Self-Directed Education that Empowers and Liberates
Heartwood Agile Learning center is an independent school for self-directed learners. Our community embraces the joy of learning, the variety of young people’s paths and goals, and the creative potential of collaboration.
We recognize that students are complex and dynamic people, with desires, interests, creativity, potential, and needs for agency and connection. We trust the educative drives that support young humans learning — curiosity, sociability, and playfulness — motivate them to keep experimenting, practicing, and exploring when nurtured. We know their embodiment, emotions, self-possession, and social relationships significantly impact their ability to learn and their general well-being.
From these foundations, we adapt the space together using agile principles and co-design practices. We welcome play and rest alongside deliberate study and project work. Older students coach younger ones, younger students teach older ones, and they all gather with staff for games and culture-tending sessions on a regular basis. We have a rescue cat. We encourage family engagement. We keep in touch with other ALCs. We encourage folks of all ages to come as they are, contribute as they can, and wonder at what’s possible.
The school year runs August through May, Monday through Friday, from 9 am to 3 pm. We’re a registered 501c3 nonprofit organization, located in Clarkston, GA. We have rolling admissions and are currently accepting applications for students 7 - 18 from the metro Atlanta area. There are many ways that people practice self-directed education; you can learn more about how we do it on our FAQ page.
We aspire to be and always be becoming a community where families and facilitators partner together to help young people define their life goals and find authentic and fulfilling roles in their communities. We aim to cultivate a space where students have agency to shape their own learning, and where they experience trust and care as they grow, practicing to navigate and shape the wider, ever-changing world.
