Heartland Academy Denver - An Acton Affiliate

We are well into summer break now, but I wanted to share a few highlights from our last week of school. Our Elementary Learners worked hard to prepare final presentations for their last public Exhibition, our Sparks had a fun week of dress up and water play, a miniature horse came for a visit, and we had our 3rd annual end-of-year campout!

It is a special community we are growing, and the campout really highlights the wonderful families who embark on this journey together.

Have a wonderful summer, and we'll see you next school year!

When I was in elementary school, the last couple of weeks before summer break always felt kind of pointless. Testing was done, there was nothing new to do, and time was filled with school assemblies and watching movies.
In our Elementary Studio, they feel there is still important work to do! Even though we completed standardized testing, these heroes have self-made goals that they want to accomplish, projects to complete and share, and reflection exercises to go through so they can digest and absorb the lessons they learned throughout the year. We do have extra time for creative play, but they work hard, and play hard, up to the very end!

Our Sparks heroes are observing the life cycle of butterflies!

The Outdoor Exploration Quest led by one of our graduating learners was a big hit! Heroes learned how a terrarium can be self-sustaining, explored the stream, and made muffins out of foraged dandelions!

Our heroes organize and execute their own games- and take them very seriously!

Last week our Sparks studio spent an entire school day at a beautiful park! They received their Junior Ranger badges, learned about animal habitats, rode their wheels, and explored water, woods, and plains.

Today one of our heroes wrote a thank you note to a friend, and the friend worked hard to read it all on his own!

Here is our youngest Elementary Learner launching his mini-quest on Dogs and Anatomy!

Elementary's last session of the year is "Growing Curiosity". Each week, one of our heroes is leading their very own mini-quest! They prepare the topic, challenges, discussions, and closings 💪 This week we delved into Ornithology and found at least 11 species of birds, despite the cold and snowy weather!

Today the Sparks studio went on a wheeled adventure around the large park behind the school 🚲 They stopped a few times to explore and have snack. They are now simultaneously worn out and feeling very accomplished!

Our Sparks enjoyed the spring snow and worked together to build a snowman out of nature materials 🌲

Currently, our Sparks are all creating their own businesses with employees, money exchange, and the whole nine yards! Here is the car wash in action 🚗🫧 These young entrepreneurs will be more than ready for the Children's Business Fair in a year or two!

Today was a celebration 3 months in the making! 3 months ago we introduced three monsters that can show up in our studio- Resistance, Distraction, and Victimhood. Our heroes have been working steadily to eliminate them. Each sticker represents a time when a monster popped up, but a hero overcame 💪
Donuts and tea were definitely in order!

Today we had a Hero Visit from Skip, a grandpa of one of our learners! Skip was an engineer, and had a fascination with electricity since he was a child. He shared several devices he engineered for our young heroes to experience magnetic fields, induction, and generating voltage! What a treat!

It works! Light!

"Do I look like a scientist?"
Me- "Do you FEEL like a scientist? Are you doing things scientists do?"
"Yep!!"

At Heartland, our heroes can learn at their own pace. They can take the time to focus and master a topic they might be struggling with, or they can advance as far as their excitement takes them, without hindrance. Here is one of our 6 year olds having fun with multiplication!

The Elementary Heroes completed the Game Design Quest with a Game Expo- each one displayed and demonstrated both a physical and online game that they created! To get to this point, they had to learn about probability, and skill vs. luck. They created mini games testing skill and luck to eventually develop a game that had a balance of both. We also had a "Casino Day" which was a big hit!

Our Sparks can spend weeks at a time fully exploring and enjoying one small part of our beautiful Paco Sanchez park! Last week they rediscovered the sand play area and they are engrossed in experimenting with all the properties and possibilities of sand.

A few team building highlights from elementary 💪

Our Sparks heroes contemplate the limitless possibilities of a pile of cardboard boxes! Collaboration and learning through play is a cornerstone of development for our youngest learners 💪

This picture looks like a group of young people just enjoying their lunch. But there's a whole story behind it!

This year has been quite a journey for these heroes. I have watched them go through many ups and downs with each other, often separating into smaller groups during lunch and free time. Sometimes because they felt rejected by the larger group, sometimes in order to "spy on" the larger group.

I'll admit, at times it was uncomfortable and even a little painful to observe. However, my role as a guide is not to interfere and "fix" things just for the appearance of a peaceful studio. I can only offer tools, systems, and choices as these heroes work out how to build healthy relationships with each other.

I watched as emotional confrontations and passive-aggressive comments slowly got replaced by honest conversations and peace tables. Games that excluded others were gradually replaced by fun team building challenges and whole studio games.

And now, for the last 2 weeks, our studio has been cheerfully enjoying lunch and free time all together! These smiles are genuine, and the friendships are based on mutual respect and understanding.

I remind myself that many adults still struggle in resolving conflict and building deep relationships. These young heroes are developing skills that will serve them well their entire lives!

After learning about probabilities for the last couple weeks of our Game Design Quest, the Elementary Heroes had an opportunity to play the odds in a Casino Day! Most went home empty-handed, one had the exact same amount of tokens she started with, and one quadrupled his!

Who knew that math and probability could be so intriguing? Our Elementary heroes are learning the foundational principles of game design through various probability challenges as they prepare to make their very own board and video games to present at Exhibition!

Here's a sampling of photos from our recent Children's Business Fair!

Our Children's Business Fair yesterday was the best one yet! Here is a local news story on the event.

Dozens of young entrepreneurs debut businesses at Denver Children's Business Fair Business ideas ranged from Christmas decorations, to baked goods, to custom ukuleles — even plants.