We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amber Neighbors and Gracie Hardy a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Amber Neighbors and Gracie Hardy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?
Amber: 1. Switching the focus to a growth mindset instead of perfectionism. There is far too much pressure on kids to be the best or top percentile for everything. It’s time to value each child’s strengths and praise them for their specific gifts.
You can’t do that while always comparing them to every other child. This is the result of standardized learning.
2. Support the whole child not just academic!
Healthy relational skills – Humans are relational, so maneuvering relationships is important to learn in a healthy environment to set them up for success.
Social emotional support – We need to arm them with an emotional regulation tool belt that they can pull from for an over-all sense of well being because life is hard sometimes.
Career: A fulfilling career can have very different identities for any two people. The goal is to cultivate confidence through the exploration of personal interests and finding the “why” that sparks them.
Not everyone has a “dream job” but I believe everyone has an opportunity to live a meaningful and purposeful life.
Gracie:
Placing greater emphasis on teaching social-emotional skills and life skills. While academic subjects are important, developing social-emotional competencies such as empathy, self-awareness, communication, and relationship-building are equally essential for success in a career or just life in general.
Social-emotional learning has positive outcomes, including improved academic achievement, better mental health, and greater social competence.
Teaching life skills such as finances, critical thinking, and problem-solving can help learners better navigate the challenges of adulthood. These skills are often overlooked in traditional education but are huge focuses in life.
Eliminate comparison between learners. Comparison can be detrimental to a learner’s confidence and motivation, leading to feelings of inadequacy and discouragement. Instead, the focus should be on each individual’s progress and growth, rather than their performance in relation to others.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
We are a nature-based school that was founded out of a need for something more than traditional education. As parents ourselves, we knew that we wanted more for our children and believed that other parents would want the same. In July of 2020, we posted on Facebook announcing our plans to open a nature-based school in Conway, even though we didn’t have a location yet. The response we received was overwhelmingly positive and eventually led us to the Camp Beaverfork director who agreed to host us.
Our school started with ages 5-9, and by the end of the 2021-2022 school year, we had 21 students. This year, we’ve expanded to ages 5-11 and introduced a part-time preschool program for 3-4 year olds. We currently have 55 learners enrolled in our full-time program. We also offer a one day a week program for homeschool families to send their kids for a day at Willow Roots.Our vision is to expand all the way to age 18!
At Willow Roots, we believe in focusing on the whole child, not just academics. We prioritize social-emotional development and teach essential life skills, such as gardening and kitchen skills, including knife handling. We offer free chiropractic care for both our students and staff.
We are proud to promote student-led learning, which means that we empower our students to take ownership of their education and play an active role in the learning process. We also incorporate project-based learning, which allows our students to engage in hands-on, real-world experiences that inspire creativity and critical thinking skills.
We are honored to offer a non-traditional option in our area where options are limited, and for those that aren’t able to homeschool.
We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
Amber and I met in 2016 working in the childcare area at a local gym. For years we discussed options for our kids as they got closer to school aged. Amber’s kids started public school. but she quickly realized that it wouldn’t be what served them best. We took a trip to Dallas together in 2019 to a similar styled school, and that solidified it for me!
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
That Willow Roots is not the best fit for every family. Each family has its own unique needs, values, and priorities, and it’s important to find an educational approach that aligns with those. It’s hard to not get swept up in the beauty of campus, and the excitement of no homework, and learning important skills like gardening and cooking that a lot hop on board early on before assessing whether they’re really okay with not receiving a report card or knowing what reading level their child is on.
After our first year, we learned that interviewing a family before acceptance was crucial and got a lot of hard conversations out of the way before making the big commitment of enrolling.
It’s sometimes hard to let go of the traditional report card system, but trusting in the model at Willow Roots can allow parents to focus on their child’s learning and growth, rather than just their grades. When children are given the space and freedom to learn at their own pace, they are more likely to become confident, independent learners who truly master the material, rather than just memorize it for a test.
Contact Info:
- Website: willowrootslearningcenter.org
- Instagram: @willowrootslearningcenter
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/willowrootslearningcenter
Image Credits
Courtney Utley Photography (Courtney Reynolds) Natalie Gunn