Relationship-centered

Self-Directed Education,

rooted in community

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Seeking a supportive, enriching LEARNING environment and an alternative to conventional school?

WELCOME

We’re The Children's Community,

a liberation-centered Self-Directed Education community situated on a farm surrounded by a forest. We center connection, practice consent, and cultivate autonomy in community. We're located in the greater St. Louis, Missouri area and are proud to be the first Agile Learning Center in the region.

Meaningful Education.

WITHOUT SCHOOL.

We are all sovereign beings and fully human, no matter our age. We support and affirm young people's autonomy, with an emphasis on the role it plays in our relationships and in community. Honoring our own and others' autonomy also means moving with an awareness of how we are interconnected - remaining curious about how we affect one another and how we can intentionally contribute to a healthy community, taking a variety of perspectives, feelings, and needs into consideration.

Connection is the foundation of our work. Investing in creating intentional relationships with ourselves, our bodies, our humanity, the land, and one another is embodied in our daily practice in community. Connection through showing up authentically and building trust creates the conditions for deep learning and true belonging.

All of our interactions are rooted in consent, from the way we make decisions to how we navigate conflict to our process of generating offerings. Consent is present in all of our relationships, and at TCC it is an ongoing practice and a process. Emphasizing consent encourages mutuality and power sharing. This is a tool of connection that supports building our culture of validation and collaboration.

WE BELIEVE

We trust children to educate themselves and one another in a supportive learning environment, grounded in radical care for one another and community. TCC disrupts the experience of conventional schooling, centers relationship of all kinds, and allows meaningful education to take root.

While many elements of Agile Learning Centers (ALCs) are flexible and vary between communities, several core values are central to what ALCs are about:

Learning is natural. It’s happening all the time. Our brains can’t help but learn, even when we appear to be “doing nothing,” when we’re sleeping - every moment, we’re learning! We believe deep and meaningful learning happens in relationships grounded in trust, consent, and care.
People learn best by making their own decisions. Children are people. Individual needs, freedoms, and autonomy don’t exist in a vacuum; community dynamics and needs guide how we move and show up together.
People learn more from their culture and environment than from the content they are taught. The medium is the message.
Self-awareness and collective intelligence are catalyzed through cycles of intention, creation, reflection, sharing, and change.

What young people at TCC are saying:

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Enrollment is open for the 2024-2025 learning year.

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ENROLL NOW

TCC Parent Testimonial

“From the start TCC saw my child as a whole human being with thoughts, feelings, and opinions about his schooling. He was given a voice in a space where he historically had not had one. The kind of strides he has made at TCC have been incredible. Many are touching small stories that only someone that knew him could see. The small things,we know, are the big things and they see HIM at TCC. I cannot recommend this space enough for all humans where they will be seen, valued, and have agency over their learning"

TCC is more than an alternative to school; it's an exercise in world-building, the beautifully messy work of community, and practicing a possible future.

Our programming is anchored at our agile learning center, where we offer liberation-centered, mixed-age, Self-Directed Education for young people ages 5-18 in an affirming community. This is a drop-off program, meeting Monday through Thursday, 9:30 to 3:30, with aftercare available. We’re practicing life together - and an incredible amount of deep connection and rich learning happens along the way.

We offer sliding-scale, accessible tuition.

Emphasizing land-based reconnection is a unique and essential aspect of the work we do together. TCC is situated on a 17-acre farm and forest setting, which includes:

meadows, forest, and glades

herb, flower, & vegetable gardens
food forest with fruit trees & Berries
HOBBY FARM and Barnyard animals
abundant wildlife
Hiking trails & rock formations
Marsh & creek
adventure playground, TREE SWINGS, and more to explore

WE ALSO OFFER

Multiple SPACES for learning & creation, including kitchens & makerspace. abundant creative supplies & tools, computers, and a 3,000-volume library

Daily enriching, optional offerings that could be thought of as “classes,” led by young people and adult facilitators alike

Supportive, skilled adult facilitators and tight-knit community with a 1:6 facilitator-to-young-person ratio

No homework, grades, required curriculum, or rules - just abundant care, AUTHENTIC communication, reflection, and DEEP trust

Space and time to pursue passions and discover new ones - young people choose how they spend their days & what they learn (yes, really!)

Weekly photo albums & narratives about our experiences, and Support for young people seeking a formal education beyond TCC

OUR PROGRAMS

AGILE LEARNING

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FLYING SQUAD

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FOREST PLAY

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SUMMER CAMPS

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What makes us different?

We create the conditions for meaningful learning by nurturing trusting, consent-based relationships, and reconnecting to ourselves, one another, and the land. We very deliberately build a culture rooted in trust, connection, and care. This includes engaging in intentional cycles of reflection, change, and growth; practicing generative conflict; and learning to navigate community as an active practice with one another.

Values in practice, values in action.

We are committed to living and practicing our values, and to embracing humility and grace when we move in ways that aren’t aligned with those values.

At the heart of this work is how we practice accountability.

The young people here summarize our culture this way:

When harm occurs, instead of punishment, we:

Ask questions, led by curiosity
Offer care and repair
Learn, change, and grow from our mistakes

We share power here. We regularly explore and interrogate our relationships to power, and how power is manifesting between and among us - especially in adult-child dynamics. Our culture values reducing power-over dynamics and hierarchies, across ages and stages.

Threaded throughout all of this relational work is the practice of consent, in all its nuance, which is at times both explicit and implicit, and ongoing. Consent is dynamic, and so are the ways we communicate about it, which include a lot of asking, a lot of checking in, a lot of renegotiating, reflection, and change.

“I have so much to say about TCC - where do I start? I say a lot of times ‘It's my happy place’ because I'm with people I love and I love the animals and the forest and I feel very connected to the land.
The people are what make TCC special - the people. Everyone is so supportive. I trust everyone here. Like with my life"

TCC learner, age 12

The people here, and the affirming, compassionate culture we build together, create the conditions for mutual flourishing. We approach our relationships and our decisions with thoughtful intention. We all learn more from the culture of which we are a part than the content we are taught - and the culture here is uniquely affirming, trustful, and grounded in compassion.