New Horizons School uses a unique educational system called Workshop Way®, which recognizes learning differences and uses multiple teaching styles in teaching children. Reading and math lessons are individualized. Phonics, critical thinking, and emotional balance are incorporated into the curriculum. For detailed information about Workshop Way®, go to www.WorkshopWay.com. A brief description of the Workshop Way®, obtained from the Workshop Way® website, follows.

Workshop Way® is a way for teachers to create a new inner environment for each student which becomes a new source of "brain power" and a new source of courage for students to use the mind at a risk, even to the degree for one to be willing to make mistakes while learning. The nature of the "willingness" contains an ability to continue to feel intelligent while making the mistakes. Workshop Way® gives students (K-8) power to grow towards a positive self concept.

The new environment is a state of "intellectual safety" derived from the convictions and attitudes of students about their worth as human begins who can learn, think, talk, and grow. It includes the belief that no one or no "thing" outside of the self can take away this good feeling about themselves and the belief that all human beings have worth in their being and in their human powers and human skills, regardless of any knowledge they possess or do not possess at any given time.

Out of the condition of "intellectual safety" there flows a feeling of inner security which nourishes self confidence and self discipline. Inner security and "intellectual safety" are factors which nourish emotional health because they are basic to a healthy inner drive. The same factors are basic for individual growth in learning to learn and think, two abilities that are unique to human beings. Students in a country where the law requires them to spend ten years in classrooms have the right to mental and emotional health as early as possible in their education. The philosophy and psychology of this program change the procedures used to teach subject matter into process for learning and thinking. In the process, priority is given to the development of human powers (sense and human faculties), human skills (abilities, courage, initiative, independence in work habits, honesty, self-confidence, responsibility, and willingness to risk), and favorable attitudes towards living.

That is why knowledge skills and mutual respect are outcomes of the process. That is why students are able to release amounts of learning power that lack of human development keeps hidden for many years for many children. There are three power factors in the Workshop Way® Learning Process: time, materials and strategies. If teachers want to reach 100% of their students, they need to know all about these "power factors:" They need to know 1) what these power factors are; 2) how to use them; and 3) why they are so essential. Hence, the concept of Workshop Way helps teachers create a dynamic atmosphere for human development they can see happening.

Classes begin at 8:30 AM and end at 3 PM. During that time, children receive lessons in phonics, reading, writing, math, science, music, foreign language, computer instruction, and physical education. From 3 to 5 PM, children participate in three of the following activities, which are rotated daily: drama, arts and crafts, outside play, dance, extra computer time, chess club activities, and story-time. In addition, students in grades 3 to 8 attend study hall supervised by a teacher. Between 5:30 and 6:30 PM, quiet activities are scheduled.

The task board is a key part of every Workshop Way classroom. The task board is self-paced and each child is required to be productive and use time wisely. Children take the initiative to begin their tasks each morning, acquiring needed materials, completing tasks in order, and placing finished work in a designated completion box. Tasks are designed for practicing skills that have already been taught to them. The task board teaches time and material management and allows each skill to be sharpened every day. The children feel capable, intelligent, and able to manage. While the children work at their workshop, the teacher listens to homework and teaches reading and math in small groups.

The purpose of Workshop Way® homework is to teach personal growth. Each child is responsible for taking home a vocabulary/skill reading lesson and learning as much of it as they choose. Children are allowed to ask someone else to help them at home. They sit alone with the teacher each morning and recite the homework lesson in a pleasant and positive way.

Following this lesson recitation, small reading groups are assembled. Each group consists of children with the same learning style for reading. The lesson is geared towards that particular learning style. Among the many recognized learning styles or modes are auditory, visual, and kinesthetic.

After reading, the children leave the workshop, finished or not, and sit in a circle for a whole group phonics lesson. The session consists of 30 minutes of comprehensive sounds, endings, irregular verbs, phonetic spelling, punctuation, public speaking, and review. Subsequently, new material is presented. By the end of the third grade, the children have a strong working knowledge of decoding words, spelling, and the rules of the English language.

The phonics lesson is followed by a math lesson. Mathematical concepts are taught, using multiple learning styles. Kinesthetic, visual, and hands-on projects are used. During the session, the children practice their new lesson with a math task board, while the teacher calls small groups and makes sure each child understands the concepts taught that day. This attention to detail ensures that each child is confident of their math skills.

Subjects taught in the afternoon are science, social studies, history, geography, and creative writing. Periodically scheduled during the week are music, computer science, and physical education. The school offers both Spanish and French as foreign languages.

Workshop Way® creates an intellectually and emotionally "safe" environment for learning. Reading and math continue to be individualized through the eighth grade. No child is held back from learning or pushed ahead of their skill level. Teachers show students how to live as fully dignified, intelligent human beings.