micro schools gained significant traction as an educational practice. Because children are home schooled, parents can decide if the experience of teachers and the facilities for learning are adequate, allowing us to meet in a charming existing home adjacent to the forest and to hire broadly skilled teachers without requiring a wide range of licenses.

Yes!  High school credits represent 120 hours of work in that subject.  We will use a program such as Headrush Learning to help students organize their work into credits. Throughout their time at Oak Forest Academy, families and teachers will communicate to insure students are able to earn the credits required for high school graduation and college admissions.