A Better Way To Learn
At Leelanau, our mission is to help students maintain or rediscover their passion for learning and discovery – by respecting their individual strengths.
We can do all this because The Leelanau School is a different kind of school – a private, non-profit organization. While our colleagues in public school environments must contend with larger class sizes and high-stakes standardized testing that forces instructors to teach to the test, our unique position allows us to do things differently.
Leelanau’s rich, supportive environment is a community where teachers love to teach and the focus is on how to learn, rather than what to learn. We are a haven for intelligent and creative students: the bright, the talented, the inquisitive who may also feel unchallenged, restless, and anxious. We are particularly beneficial for students with ADHD.
Our curriculum is based on experiential learning, to find relevance and authentic engagement. Learning becomes a personally empowering endeavor owned by the student. We immerse students in the learning process in and out of the classroom, off the text book page, grounded in real life and real applications.
How The Leelanau School offers a better way to learn:
We get to know each student. Every student is different and each brings their own learning style, strengths and weaknesses. That is why small class sizes are so important. Our teachers have a chance to know each student as an individual and find lessons that will resonate with them.
We empower our teachers to practice the art of teaching. There are many ways to teach or learn a lesson. Great things happen when teachers get to know a student and are empowered to adapt lessons to individual strengths, weaknesses, and interests.
We make learning a joyful process of discovery. That is why we leave the classroom. We go outside. We explore our wooded campus and beyond, make things, and get our hands dirty. We shoot slingshots to learn about parabolic motion. Wade into the river to learn about aquatic life cycles. We don’t do these things because they’re fun – even though they are a lot of fun – we do them because we know, from our own experience as well as from a growing body of educational research, that most students learn best when they are active, hands-on, and totally immersed in a lesson.