Programs
Six subjects that are actually six ways of paying attention.
Every kid picks two programs a term and stays for eleven weeks. No samplers, no rotation, no field trips to nowhere. Here is what each one actually looks like on a Tuesday.
- Programs
- 6 core + 4 formats
- Term
- 11 weeks
- Ratio
- 1:8, hard cap 14
- Cost
- $0
Science
Kitchen-table chemistry, creek water, field notebooks, and long arguments about why the sky is blue.
Explore ScienceTechnology
Repair benches, block code, soldering irons, and the district's entire supply of dead laptops.
Explore TechnologyEngineering
Bridges out of pasta. Bridges out of cardboard. Bridges out of consequences.
Explore EngineeringNothing
The radical practice of sitting still, being bored, and noticing what happens next.
Explore NothingCrafts
Clay, thread, wood, dye, and glue. Mostly glue.
Explore CraftsHaircuts
A licensed student salon. Free cuts for neighbors, real skills for kids.
Explore HaircutsHow a term works
Terms follow the school district calendar: fall (September–November), winter (December–February), spring (March–May). Summer is its own two-week thing. Kids choose two programs at enrollment and can change one at the start of a term, which happens about as often as you would expect with ten-year-olds and clay.
| Week | What happens |
|---|---|
| Weeks 1–2 | Take it apart — Every program starts by dismantling something. A machine, a technique, an assumption. Kids learn the parts before they make a promise. |
| Weeks 3–6 | Skill blocks — Short, repeatable practice. Tinning a wire, wedging clay, measuring a span, sitting still for four minutes. |
| Weeks 7–9 | The build — One project, chosen by the kid within a theme, with a real constraint and a real deadline. |
| Week 10 | The critique — Kids present to each other first. Then to a guest — a barber, an engineer, a parent, another kid's class. |
| Week 11 | The show — Work goes on the wall, in the salon window, or on the auditorium stage. Then we take it down and start again. |
The four formats
Ages 9–14
After-school
Five afternoons a week, 3:15–6:00, at all six sites. The core of everything. Two programs per term, plus open studio.
Read moreGrades 4–8
Summer camp
Two weeks in July, full days, one big build. 120 kids, 18 staff, and a lot of popsicles.
Read moreAll ages with an adult
Saturday labs
Drop-in workshops, 10 a.m.–1 p.m., no enrollment required. Bring a kid, make a thing, leave.
Read morePaid, 8 hrs/wk
Teen leadership
A paid apprenticeship for grades 8–9: teach a younger group, run the repair bench, get a paycheck.
Read moreWhat we do not offer
- Homework help as a standalone service. There is a homework table every day, but it is not the program.
- Test prep. Ever.
- A rotating 'enrichment' schedule where kids do something different every week. Depth is the point.
- Remote or online-only programming. We tried it in 2020 because we had to. It was bad for everyone.
Pick two. Stay eleven weeks. Show somebody.
Every program runs one afternoon a week for a full term. Kids choose two, and we do not shuffle them around like a tasting menu.