SelfDesign High blog

Each time I think about the potential and power of a distance learning high school, with courses that are interesting, and interested in the students, I get real excited! Everywhere I go I met wonderful, bright and capable students who want to learn. Right now I am in Alaska, and again I have met students who are inspiring to be with, and are teaching me so much each day through being who they are.

I believe that learning is a discovery of the spirit and a blossoming of the soul, in the most pragmatic sense. Through paying attention to what interests us, what we find challenging, what invites our hearts to open and our minds to receive new ideas, the silken thread of our destiny begins to untangle. Then we can begin to bring to the world what we have come to do.

Barbarah 

I.S.K. Educational Philosophy

“If you study to remember, you will forget, but if you study to understand, you will remember.”

Our Students
- You want to be successful and are interested in how you learn
- You value teachers who are both knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the subjects they teach
- You know that learning is a whole body experience; you want to do/create/investigate what it is you are learning about
- You desire the freedom and responsibility of independent studies

Your High school
- We are looking for our founding students
- We value an individualized approach to your education program
- We believe in the value of independent thinking, and are interested in YOU
- We know that successful teachers are open, flexible, knowledgeable, and are continually learning

Learning for Life
At I.S.K. we believe that education is about life-knowing how to figure out things, how to make things, invent things, and most of all how to understand things.

Sometimes these things are:
- mathematical functions
- works of literature
- a woodwork project
- the first pottery plate you’ve ever made
- creating a community plan to help a village in Africa have easier access to water
- getting along with a fellow student
- deciding what independent project you will focus on
- developing a black and white photograph
- editing a film

Using our head to think and research, our heart to imagine and perceive with feelings, and our hands to crate with, education becomes an experience of learning more about who are, what we can do, and about our relationship to other people and the world at large. Learning is dynamic.

At I.S.K. our team are teachers, researchers, mentors and co-learners. They know that learning doesn’t ever stop, and that students have the wisdom to share in their own learning process.

The International School of the Kootenays Vision and Mission

“The world in which you were born is
just one model of reality.
Other cultures are not failed attempts
at being you;
they are unique manifestations
of the human spirit.”
Wade Davis

Vision
To offer international and intergenerational education that celebrates the human spirit and fosters a life long love of learning. (*)

Mission
The International School of the Kootenays offers liberal arts education that contributes to world peace by deepening the understanding, interest and acceptance for cultural, generational, philosophical, and religious differences; and is designed to equip students of all ages with the practical skills, initiative, and the self-confidence needed to put these ideals into practice.

(*) As outlined by Dr. Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher and visionary (1861-1925).

About ISK

The International School of Kootenays is the centre for independent thinking, for hands-on exploration of Earth sciences, for figuring out the magic behind math, astronomy or chemistry, for discovering the inspiration soaked up in arts and literature, and for braving out the world of pristine wilderness. We offer highschool and community courses to students of all ages and internationally using online platforms, along with academic emotional support from a teacher/mentor.

Welcome to the launch of the iskblog!
This will be our collective news board, development playground and connecting chat line.
Join us as we explore, plot and plan the emergence of the next phase of the International School of the Kootenays.

The New Year has arrived, and ISK is ready to meet the change to launch with success into 2007! As many of you are aware, we have sold our school building at 711 Tenth Street in Nelson, BC. and we are now focusing our energies on having our curriculum ready to be approved by the BC Ministry of Education, Independent Schools Branch by early summer. This approval will allow the school to launch as a fully accredited BC Distributed Learning High School!
For the past 2 years ISk has been working to open at the 711 Tenth street campus, offering a peace centered liberal arts Waldorf high school curriculum to local and international students. Many international students have been interested, yet the 10 BC resident students that we needed to open as an BC Independent school did not register. When we asked the students in our community why they were not registering, the answers were always the same:
– they wanted the larger social context of the local public high school
– the students wanted the school to be able to offer certified high school courses, and a BC Ministry of Education Dogwood Diploma.
– the students wanted to be able to take credit bearing courses with us as part of their high school program.
With our change in orientation to a distributed learning high school we will be able to offer students what they have been asking for, and will be a direct answer to the struggles that we have been facing for the past 2 years- having enough registered students to move ahead.
This blog site is our invitation to all of your to join with us in an on going conversation about education, what your experiences are, what you are longing for, and how our plans are progressing.
We look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes for a glorious new year of 2007,
the ISK Board