Aliso Viejo's Farm School Holds Open House

Aaron Proctor, 5, began playing with a game during the open house of Aliso Viejo's Farm School on Thursday evening. He asked questions about how to set up the pieces of the game. Farm School teacher Dana Guruprasad sat down with Proctor. She patiently asked how he thought the game pieces should be joined.

This type of one-on-one attention combined with inquiry based learning is used at Farm School. According to its website, Farm School "teaches children to think creatively and critically [by emphasizing] self-directed experiential learning, shared responsibility and the development of life-long learning skills."

The first Farm School building was constructed on the chaparral covered hills of the University of California, Irvine in the early 70s. The school, which was surrounded by horses, pigs and cows, was named for its farm feeling.

The school moved to its current location in 2007, sharing the buildings and facilities of Temple Beth El. While The Farm School uses the temple's rooms and play equipment, the school is a secular organization.

Farm School has two classrooms, one for "Little Kids" and one for "Big Kids." Little Kids are aged 5-7 and Big Kids are aged 8-12. During the week, the younger students and the older students interact with each other during academic, social and physical activities.

There are 24 students enrolled at Farm School and three teachers instruct the students. This creates an average 10:1 ratio of students to teachers.

"I enjoy being able to work one-on-one with the students," said teacher Rachel Bodinet. "Before I started working here, I was trying to get out of (instructing through) traditional schooling. Now I can teach for understanding and I'm not pushed to go faster."

Nancy Enoch has been working at Farm School for 24 years. She began in after school care when the school was located at UCI. 

"Kids are capable of so much more than they're expected to do," said Enoch. "My favorite thing about teaching is watching the light bulb go on. I know (the students) have it forever."

Farm School encourages children to learn and discover through play, to take responsibility for their own learning and to solve problems. Farm School discourages rote learning, teachers lecturing, busy work and results rather than process.

"When a child figures something out, the other students in the classroom know about it," Farm School teacher Dana Guruprasad said to parents at the open house. "The others are so excited for that child's success that they will applaud."

Parents had questions about monitoring student's success because there is no state testing performed at Farm School. 

"Some of my kids (from Farm School) are now at the university level," said Enoch. "They are happy in their jobs. They possess ownership of their learning."

According to Farm School's literature, Former Sage Hill School English Department Chair George B.Pratt said, "...the most adventurous, creative and motivated students had gone to The Farm School."

Tuition for the 2011-2012 school year is $11,300. Free before school care is available and fees are charged for after school care. For more information about Farm School, call 949-241-4175.