Joy is the bedrock of performance

Reaching your full potential requires high motivation, and motivation is highest when you love what you do. We make sure our kids love coming to school. There’s plenty of hard work do to, but there’s also a lot of play and freedom in an environment that respects students’ dignity and autonomy. And there’s no judgment either academically or behaviorally: mistakes can be pointed out for the student to correct without criticism or shame. We’ve never had a student choose to leave our school, and many of our part-time families have repeatedly increased their attendance at their students’ requests. Happy students are strong students.

Learning happens best by doing

Practice is the most effective method of learning. We spend very little time lecturing at the whiteboard while students passively listen. Instead we spend most class time actively doing: writing exercises, science labs, Q&A, history simulations, making art and code, etc. When we do have lecture classes, it’s an intentional practice of passive polite listening, which we also train in daily morning meditation. Relatedly, we minimize the use of technology except for coding and occasional research. Writing by hand creates more retention.

We follow the same principle for behavioral skills. When feasible, we avoid stepping in to student disagreements as adult arbitrators–it’s important for kids to practice being upset with one another, managing those feelings, and making up to restore the relationship on their own. We’re close by in case we’re needed, but we almost never are. As the year progresses, the kids develop far greater resilience and deeper friendships than if we had tried to teach SEL academically. They build real confidence they can manage emotionally tense situations themselves, and that adult authorities trust them to do so.

Grades don’t help

Students do not get letter grades from Inner Fire. Their work is corrected, and they’re asked to fix errors or occasionally redo it if needed, but they as individuals are not scored. Grades are simply demotivating: low-scoring students lose excitement for the subject, high-scoring students feel no need to push themselves beyond an A, and all students start to focus on what grade they get rather than what they’re actually learning. 

In our individualized system, each student is aiming to improve from wherever their current level is, with no external standard. In math for example, a couple of our 9-year-olds are two full grade levels apart–but both are excited about the subject, and both are celebrated as they pass their respective unit tests. 

We do provide grades to parents on our transcripts (because future schools will request them) but it’s not something we share with students or ask them to think about. Their job is to do their best and enjoy the work, regardless of grade.

Minimal Homework

Inner Fire avoids giving “pure” homework. Students have assignments with deadlines but there is always time to work on them in the classroom. Only unfinished classwork becomes homework, and only for our 3rd-5th graders (zero homework in the K-2 class). We believe kids need time to play. And because our classes focus on doing in the classroom, students have already had plenty of practice and work in the school day itself. At elementary school age, they will benefit more from unstructured free time in the evenings than from a 7th and 8th hour of schoolwork on top of their day.

Every student can enjoy every subject

We want every student to feel the joy of learning for every subject. You can love math, science, and coding, but there’s no reason not to also love writing, history, arts and PE (or vice versa). Developing an analytical mind, a creative mind, and a healthy body are all equally worthy and rewarding. 

We had a 2nd-grade girl come in fearing math and its become one of her strongest and most favored subjects. And a 4-grade gifted boy who thought art was boring and that he was bad at it, but now personally chooses art-forward projects when given the option. And a brilliant Kindergarten boy who first insisted on sitting out of PE but now loves playing with the group. 

Because we don’t give grades, students can let go of “I’m good at X and bad at Y” and enjoy every subject.