Grit.

The short: All of our students work their a** off to sell handmade wreaths for travel cash. 

🎄

The long: This project is easy to undervalue. When leading, challenges and frustrations are so inevitable you may as well welcome them! I think we’ve embodied that spirit and been better for it the last few years.  We’ve endured schooling through pandemic times, real estate nightmares and so on. The reason we have the fortitude to carry on when so many others have quit is key to understanding what we are sculpting here at Opt Out. 

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We fully acknowledge and understand the cushy little 90’s-Bozeman-kid lives we lived growing up (not so unlike the lives our students) were thankfully laced with just enough *purposeful* adverse experiences and supported challenges to prepare us to handle hard things as adults.

•••

The reason we ask our students to go hike in to the woods for several days, clip boughs, drag back giant trash bags of greens and wrestle them into stunning holiday wreaths is so they experience the physical sensation of hard work that leads to a beautiful product/service that makes people happy. This makes them happy! They feel proud and unlock a new level of belonging when they begin to work together as a team to decide how to best spend their earnings. Seemingly, the results are sheer magic! 

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But they’re not. They were manufactured via a carefully constructed, supported, developmentally appropriate real life project that took a literal village to orchestrate! 

•••

The process takes weeks. Adults show up in the woods to spend hours supervising the safe use of pruning sheers, dragging sleds around and encouraging tired kids. Businesses buy wreaths. Grandmas donate craft supplies and break out their hot glue guns. Parents coach children through awkward door-to-door sales and deliveries. “Student Centered Learning” requires a framework of time, effort, and collaboration and yet, it is worth it every 👏🏼 single 👏🏼 time. 

•••

We could just ask parents to write checks. Have students write support letters. Sell cookie dough. We’ve certainly done these things in the past! They simply do not produce the same experience. THIS is what I mean when I say ‘experiential learning’. This is what you should expect to encounter when enrolling a student. It’s messy and hard, and … it should be. 💚 #grit

(adapted from Instagram post)

The Countdown Begins…

Courtney Atkinson

It’s official! Target has begun advertising for “back to school essentials” which means we’ve got a month left until summer is really over. Lots of emotions!

Self-promotion is something that I oddly struggle with as a millennial, but when I think about it in terms of sharing all the things our team is working on to ensure next year is the best year yet, it’s manageable. As I write this I have no idea how many things are going to pour out so bear with me…

1) We’ve added another rockstar educator to our team! She’s got pep in her step, loves teaching in small groups and is even taking time this summer to get certified in Orton-Gillingham methods of reading instruction when she’s not hitting the trails with MOSS. We cannot wait to work with Courtney aka Miss Sunshine and introduce her to our tribe! 

2) Our Badge program is ready to hit the ground running. We've been diligently developing a co-directed learning system that allows students to build skills on their way to ‘self-directed learning’ (which is a buzzword that everyone talks about, yet no one nails). Students will be able to pick up right where they left off and earn Scout-like badges in areas like typing, arts, crafts, novel studies, Leave No Trace, self-care, leadership, etc. Students self select and work on earning these badges all year long and are celebrated at our end of year Badge Banquet. #lifeskills 

3) We have two awesome Expeditions in the works for our first semester! First, the Elderberries (4th and 5th graders) will head up to the Glacier Institute to explore GNP and hopefully complete our first-ever float trip on the North Fork. In October, all students and their families are invited to the 320 Guest Ranch to learn, laugh and explore together to ensure we all feel grounded in this amazing community we are building year to year. 

4) We have split up in to 3 distinct grade/age bands which will allow us to hone in on what each of our students needs developmentally. I’m so proud to say we are not only invested in making sure each student can perform at grade level, but also keeping tabs on social skills, executive functioning skills, and basics like tying our shoes and how to handle interpersonal conflict. Soon, we’ll need another Magic School Bus, one for each band! 

5) There is not a single student, or a family, that we are not excited to be working with. It’s taken a lot of time to cultivate a group of families who want to be here for all of the right reasons and we are genuinely looking forward to continuing building meaningful relationships with everyone come September. We’ve also built partnerships we’re stoked to continue with amazing educators like Ms Trina with Healing Harmony Music Therapy, Ms Susannah at The Artroom East, and Missoula Children’s Theatre.

Cheers!!

We have spots for 4 more students - fingers crossed for a few more 3rd & 4th graders - please send this to parents you know who are looking for high-end, experiential education for their children! We have one unclaimed scholarship at this time.

Year in Review - Outside Classroom Walls

Reflection is key to growth. As I look back at Opt Out’s first year, I am filled with overwhelming gratitude, which leads to a sense of peace and pride, which then sparks motivation for the future - how can we make this even better next time around? Before I get ahead of myself, I’d like to reflect on what went well, the core elements that will carry us forward.

As the name suggests, Opt Out values time in the natural world, asserting that student learning can and should take place outside classroom walls whenever possible. This past year, I’m happy to report we managed to embrace the Scandinavian mindset: “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.” This allowed us to appreciate natural, seasonal rhythms in a way that felt incredibly grounding. We jumped in chilly waterfalls, foraged for berries, and picked pumpkins in the fall; gathered greens for wreaths, laced up skates and tried every sledding hill we could find in the winter; zipped up dry suits to explore The Narrows, snowshoed through GNP, and searched for signs of spring, finding fungi and new sheds right here in our valley. I’ve worked in schools that have a 10º indoor recess policy - it’s been such a welcomed change to prioritize spending time in the great outdoors, showing students how to gear up in accordance to the weather and to value of the mental/physical health benefits of seeking spaces to ‘be’, to breathe! Isn’t this a big part of why we all choose to live here?

Supporting Student Stories:

A diligent student expressed concern to his parents around conference time. He felt we had been spending too much time outside and hadn’t done enough “school work”. What if he’d fallen behind friends who were attending online school?! To him, learning meant sitting at a desk, reading from a text, working through problems or writing responses. He wasn’t registering that the poems he’d written in his journal at the park, the books he’d collected and read at the library, and the math games he’d played online qualified as “school work”. Testing revealed he had made progress, even beyond his grade level.

My teacher heart still sparkles when I recall his realization.

—

The second week into our time together, a fourth grade sweetheart sat down on the Mt. Ellis trail to cry it out. The sun was beating down, and after 30 minutes of walking she could see how much farther we had to go before we made it to the tree line, the start of our foraging adventure. “I didn’t know we’d be spending THIS MUCH time outside!” she wailed as she applied a band-aid to her scraped knee. By mid-year, she’d blossomed into an adventure-loving, confident hiker who encourages others along the trail when motivation is needed.

Year in Review - Autonomy

What is autonomy? Why is important?

“Taken from ancient Greek, the word means 'self-legislation' or 'self-governance’. Autonomy is made up of a set of skills and attitudes. Relevant skills include the ability to reason, to appreciate different points of view, and to debate with others. In order to do these things, the autonomous person must have a sense of self-worth and self-respect. Self-knowledge is also important, including a well-developed understanding of what matters to him or her”.

Opt Out students are given the space to develop these skills.

Instead of me, the teacher, making every academic decision, students were expected to advocate for their own learning. To manage their own time. They developed our classroom rules and codes of conduct. They chose their own novel study books. They maintained their shared learning environment - some of them had never swept a floor. No problem, I was right there to guide them in learning this new skill and so many others.

Students would ask, “Do I have homework?” and I would answer with a question: “Did you finish what you needed to finish today?” If not, math practice went home. “May I be done with the Fractions unit?” You tell me:“Did you prove mastery of these 5 skills?” Fantastic!

Mistakes were made, frustrations were had, time was wasted. Slowly but surely, they gained independence and began to value their newfound sense of freedom. Supporting students in a way that allows learning to become self-driven and intrinsically motivated comes first here.

I can’t accurately describe the amazing feeling, the purely positive energy, that floods into our classroom when a student succeeds in wrapping up a long term project and CANNOT WAIT to share it; when the last page of a peer-recommended book is finished and they’re buzzing around discussing it; when a math level is completed after several attempts and a dance party ensues; when a student who has never skipped a rock succeeds after a what seems like a million attempts! These pure moments only occur if the student was truly invested, if they pushed themselves to arrive at the goal.

I not only want students to succeed in meeting grade level learning standards, I want to arm them with skills that will serve them, drive them, for the rest of their lives. It takes a village: we all want our children, the next generation, to grow up with the “capacities they need to choose well, to stand up for themselves, and to lead lives that are meaningful and worthwhile”.

Magic School Bus Maintenance

Year in Review - Community Partners

Feeling rooted in community is essential to quality outcomes of children. “A community provides an important relationship environment; promotes belonging, a sense of identity and learning; supports active participation in the world and continuity of learning; and connects children and families to supportive relationship and resource networks”.

This past year we were able to engage with an incredible number of community members who shared their expertise with us. Though most of these awesome people weren’t formal educators, they taught us valuable skills and lessons we’ll not soon forget. I’m not an expert in Bozeman history, but Crystal at the Gallatin Historical Society is. I can’t throw pottery, sew or articulate the correlation between the colors in hot springs and their microbial makeup, let alone teach those skills, but we found people who can and were happy to pass their knowledge onto us!

Every time we met a new expert or business owner, the students’ community network expanded, and they witnessed adults engaging in our world authentically. We fell in love with the landscaper who taught us graffiti on his lunch break. We met a family who works together to raise Alpacas and sell products locally. Ms. Ying from the World Language Institute shared her cultural knowledge with us and taught us the basics of Mandarin. An ex-navy seal taught us bear awareness/safety and introduced us to a charming mountain man who raised a film star Grizzly bear just 25 minutes from our school. We assisted local farmers in harvesting for the Food Bank. A local chef & entrepreneur led us in learning the basics of baking and cooking, never batting an eye when we dropped and egg or confused tablespoons and teaspoons. The list goes on…and I look forward to building and maintaining relationships like these moving forward.

Another inspiring takeaway: You can make a living doing what you love!

Check out the full list of the friends we made below.

Year in Review: Growth

The proof is in the pudding. What did they learn this year?

I’ll be honest, I’m still mulling over how to truly assess all aspects of student learning. I’m not satisfied with the standards-based report cards I’ve developed because they don’t begin to take into account or express all the significant progress I’ve witnessed day-to-day.

For now, here’s what I know: All students are heading into summer at or above grade level in both Math and Language Arts (MAP tested). They all regularly beg to go to the library and check out as many books as they can carry. We can go to a local restaurant or coffee shop, politely order, pay/tip and behave better than some adults. We can check ourselves out at the grocery store. We can travel safely, manage our money, and pack our own bags for overnights. We’re confident in asking questions. We can respectfully disagree. Our resiliency and flexibility has greatly increased; we can transition to online learning if needed. We view our devices as tools rather than toys and can almost always make responsible choices online. We can communicate and navigate tricky social situations with our peers, despite 4 year age differences. We know how to stay safe while camping and hiking.

All this, and so much more. In a year when most students stalled or regressed entirely, we grew…happily. Some of us will be back together next year, some of us are moving on / returning to other learning environments. When we look back at our year together in the future, I know we’ll all regard this experience as a bright spot in one of the toughest years yet.

I’m so grateful to the 7 families that took a chance and chose to Opt Out!