What does a typical day look like?

There really is no typical day at the Spokane Learning Co-op. That's the point.

We do have a general flow. Wednesdays and Fridays, we begin with a short check-in meeting where we ask kid-suggested getting to know you questions, people make announcements, and people share anything the community needs to know. We hold our Rules Meeting on an as-needed basis, where kids and adults sit around our picnic table and work through anything that needs to be addressed as a community.

Everything else depends on the individual person.

For a younger child, a day might look like three glorious hours of exuberant outdoor play, a lot of social navigation, some time digging in the mud, and maybe a snack someone's parent brought.

For an older kid, it might look like a long conversation with a friend, time spent on a building project, drawing with kids who are much younger and much older, an Offering someone brought, or an hour doing something that defies easy description.

Sometimes members organize around a shared interest. A book club forms. Someone wants to do improv. Someone's parent knows how to knit and brings supplies. These things emerge from the community.

There is no requirement to attend any activity. Members move at their own pace, follow their own interests, and spend their time the way that makes sense to them. If a game or activity isn't working, we try something different. If something unexpected captures everyone's attention, we follow it.

My child needs structure. Is the Co-op right for us?

Probably not yet, and that's okay.

If your child needs someone to tell them what to do and when to do it, the Co-op is going to feel disorienting. We don't offer a schedule, a curriculum, or a plan for the day. We offer freedom, community, and ten beautiful acres.

This is especially true for kids who are freshly out of conventional school. They've spent years being told when to sit, when to stand, when to speak, and when to be quiet. That much external direction leaves a mark. When it's suddenly removed, some kids don't know what to do with themselves. That is a completely understandable response to years of being managed.

Deschooling takes time. If your family is in the middle of that process, give it some time. Come back when things have settled. We'll be here.

What if my child isn't self-motivated?

All children are motivated. Every single one.

If your child doesn't seem motivated to learn, it is worth asking: what has their experience in learning environments been like? Have they spent years in a system that told them their natural interests didn't matter? Have they been led, directed, and managed by adults from the time they were five? Have they been rewarded for compliance and punished for curiosity?

If so, that's a response to a system that treated their natural drives as inconvenient.

Boredom, in the absence of coercion, is the best way to cultivate self-reflection, followed by self-motivation. Most kids, when given real freedom for the first time, go through a period of apparent aimlessness. This is normal and necessary. On the other side of it, they find what actually interests them. 

That discovery changes everything.

Don't kids just play all day?

Yes. That's the whole idea.

Conventional schooling has done an extraordinary job of convincing us that play is not important. That it's what children do when the "real work" is done. That it needs to be rationed and managed and confined to a few minutes of recess.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Play is how children learn to solve problems. To negotiate. To lead, and to follow. To cope with frustration. To try things and fail and try again. To discover what they love. To develop the social skills that will carry them through the rest of their lives.

Play involves an intensity and focus that most adults would envy. Watch a group of children deeply engaged in something they chose, on their own, because it matters to them. That is learning at its most powerful.

Children also teach each other constantly during play. They discuss. They argue. They hear how other families think. They hatch plans. They protect each other. They help each other. 

The learning is endless, and almost none of it looks like school.

Won't they just be on their phones all day?

They won't, because we don't allow phones or screens at the Co-op.

This is a deliberate choice, and we make it without apology.

The research on screen time and children's mental health is not ambiguous. Screens affect mood, behavior, attention, and well-being in ways that are now well-documented. Dr. Victoria Dunckley, author of Reset Your Child's Brain, has written compellingly about the specific neurological effects of screen exposure on children. We take this seriously.

We have also found, over and over again, that when screens are removed, children discover what they actually want to do. It is always more interesting than anything on a screen.

How will my child learn math?

The same way all of us learned the math we actually use: by needing it.

Basic math is woven into everyday life. Using money. Playing games. Cooking. Measuring. Building things. These happen constantly and naturally at the Co-op.

Children seek information when they are ready to learn it. When a child encounters a situation where they need a math skill they don't have, they figure it out. This is how learning actually works. Not through mandatory lessons delivered on a schedule designed around someone else's pacing, but through real need, at the moment of relevance.

If a member wants to be taught math in a more formal way, we are happy to do that. There is always someone around who is capable of teaching many subjects on request. The key word is request. It is the child asking, not the adult assigning.

Check out this TED Talk from a conventional math teacher, which gets at exactly why the standard approach to math education fails so many kids.

Will my child be safe?

Many parents tell us they feel their kids are safer here than in other environments they've been part of.

Our focus on community building means that our kids have a low tolerance for bullying and a high tolerance for each other's differences. Interpersonal conflicts happen, as they do everywhere. The chronic, low-grade stress of a conventional school environment is not something our members experience here.

Members look out for each other. They are not passive bystanders. If someone is about to make a bad choice, break a rule, or get hurt, other kids intervene or get an adult.

We do encourage running, climbing, building, wrestling, and all the things that make childhood physical and real. Bumps, bruises, and skinned knees are entirely possible. We see this as healthy.

We make a distinction between Risk and Hazard. A Risk is something a child can learn from: carrying heavy materials, climbing high, testing their own limits. A Hazard is something genuinely dangerous: stepping on a nail, a situation that could cause serious harm. We try not to intervene in cases of Risk, because learning to navigate Risk is itself a crucial skill. We intervene immediately in cases of genuine Hazard.

Safety is always our first priority. It comes before everything else.

What about rules and discipline?

There are absolutely rules. The kids make them.

Our rules don't come down from adults. They emerge from the community itself, through our Rules Meetings. Kids sit in a circle and say how they want to be treated here. Those requests become rules through a sociocratic process: a rule is approved only if no one has a genuine objection to it.

These are not theoretical rules. Our Rules are based on real situations the kids have actually experienced and want to see handled differently. As a result, they are taken seriously by the people who made them.

When issues arise, they are handled openly and fairly, by the community, together. We prioritize cooperation over punishment and understanding over compliance.

Our priorities, in order, are:

Safety. It comes first, always, without exception.

Respect for human rights. Personal boundaries and property are taken seriously by everyone.

Learning and exploration. Unstructured play and self-directed activity are the engine of everything we do.

What if I'm not sure my child can handle this much freedom?

Most parents are surprised by how well their child rises to meet it.

We do expect members to participate in the life of the community. That means showing up, doing their share of communal tasks, participating in our check-in meeting, following the rules the community has made together, and treating other members with respect.

We expect a transition period for kids who are new, especially kids who are coming from conventional school. We communicate openly with families during this time, so that any challenges can be addressed together.

The Co-op is not a good fit for every child. We know that. If it becomes clear that a particular child is not thriving here, we will have an honest conversation with the family about what might serve them better. This has rarely happened, and it is always handled with care.

What happens far more often is that parents watch their child rise to the occasion in ways they didn't expect. The freedom turns out to be exactly what was needed.

What changes when you become a full-time school?

Our goal is to become a Washington State-approved school, which will allow us to offer a full-time, Monday through Friday program. We know there are a number of parents who work full-time and are waiting for us to go full-time so that they can enroll their kids -- we see you and are looking forward to serving you.

We will continue to offer our part-time gatherings alongside the full-time program.

Once we are a full-time school, we will work with each member individually to meet all Washington State requirements. Members who choose to complete the requirements will receive a diploma. Members who want to go to college can go to college. Members who want to start a business, travel the world, or take on the biggest problems facing the world today will be well-prepared to do that too.

Our approach to learning will not change. What changes is how much time we have together, and therefore how much is possible.

 Still have questions?

Have questions? Write to Katy at hello@spokanelearningcoop.org.

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