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A TRANSFORMATIVE EDUCATIONAL PARADIGM FOR FUTURE LEADERS

Volo
Natural Learning Community

Busy hands. Minds at work. Warm hearts. Living well.

Volo means “I will” and “I fly” from Latin [Velle]: “to will” and [Volare]: “to fly”

It starts here

Envision today’s young person —  moving into the world of the future with head held high,with confidence and skill,taking advantage of opportunities and conquering challenges.

To help them gain the knowledge, skill, and attitudes needed for a future we can’t fully predict, we have re-imagined school.

What is needed for the best education?

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Support for Agency (Making Choices)

Outdoor Time

Community

Teachers in the Best Sense

Personalized Curriculum

Intentionally designed by an international team.

Volo offers world-class education in Park City.

We connect a small, multi-aged group of learners with extraordinary teachers (we call them facilitators) and life-changing learning experiences. We are a vision-driven learning community that spends more than half of our time outdoors and includes young people in all aspects of their learning program.

Nitty Gritty Details

Curriculum (the what, or the stuff that participants learn) reflects the interests and capacities of the learner. Math, writing, reading, science, movement, art, and music are integrated daily and in focal blocks. We nurture curiosity and creativity in myriad ways.  No simple, age-imposed expectations here.

Pedagogy (the how, or the method) focuses on experience, adaptive learning, and human relationships. We incorporate methods proven by experience and research. As in Scandinavian schools, we have short days and limited homework. We spend about 60% of our time outdoors, learning with a friluftsliv mentality. Students choose and lead projects in the community. Governance includes developmentally-sensitive opportunities for student leadership. We connect learning to physical movement, music, art, collaboration, leadership, and problem-solving. No boring busy work here.

Assessments include frequent formative  observations, inquiry, and portfolio-based summative assessments. The well-being of each young person is top priority. We strive to really understand the person as a whole human being. Our care and sensitivity to each person and group dynamics helps us to keep tabs on the curiosity (desire to learn) and happiness of every one. No standardized tests here.

You'll get to know us by spending time with us

Here are some examples to help you see how Volo works…

Storytelling

With music and movement

Storytelling

The multi-aged group creates dances to represent characters and themes from folk tales. By incorporating elements of language arts, music, and movement, the curriculum not only fosters creativity and self-expression, but also furthers progress on state standards for language development, artistic expression, and physical education.

Dragonfly

Habitats, a self-directed project

Dragonflies

Nine-year-old Lily becomes fascinated with dragonflies at the Volo base camp. Inspired, she initiates a project to create models of habitat, researching different species and life stages. She presents these to the group. Through this project, Lily deepens her understanding of entomology and develops skills in research, model-building, and critical thinking.

Math

With individualized practice

Math Practice

Students, with input from the facilitator, choose printed problem sets based on their unique strengths and areas for improvement. They work on these problem sets at Volo. Then in one-on-one conferences with the facilitator or another mentor, the young people receive personalized feedback and additional resources to address their specific learning needs.

Hear From Volo Parents

Families love Volo, just read what they have to say!

Partners

"THE EXPLORATORY" Begins this Fall

Reach Out!

Please have fun looking through this website. When you're ready to talk with us, we would love to hear from you.