Our Philosophy
A Celebration of Discovery Learning
Learning from decision making: to make the complex and numerous
decisions required of them as adults, children must begin when they
are very young to believe that they are capable of deciding.
Open Door School’s philosophy is based on discovery learning—the belief that learning, growing, and developing are natural, intuitive and inevitable processes. Children want to learn, be independent and competent. They are naturally curious, innovative and creative. Teachers thus should function as facilitators, protecting children’s natural curiosity and encouraging investigation and inquisitiveness, thereby enabling children to develop according to their own potential. Open Door School recognizes each child’s strengths and weaknesses at each stage of development and maturity.
Throughout its history the school has embraced racial, cultural, religious and economic diversity and has included special needs children in order to provide an environment in which children may learn to understand and accept each other. Open Door School strives to guard the dignity of each individual so that children feel free to explore, question, experiment and play. Open Door School encourages children to work on resolving conflicts peacefully, to cooperate rather than compete, and to accept and honor the differences among us.
Teaching Focus
The goal of the curriculum is to give children the following skills they need to be competent learners:
- A positive self image
- Problem solving
- Resourcefulness
- Self-reliance
- Observation
- Flexibility
- Adaptability
- Tolerance
- Cooperation versus competition
- Self-direction and self-motivation
- Ability to resolve conflicts peacefully
- Ability to analyze and generalize, associate and differentiate, and integrate information
From How to Generate Values in Young Children by Sue Spayth Riley