Where youth learn to define and pursue their educational path in a trusting & respectful community.
Our Program
We support Youth-Led, Interest-Based Learning, with a keen awareness of Youth Rights, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity in our community. We support the emergence of engaging activities that allow tweens & and teens to explore their interests and develop their interpersonal skills in a supportive environment. It is a mixed-age space to navigate oneself in relation to others often leading to friendships.
Our M/Tu/Th days are structured with easy in-flow connection time, 4 hours of various offerings, space for lunch and unstructured play, daily clean-up at closing, and a bi-weekly community meeting with leadership opportunities to surface gratitude, bring concerns, share reflections and brainstorm solutions for implementation. Offerings are planned for the semester based on current interests and Learning Goals. Subject Matter Experts facilitate these. Thursdays provide opportunities for cooking and peer-led offerings bi-weekly, and afternoon offsite explorations.
Our program is enhanced and informed by national organizations, ASDE, Agile Learning Center, and Liberated Learners, supporting the trust and respect of youth members of our society.
Focus Areas
Adults at HGEC work with youth members to provide guidance and resources to help them pursue their interests, develop the social-emotional interpersonal qualities necessary to navigate life's challenges, and appreciate the joys through kind and mindful observation, reflection, and presence at HGEC.
Conditions supporting HGEC programming
Campus Use
Rosedale is a private residence that is gifted to HGEC to serve as a cooperative learning campus under these understandings and constraints. Please use care and consideration.
M/Tu/ Th: 9:30 am - 3:30 pm
Each day designates approximately 4 hours for educationally expansive and focused work in a learning energy field. We request participant, peer, and parent support in generating conditions that meet this goal with overall success for the youth, family, and our organization.
This program supplements Homeschooling High Schoolers' educational journey and is the common ground for establishing friendships which may be challenging in Dual Enrollment classrooms, enrichment classes, and other part-time endeavors your 14-17 year old may be engaged in, including employment.
Our Work
Our collective at Holistic Global Education Center aims to mobilize our community resources to conditions that support our children's well-being in their educational journey and their life's joy.
From Current Conditions We Mobilize Towards
1. From occupying large-scale institutional buildings with materials that feel cold and impersonal
2. From systems of Othering by age segregation, separation from families and breeding conflict and competition
3. From adultism in power-over oppressive systems
4. From adhering to arbitrary curriculums, with rigid timelines presented from a skewed point of view
5. From education being commodified, in service of capitalism, and void of joy & soul
towards occupying places of flow, with materials and scale that bring us in connection with ourself, earth & nature.
towards conditions that provide ease of connection with mixed ages, welcoming family inclusion, and sense of Belonging.
to mutually respectful relationships flowing between youth and adults embracing consent and kindness.
to spacious learning that is interesting, experiential, balanced, and informs us of planetary, global, and local sustainability.
to self-determined learning that is relatable, fun, and satisfies personal goals that enrich and enliven us.
Vision
Living life enjoying and supporting society and individual well-being.
Our Collective
We are a vibrant community of families practicing kind relationships with our children and each other while engaging in holistic education in an unconventional setting for our children.
Naming Our Purpose
Our name orients the compass of our collective to live, grow, and learn together.
Embodying Values
At Holistic Global Education Center, we value ahimsa (nonviolence), and compassion in our learning environment. We strive to create an atmosphere of kindness and mindfulness.
Our values anchor our environment to meet its purpose of providing an engaging and equitable learning experience. We believe that when we come together with respect and understanding, we can create a community that is truly remarkable in being an interdependent nurturing collective where parents support each other and care for all children, not just our own.
We have developed processes for conflict resolution, direct communication, feedback loops, and decision-making to support the integration of these values.
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Learning
We exist to explore the vastness of knowledge so we may grow in our intellect and wisdom.
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Authentic Connection
We provide an environment that supports heart connection through conversation.
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Safe Space
We aim to be a place that provides a physically and emotionally safe environment needed for our nervous systems to relax into learning.
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Soft Qualities
We believe in vulnerability, trust, courage, nonviolence. Away from socialization of scarcity, separation and powerlessness.
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Mindfulness
Awareness of moment-by-moment presence, processed in real time with curiousity, non-judgment and open-heartness.
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Play & Fun
We believe in the joy of playing and having fun in life. We include unstructured time during HGEC and families tend to gather at other times also.
bell hooks speaks to our society seeped in White supremacy, patriarchy, imperialism, and capitalism.
Dr. john a. powell examines our societies' attitudes about Othering & Belonging
Miki Kashtan has been an influence in this journey of moving from individualism towards collective flow of resource.
latest influences
HGEC's activism for social change can be seen in us lifting up and centering inquiries and interest from families historically marginalized or having suffered from the burden of cultural norms imposed by dominant systems.
We encourage folks that have been Othered (BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, Immigrants, and more), and their allies to join our vibrant and colorful community. Together, we enrich our collective with a mutually expansive relationship of heart & mind while weaving Belonging.
What does it cost?
We are committed to global representation, diversity, equity, and inclusivity, including historically marginalized or under-represented folks in Self Determined Education settings.
Our requested contribution is based on $60/day (equal to $10/hr.) for 14 weeks in Fall 2024. We require 2 days/wk. attendance if new to the community, for social consistency and relationship building.
The financial contribution should reflect your value of our program, and fit in your overall family financial budget. Inclusion in HGEC Community should not result in hardship that adversely impacts your mind or body wellness.
We will endeavor to meet you at the intersection of tending to both our needs on this journey!
What makes our 501(c)(3) program sustainable?
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Kind, compassionate, and trauma-informed in-house parent facilitator support.
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Friendly subject-matter-expert facilitators and their willingness to work within our resources.
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Open, kind, curious, collaborative, and non-judgmental communication with Parents.
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Member families' financial contributions.
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Synergistic structural support from the founding family.
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No overhead cost for the location, utilities, capital repairs or improvements, and grounds.
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Full-time (40+ hours/week) work commitment by Founder (Board Member/ Organizer/ Facilitator/ and Parent) at no cost to HGEC for 5-years (Jan. 2019-June 2024).
What does the financial contribution provide?
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Access to a committed community of homeschooling families with tweens/ teens.
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Subject Matter Expert Facilitators!
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Most materials and supplies for exploration and creative endeavors.
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In-house Facilitator(s) that provide emotional and physical structural support for sustainability.
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Working together with Parents and Teen Members for "graduating" from High School.
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Parent group support during the Teen years for Transcript & Portfolio construction, including the entry process into community college.
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Social Emotional Learning emerges from kind & intentional dialogue around conflict and challenges of being in a community.
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Access to 501(c)(3) non-profit educational resources, like TechSoup, Canva, etc.
Please complete forms below once invited to join HGEC.
Akilah is called to be among the many who contribute to the collective walk toward ways of living with children that center community, address civil rights issues, and believe in trusting and respecting children.
