Our Program

Our program offerings vary from pure enrichment classes to comprehensive academic classes. Families design their own program, based on each child's individual needs. Many of our Tuesday and Thursday classes are 2-day courses; for these classes students must attend both days. Class descriptions include the number of days a class runs as well as prerequisites and materials fees.

Each year we hold a Science Fair, Art Show, Talent Show, Piano Recital, and several Drama Productions. Classes run from mid-September to mid-May, with time off for Winter and Spring breaks.

Outside Work Expectations (Homework)
Many of our "enrichment" classes require little or no outside work. For these classes, any outside work is optional. However, many of our families choose LOL as a way to offer their children classes in academic subjects they choose not to cover at home. For these more academic classes, teachers assign relevant outside-of-class assignments to provide the student with a depth of knowledge not possible thorough in-class work alone. Completion of these assignments is integral to success in the class. We ask students and parents to take the responsibility for making sure this work is completed. For classes marked "out-of-class assignments mandatory," students must complete the assignments to remain in the class. Please make sure you and your child are willing to make the time commitment specified in each class description.

Outside-of-class work expectations are defined below:

• Minimal ~0-1 hours/week
• Moderate ~1-2 hours/week
• Significant ~3+ hours/week

About our Young Children's Program
The students in our young children’s program bring the joy of this age to all who enter our facility.

Our friendly, homey environment helps make the transition from home an easy one—it doesn't take long before even our quietest students are sharing stories, nature finds and jokes. We recognize that young children need to be active participants in their learning; so we offer hands-on experiences and unstructured free-choice time between morning and afternoon classes.

Cooperation and support is encouraged both within and between all age groups. Seeing kids of all ages laughing and joking together is one of the most wonderful parts of our program. In fact, many of the younger kids feel so comfortable interacting with the teens that last year several younger students voluntarily got up to say a few kind words at our senior graduation! The young children’s program is an important part of LOL; their energy, enthusiasm and joy are contagious!

About our Middlers' Program
The success of our Middler program (ages 9-12) over the past 6 years can be attributed to the respectful, nurturing environment, small class sizes, caring facilitators, the hands-on nature of the learning experiences and the students themselves. Leaves of Learning provides an opportunity for homeschoolers to meet new people, navigate new social situations and learn in a group setting. The social continuity and warm environment are conducive to real learning.

About our Teens' Program
The LOL teen program has been a big success over the past 6 years. We attribute this success to the respectful, nurturing environment, small class sizes, caring facilitators and the students themselves. Leaves of Learning provides an opportunity for homeschoolers to enroll in some of those more difficult high school subjects, sometimes hard to teach at home, as well as enrichment classes such as art and drama. The quality of our classes in combination with the positive social environment at Leaves of Learning has filled a gap that has kept many homeschoolers from returning to traditional high school. In fact, we had our first homeschooled senior class graduation in 2002.

The Leaves of Learning teen program offers small classes but enough students to provide a variety of friend possibilities. We support the teens social needs and encourage them to use our facility to host chaperoned social events during the year. Socializing isn’t just with the other teens either; it is common to see a group of our youngest students participating in activities with our teens during lunch break or after classes. Our experience with teenagers has been that they are delightful and cooperative when they are listened to and treated with respect.

Your Donations are Tax Deductible!
Please consider LOL worthy of your financial support. We are a 501(c)3 organization, which means your donations are tax-deductible!