Blue Sky School

Blog Post: LeBreton Flats This exploration (6-8 weeks with a topic we focus on) myself and 3 other learners, Grace, William, and Carson are working on a project lead by Shauna (co-founder of the school and one of our coaches). This project has to do with an area of town called LeBreton Flats. For those who don’t know, there has been a lot happening in this area of town recently. There was a promise from two business leaders that there would be a Sens hockey arena in this area of town. However, the two men who promised to build it got in a bit of an argument. They were given four days to work it out...they didn’t. The deal fell through and this area of land currently known as LeBreton Flats remains abandoned as it has many times before. LeBreton Flats is a downtown area that has a lot of potential. One side of the Flats is surrounded by the War Museum and the Holocaust Memorial. There is also a small attraction that has information on the town that used to be in LeBreton Flats. T...

“Everyone learns in different ways on different days.” That is a phrase that goes around Blue Sky School. It speaks to the infinite amount of people's different learning styles and that not everyday will be catered to a learner’s preferred learning style.  It also shows that people learn at different paces. My learning needs to be organized or I can’t function but for someone else maybe their true learning happens when they get messy and are very hands-on, and that’s okay. At Blue Sky we do a survey in the morning called “How Do You Feel” to let our coaches (teachers) know what our mindset is in the moment and generally throughout the day. This addresses the  part of the phrase, "Everyone learns on different days." So if I am feeling really tired or worn out or maybe there is something hard going on in my life then the coaches will know that and may not push me as hard. But on the flip side if I say I am having a great day and I am ready to learn, the coaches wi...

In the past year, I have written over ten essays for my Masters, but I have yet to write one sentence about my experience at Blue Sky School. I’m going to attempt to change that today, but it already feels like a far more daunting task than a twenty-page research paper. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to do it justice. If you ever went to summer camp as a teenager, you probably know this feeling. You come back after a summer of building relationships, with ridiculous stories that only your camp friends can appreciate, and your school friends quickly grow tired of hearing you say: “This one time at camp…” Thankfully, in my adult years, I have friends that are deeply interested in the stories I have to tell about my experience as a coach at Blue Sky School (or at least they graciously pretend to be and each deserve an Academy Award for their remarkable acting skills). Actually, my experience has been that people, in general, are quite eager to see and know more about our schoo...

Undercover Learning-By Madison One of the questions we're often asked here at Blue Sky School is: "how are we learning math?" It can be hard for people to understand that we learn math without a sit-down class, so I want to tell you about some of our undercover learning with regards to math. At Blue Sky, we often go shopping and we learned about unit value. Another example of when we do undercover math is in our house meeting. In the morning, our coaches put out a little sign with some reminders and a riddle or a "would you rather" question. Our coach Brianne displays the results of the survey answers for the "would you rather" questions in a pie chart. At the house meeting, we convert the percents into fractions and do some math connecting to the pie chart. At Blue Sky School we also do lots of cooking which involves measuring!One more example is all of the building we do that involves math with measuring and weight. Our garden team is also learn...

Dear Readers, We would like to say thank you for showing us such amazing support by reading our blog posts and by expressing interest in our school. Your support has really encouraged us as learners and future changemakers. We hope you have a safe and restful holiday season and a very happy new year! We are looking forward to seeing what 2018 will bring! Madison, on behalf of the Blue Sky School pioneers.   P.S: Here is Blue Sky School by the number, showing some things we have done this year!!