Governance by Sociocracy:

Up to now, we have seen many democratic schools with democratic councils wherein decisions are made by vote of the majority.  This process leaves the minority disempowered.  Therefore, in the spirit of servant leadership, we have adopted the rule of consensus.  All participants must come to agreement.  In order to bring about consensus in a timely manner, objections and arguments may be presented only as long as they have merit as deemed by the group.  If a reasonable argument can not be presented, then the objector has the right to come back to another circle with a better argument.  In the meantime, the objector agrees to go with the group.

Mindfulness: “the new ABCs”: attention, balance, clarity and compassion.

What?

Several common definitions for mindfulness exist. Jon Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.” From another perspective, mindfulness is the process of “bringing one’s complete attention to the present experience on a moment-to-moment basis.”

Effective mindfulness programs include breathing practices, awareness of emotion practices, an awareness of sound practice, a loving-kindness practice, brief yoga or qi gong and a body scan.

Integration of classroom discussion about applications for mindfulness in daily life complements this  practice.

 Why?

By participating in awareness-based stress reduction programs [mindfulness programs], youth:

·        Learn positive ways of responding to stress other than repression or acting out.

·        Learn how to respond rather than react to difficult events.

·        Find calm and clarity through positive techniques rather than through drugs.

·        Gain clarity of mind so that more conscious choices can be made while learning to understand the   consequences of all actions.

·        Gain a better understanding of the mind and body through

       awareness-based classes that help youth live healthier lives.11

·        Learn their new “ABC’s”

How?

 Effective mindfulness programs include:

1.       Breathing practices

2.      Awareness of emotion practices

3.      An awareness of sound practice

4.      A loving-kindness practice

5.      Brief yoga or Qi Gong

6.      Body scan.

Integration of classroom discussion about applications for mindfulness in daily life complements this  practice.  Recorded meditations for each of the above elements can be found at: http://www.marc.ucla.edu

Healthful Exercise and Diet

We believe that humans are triune beings consisting of the mind, body and soul.  To bring the body into balance we believe in frequent exercise throughout the day.   Exercise that is kind to the body.  Tai Chi, Yoga, Qi Gong, dance, sports played for enjoyment, martial arts, swimming, and resistance training are all essential elements of healthful bodies.  However, without a clean, healthful, nutritious diet the body will suffer and fall into disease.  Completing a module on organic farming is a required part of our curriculum.

We are working with the National Gardening Association to develop our curriculum, to provide training and to secure funding and equipment for our program. 

We urge parents who support our program of additive free, food-coloring free, unprocessed foods to bring their children to Light Way.  We will never serve fast food or soda.   We also ask parents to set an intent that they will support these healthful principles at home and model them for their children. Our children watch and learn from us.  Without this support and leadership from families, our students would find it challenging indeed to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

 Love

The soul thrives on love.  The single most important ingredient in our school is the love we have for all our children.  With that love, patience and understanding we teach them to love themselves. 

Academics

Academics is at the bottom of this page not because we consider it unimportant but because we consider it secondary to self-realization.  We ask you to consider the true value of a program that aids students in gaining academic knowledge and high SAT scores and yet leaves them to flounder in the basics of life.  What good is it to make straight A's if one is so depressed that Prozac is part of breakfast, lunch and dinner?

So we endorse balance.

Rest assured that students will be well-prepared for their future studies and paths in life by being guided through a curriculum they will help to develop so that it fits their needs and desires.  This self-directed curriculum will be tempered with the basics to ensure a rounded knowledge base. Our teachers are highly skilled facilitators of learning ensuring our students reach a high standard of critical thinking skills.  It is our philosophy that the ability to locate resources and manage one's own learning is more important than memorizing vast amounts of data in order to pass a test.  Data that is ultimately forgotten anyway. We also believe that depth not breadth of learning should govern curriculum decisions.  The current system tends to bombard children with the same thirty or forty learning objectives year after year never allowing the time for mastery of any one objective.  Our aim is mastery of concepts and retention of knowledge through in-depth study.

Modules will be the core of our curriculum.  Students are asked to complete a minimum number of modules that they design with a facilitator/teacher.  Over the course of their time at Light Way the following elements will have to be included:

• Sciences

• Reading/Literature

• Writing

• Technology

• Mathematics

• Humanities

• Foreign Languages

• Arts

• Physical Education

These requirements may sound very much the same as the traditional systems. They are not.  The students are guided to pick an area for learning that they are interested in. The facilitator then aids the student in designing a module that includes varied elements from the above list. Once the module is designed it is presented to the democratic committee of students and faculty for review and approval. Records of learning modules are kept and tracked so that all basic skills are learned and then enriched.  Studies show that when people are allowed to choose what they learn about and when they learn at a rate typically ten times faster than in traditional methods.