Kainos Microschool

This desk might be one of our favorite pictures of what learning at Kainos looks like.

A novel study.
Math curriculum.
A giant project.
Markers everywhere.

A collection of tiny desk pets nearby, obviously conducting important supervisory work.

Learning doesn't always fit neatly into one subject, one worksheet, or one 45-minute block.

Sometimes the best learning looks a little messy and requires copious amounts of hydration.

And we're perfectly okay with that.

We had a great day at Science Central today!

Personalized learning gets talked about a lot.

But what does it actually look like?

At Kainos, it might mean one student working independently through math while another meets one-on-one with an instructor. It might mean a small group gathered around a table for direct instruction while students across the room work at completely different levels and on completely different subjects.

It’s not 30 kids doing the same worksheet at the same time.

It’s knowing our students well enough to ask: What does this student need next?
Then building the day around helping them get there.

That’s the beauty, and occasionally the controlled chaos, of our modern one-room schoolhouse.

What happens when a child is several grade levels behind?

Read our most recent blog post! https://www.kainosmicroschool.com/news-announcements/what-happens-when-a-child-is-several-grade-levels-behind

Sometimes our students use Mrs. Haskins' phone for their Side Quest projects and take a bunch of selfies.

Sometimes Mrs. Haskins posts those selfies on social media. 🤣

Last week, our students explored ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and got to try writing them on real papyrus paper! Each student wrote a sentence, then handed it to a classmate to decode.

There were some careful scribes and some very determined translators. It was a fun, hands-on way to bring history to life!

Teaching in a modern one-room schoolhouse requires a very particular kind of mental agility.

At 9:00, we’re teaching binomials. At 9:15, we’re practicing the sound r makes. Then it’s Newton’s laws, followed by ancient Egypt and a pyramid construction project involving a surprising number of sugar cubes.

Our lesson plans may give us whiplash, but there’s real skill behind every pivot. Teaching students across ages and stages takes deep subject knowledge, careful planning, and the ability to meet each child where they are.

And yes, occasionally it takes knowing where we put the sugar cubes or googling how to solve a math problem.

We’re proud of the highly skilled team that makes this wonderfully wild kind of learning possible at Kainos.

We are nearing the end of our first quarter which means we are wrapping up our first series of Side Quests!

Students got to choose a skill, talent, or idea they wanted to explore, build, or learn about and then spend 9 weeks taking a deep dive into their chosen project!

We can’t wait for our showcase on October 9 to show off all of our hard work with our loved ones and community members!

Learning from the people doing the work!

Yesterday, Kainos students had the opportunity to welcome Alice Muhammad, MHA, HFA, Health Facility Administrator and owner of Peace of You Healing, as one of our community guest speakers!

Alice shared with our students about the wide variety of careers available in healthcare, the education and training different roles require, and what working in the healthcare field actually looks like day to day.

One of our goals at Kainos is to help students see beyond a list of traditional careers and begin discovering the MANY paths available to them. Hearing directly from professionals gives our students the chance to ask questions, make connections, and learn about careers they may have never considered before.

We are so grateful to Alice for taking the time to invest in our students and share her experience and expertise with us!

And we're always looking for our next guest speaker! If you have a career, skill, business, or life experience you'd love to share with a curious group of Kainos students, we'd love to hear from you!

When we began the accreditation process, we expected standards, documentation, evaluation, and probably a whole lot of paperwork.

What we didn’t expect was how much accreditation would give us in return.

Since becoming accredited, we’ve discovered that accreditation has:

-Opened the doors to other classrooms and allowed us to learn from microschool leaders across the country.
- Given us a team of people we can call when we’re navigating everything from enrollment and fundraising to operations and strategic planning.
- Created community in a role that can sometimes feel incredibly lonely.
- Given us opportunities to help educators, professionals, and community organizations better understand what microschools are—and what high-quality microschooling can look like.

Accreditation has become much more than a credential or a seal on our website.

It has made us better.

Our newest blog post shares some of the unexpected lessons we’ve learned through our accreditation journey with Middle States Association—and why one of the biggest lessons has been this:

Read the full post here: https://www.kainosmicroschool.com/news-announcements/unexpected-lessons-through-accreditation