Blue Sky School

Blue Sky School has ruined my daughter; she will not be able to go to a traditional high school. After just 90 days in the Blue Sky School setting, she is now too confident, too self-aware, too assertive, and too mature to sit in a regular high school classroom. She would annoy her high school teachers, respectfully questioning their statements and offering them thoughtful feedback on their teaching. She would frustrate the administration, firmly insisting that every single student has the right to self-regulate and get centering time and physical activity in between every single class. She would shut down the bullies and empower the quiet students. She would be a disruptor. A changemaker. An advocate. --- We took a chance on Blue Sky School because we were concerned a traditional high school experience would harm our daughter. She is smart and talented, but also sensitive, moral and inquisitive. I often describe my daug...

Today we had a very exciting experience. Blue Sky School went to Algonquin college to judge a competition. A few students in the interactive, media, design (i.m.d) program designed some different apps and programs. Each team had a different client and they had to create a product that matched there clients requests. Each of us was assigned 2 or 3 groups. We went to those groups and heard about there projects and asked questions. On our computers, we had a scoring sheet. We rated different categories like how they explained there display, how they displayed their project etc. Everybody's project was amazing. They were so creative and all of there displays were so cool. We have never had a chance to be judges like this before. It was such a neat oppurtunity and we learned so many things like the importance of teamwork, integrity, accountability and so much more. We are very grateful for this oppurtunity that Algonquin College has given us.

Blue Sky School has just begun partnering with a business called Made Mill. Made Mill is a company that helps people design and invent. For example, if you have a design on paper they could 3D print it for you so you can have a prototype of our design. Made Mill is located at Bayview Yards innovation centre. Will, Tom, Rebecca, and Peter from Made Mill have been helping us with a special project that they have given us. To design the city of the future. We have been designing in 2 different ways.The first thing we did was virtual reality. This is how virtual reality works. You put on a headset and you have a remote, it is like you have gone into another world. With the remotes, we all drew something we thought would make a difference in the future for the future. It was so amazing to see all of our creative and unique ideas. The second thing that we did was 3D printing. We used a program called "tinkercad.com". Tinkercad.com is a website that allows you to ...

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!!

On Wednesday, December the 13 Blue sky school had its first learning showcase. A learning showcase is our opportunity to show our friends family and anyone else what we have learned in these first 4 months of school. It was amazing how much we have learned. Everybody had something different in there learning showcase. Some people had books, displays, songs, paintings and so much more. The learning showcase went from 1:30-6:00. It was gallery style so people walk through the school and looked at different displays. It was super fun! We all felt very proud when people came by to look at our displays and everybody did an awesome job. We can't wait until the next learning showcase where our theme will be failure. Written by Madison

I can’t recall exactly when or how I first heard of Blue Sky School — I suspect it was through a friend who saw something on Facebook. But, I know it caught my eye in the Kanata Kourier in March, 2017. As I read the article about this new school opening up in Kanata, I liked what I read. I found the messages from the co-founders exciting. While I had dabbled in looking at alternative education for my son over the years, it had always seemed out of reach; a dream of an alternate “if only” reality. But, something propelled me to the town hall meeting on March 29, 2017, in Modern Niagara. I went alone. Nervous and preparing myself to leave disappointed. The town hall surprised me. The presentation, the ideas, the audience, and their questions. I definitely did not leave disappointed. Rather, I walked away interested in more. Over time, Shauna and I spoke and slowly that out-of-reach goal seemed to be orbiting closer to my family’s grasp. My son was getting very excited at the thought...

from Chuck: "We are writing live from the ISED Lab. We are learning about technology and exploring the ISED Lab and we learning about history. Today, we are learning about technology and what the future is going to be like and how the technology is going to improve." from Jaden: "The ISED Lab is a problem-solving place. The people who are here like to think about the future. It is interesting and colourful. They have a zebra. They are having us build with Lego. We are building things from the future. I am building a future home! It has a big dragon egg with a flower inside of it, two propellors and two futuristic dogs made into a throne. I think the future will be different everyday and special. So, make sure you appreciate the difference!" from Charlotte: "The ISED Lab is a place where people create and they explore ideas they've never thought of before. Today, we are looking at ideas of the future. We are thinking about what will the future be like. W...