Green School (Luke)

     On Friday, October 11th we visited the Green School in Bali, Indonesia. First of all the Green School is a very different and special school. It was started by John Hardy, a jeweler who went to a convention with his wife one day. A man shared his dreams of a school that was part of nature and very good. After the convention John asked the man if his daughters who were being home schooled at the time could attend his school. The man then told John that the school was just a vision of his and that it wasn't actually real, so John decided to make the school real. Unfortunately John did not have the materials to make a school so he started a bamboo company to make the school's architecture.  In 2008 the school started and had about 70 kids. They now have 332 kids from Preschool to High School.
 
      The structure of the Green School is just one of many things that make this place unique. The property covers 7 hectares or roughly 17 acres! The "Heart of the School" is where the kids eat lunch and where the high school is located.  Words can't even come close to explaining what the Heart of School is, but if you picture a two story, bamboo made, no walls, 70 by 25 square foot building you might be able to think of something close to that. It was crazy. Here are some pictures of it:

None of the classrooms have walls making it able to connect to nature more. The music room is shaped like a turtle making it look amazing from the inside and out. A funny story about the energy of the Green School is about solar panels. When John was doing a project on something he met this kind worker and talked with him. The guy was moved by John's story and coincidentally worked for a solar panel company. He then shipped 15 solar panels to John in Bali.  John was going to plant them but realized they didn't look good with the school so he called the man and asked him if he cut some and form different shapes? The man said that you could but it would lose some power, but John didn't mind. He shaped them together and made a leaf out of solar panels that ran throughout the school.

      Another amazing feature about this school is it's way of learning. The kids from the start learn four different types of learning: cognitive, spiritual, emotional, and physical. This prepares the kids for their future where they will be very knowledgable but not socially awkward. This I thought was an incredibly smart idea. The kids also have three parts of the day. The start of the day is Thematic. Each grade has a different theme every 6-8 weeks that they base their learning off of. For example if the 2nd grade's theme is storytelling they will tell stories and talk about the stories or discuss the story's history. This helps them learn, as well as the next part of the day, skills. From late morning to lunch they learn math, writing, reading, science and everything else we need to know. After lunch they have their active part of the day. They get out and learn about nature and the world around them. At this time in high school they will have explorations or electives. This could mean photography, learning more of a subject you're interested in and so on.

    I really was amazed by the Green School's community. A lot of the parents are at the school when the kids are in class. Either to help the kids or just work on their computers, they are welcome. Everybody is very kind to each other and happy. They have a boarding school there which only contains 9 kids so far. They also have 32 kids from Bali on scholarship. They are at 10% of Balinese students but, they want to increase the Balinese population in the school to 20%. I was really amazed by the Green School. I might even want to go there for high school.  I find it very interesting and if you ever go to Bali visit the Green School, it really is an amazing place. If you want to learn more about the Green School you can visit them at www.greenschool.org .