We are not a private or charter school. We are an enrichment program, and all our members are homeschoolers.

We are currently not a vendor for any charter schools, but some families successfully received reimbursements from Valley View and Vista Oaks charter schools before.

Yes! We have families who transitioned to homeschooling while still working. Please reach out to us, and we will be happy to walk you through your options!

If something is actually basic knowledge that you need in order to live successfully in this world, you can’t help but learn it. The “basics” will be captured in kids’ natural learning, which happens through living. We don’t need to force or trick them into learning something basic. Basic knowledge and skills are defined by our current world. Whereas once it may have been basic to know how to saddle a horse, today it is basic to know how to open a web browser. The rich world environment in which we operate sets us up to prioritize knowledge and skills reliably and naturally based on our experiences.

We do teach them, but Learning is natural and is happening all the time even without much effort.  Just as babies  learn to crawl, walk, and talk without being explicitly taught. They look at who and what exists in the world around them, copy and experiment with what they see, practice and learn the skills they need to grow in independence and connectivity to others. In learning communities that value authenticity and collaboration, it’s inevitable that we’ll teach each other. Sometimes this happens through classes and workshops, sometimes through conversations and modeling. But it’s always happening. By not telling kids what, when and how they should learn, they learn faster, and more deeply. Most importantly, they develop a positive relationship to learning (and keep a sense of authentic curiosity and creativity). Self-directed learners are excited about life-long learning and do not view it as something that only happens in school.

We have young people from 5 years old through 18 years old. Segregating people into age cohorts, a practice that really only happens at school, limits their exposure to accessible role models, their opportunities to teach skills they’ve acquired, and their opportunities for social connections. In an age-mixed environment, older children and teens learn patience and compassion while supporting younger children. Younger children watch and emulate older ones. (And often older children learn new skills and interests from younger ones!) Everyone gets practice both teaching and learning from people with varying skill levels, learning styles, and attention spans. Children can connect, be inspired/inspire, and share experiences with others based on similar interests rather than just similar ages. The results tend to be awe-inspiring.

For as long as colleges have existed so have homeschool college admissions. When it comes specifically to self-directed homeschoolers, please look at this website specifically dedicated to stories of such people and their educational and career journey https://grownunschoolers.com/

At LLV we replace traditional authorization style teaching with experienced facilitators.  Facilitators have a more expansive and supportive role in connecting with learners.  

Facilitators witness.

Facilitators model.

Facilitators reflect.

Facilitators organize.

Facilitators hold the space.

Facilitators support students in clarifying their intentions, getting connected to the resources they need, reflecting on their decisions, engaging with the community, and sharing their learning. They work to keep the space safe, legal, and respectful. They collaborate with students to develop a powerfully positive culture. Facilitators model clear communication, collaboration, and authenticity.

As part of Agile Learning Centers Network, we would like to answer your question by including this comparison from ALC website:

Montessori: Montessori schools and ALCs both practice age-mixing and supporting students in self-directing their learning. Montessori age-mixing involves grouping students who would  typically be in three different “grades” into a cohort; ALC age-mixing  is much broader, usually separating only very young students, sometimes only for meetings. Montessori students self-direct through a prescribed menu of subjects and concepts that changes based on the age range of the students; ALC students self-direct based on their interests, passions, and the opportunities they see in the world around them.

Reggio: The basic assumptions informing Reggio education are highly complementary to those informing the ALC model. Reggio was created based on the belief  that humans are born with many forms of expression–languages–available to them. Most forms of schooling only develop literacy in three of these languages: reading, writing, and arithmetic. Reggio seeks to provide acknowledgement of and opportunities to develop as many of these languages as possible through themed “explorations,” The Reggio model  recognizes the environment as a powerful teacher; thus, Reggio schools  are carefully designed with goals of sparking inspiration, encouraging curiosity, and facilitating interpersonal activities. ALC philosophy shares a view of the child as powerful, competent, and full of  potential. We also share the recognition of the environment as a teacher  and the emphasis on the importance of social relationships. We’re different in our emphasis on intentional culture creation, our  documentation practices, and our structures for supporting student self-direction.

Steiner/Waldorf: One similarity  between ALCs and Steiner/Waldorf schools is that both approach education  holistically. Though in many ways Steiner/Waldorf schools advocate a single developmental trajectory for all children, it is also true that  Steiner/Waldorf schools and families honor children’s individual timetables for learning.  Particularly with literacy, you will find  stories of Waldorf students who learn to read in the traditional sense at a wide variety of ages from 5 to 12 years old. ALCs see  “development” as even more complex and expect students to have different  learning journeys, and our staff aspire to support students in creating their own adventures. 

Democratic Free School:  ALCs are similar to Democratic Free Schools in that our students contribute to decision making at the school, direct their own learning, and participate in meetings. Many of the differences between ALC and  Free Schools developed in response to challenges Free Schools commonly face.  For example, in some Free Schools decision making is  consensus-based and adults strive to influence students’ learning  journeys as minimally as possible. ALC decision-making more closely resembles the Quaker “sense of the meeting” than consensus, and our staff comfortably make suggestions the way they would to friends they were trying to support. The former change leads to faster, more action-focused meetings; the latter gives students opportunities to practice the valuable life skill of navigating attempts to influence them. The main differences between ALCs and Free schools are that our  students focus on creating culture rather than running the school, use  structures to support intention-setting and reflection on their learning  journeys, and explicitly aim to keep 90%+ of each day meeting free so students can focus on their learning.

Unschool:  Unschooling always looks different, so it’s difficult to compare a “typical” unschooling experience to an ALC experience. Both Unschooling  and Agile Learning relationships with learning come from trusting that  the individual—adult or child—knows best how to design their education  and should be supported in doing so. The difference is that unschoolers focus on their individual paths, while ALC students engage in active culture creation in a consistent community. The social component is foundational to ALCs: students learn from, inspire, negotiate, and collaborate with each other on a daily basis, enriching each other’s learning and challenging each other to constantly improve their social skills.

Homeschool:  Homeschooling looks different from case to case, but it typically involves traditional subject areas and limited opportunities for social interaction. Students can set the pace of their studies, but their  topics are still usually informed by state or parental standards.  LLV views  youth as self-directed learners in a world where all learning is interdisciplinary. Our learners decide the pace and the content of their days. They also learn from, inspire, negotiate, and collaborate with each other on a daily basis, enriching each other’s learning and challenging each other to constantly improve their social  skills. Since so much learning happens in interactions with others, the emphasis on creating opportunities for high quality interactions at ALCs is one of the main factors differentiating us from homeschooling environments.

There is an abundance of resources to educate yourself on the topic of unschooling, self-directed learning, homeschooling.

We highly recommend you to look at the resource directory of The Alliance for Self-directed Education and