Reimagining School As Whole-Life Community Center

The following is an imagining of what school could look like.

Since it's Wednesday, we get going early so we're at the Whole-Life Community Center by 9am. It's a gorgeous sunny day, and already plenty of folks are gathering on the center's grounds.

Wednesday is one of the Lego Club days and Adam wants to finish programming his robot. Adam shares programming tips with his Papa, and Papa is always handy with electronics. They always have a good time together.

I'll be helping in the garden, spreading compost and building more lasagna beds (the hours are applied to my earning the Master Gardner certification, as well.) The final count on the CSA participants should is due today, also. I'm also responsible for putting in the food buying cooperative order on Wednesdays. I'll have a good chat with my mother-in-law and I need to ask her about that spot I found on my apple leaf. While I'm out in the garden, we spot a group walking off into the woods. A couple of people just returned from a year internship in the Maine woods, and they regularly lead groups in primitive skill building.

Olivia leads one of the many book groups, and co-leads the math club. She also helps run the center's blog. The book groups are one of the best things at the center, since the discussions include lots of points of view and reading tastes. We'll stay for lunch today and Wednesday is our kitchen duty day. We help clean the wild edible greens that the primitive skills group foraged in the springtime woods. There's plenty for a large salad.

After lunch we'll walk home and feed the cats and maybe take a nap or do some household tasks. Around 4pm, we'll walk back to the center and the kids will probably choose to hang-out with friends in the Free Room. One of Olivia's friends, Mrs. G, has promised to bring some of her vintage cameras along to lend Olivia, and promised to show her how to shoot with them. In exchange, Olivia is going to help Mrs. G get comfortable using Skype, so Mrs. G can talk to her grandkids out west. Adam can also apply an hour to his babysitting certification by assisting in the center's nursery. He's already a pro at using a sling and he's always ready to show anyone how to use one properly.

Since one of the evening offerings is a discussion on ethics, we decide to stay for that, and the facilitator happens to be our neighbor. We've brought a Greek pasta salad and some fresh baked bread for the shared meal, which seems to last a long time, as everyone has lots to share about their day. It's getting late, but we decide to stay for a swim in the center pool. A lot of us swim lazily while catching up with friends. We walk home around 10pm, tired but happy and feeling like much was learned and shared by all. We're excited when our heads finally hit our pillows. Thursdays are a blast at the Whole-Life Community Center.