The curriculum at Blue Oak School is created cooperatively by the faculty within the framework of the school’s mission and follows these guiding principles:
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Children learn by doing. Children do science, not just read about it. They explore, make hypotheses and test them. They create mathematical models and use them in practical applications. They read children’s literature, not basal textbooks. They write their own stories. They make music and ultimately compose their own.
- The curriculum is child-centered and developmentally appropriate. It is tied to children’s needs and interests. Learning takes place in meaningful contexts. As a result, it is engaging. Children want to learn.
- The Blue Oak School curriculum builds from a foundation. It seeks to draw out what students already know and extend their thinking and knowledge from there. Building on an established base of knowledge, students find a connection to new material and exhibit better retention of knowledge.
- The curriculum stresses understanding rather than memorization. Can a student transfer what she has just learned to a new situation? Can he teach another student? Can she create from what she learned? Does he see the limitations inherent in what he has learned? If these apply, then understanding has occurred.
- The process of learning is emphasized. When process is central, there is no need to cheat, no need for parents to do the homework, no need to avoid risks. In fact risk taking, and the failure that occasionally occurs, is encouraged.
- The curriculum is integrated. Blue Oak School faculty members blend subject disciplines to stimulate understanding of a topic from a variety of viewpoints. Teachers will extend the teaching of U.S. history, for example, through historical fiction, music, art and non-fiction works.
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Inquiry is at the heart of the curriculum. Important questions are asked and addressed informing the direction and purpose of study.