The School Around Us

06/01/2026

Our Full-time learners love project based math classes. In each spiral we find our way to these every year along with including time for practicing the basics, of course. In the older spiral, our Floor carrot restaurant project has been active for FIVE years. This successful project focuses on the skills of running a business from start up costs (sometimes taking out "a loan"), planning, organizing, following recipes, pricing, understanding profit/loss and then carrying that all out.....cooking, serving, managing sign ups, taking cash and Venmo payments....and more! It's a BIG project that has more impact than just math/logical thinking skills. It's community building! It brings our learning community together to enjoy lunch cooked and served by their older schoolmates and it includes parents, friends, grandparents and even extended community members. We are proud to say that Floor Carrot (FCR) has run on a profit for its lifetime so far making close to $2000 this year. This money goes directly to help pay for the spiral's end of the year expedition!

This year we are graduating our last OG founder of FCR, Lucy! Throughout her tenure at FCR she has become an incredible leader, chef and invaluable team member. We're so grateful for you, Lucy, and proud of all you have achieved!
(This post is from our last lunch on Thursday, but also includes some photos from our 5 years of history to highlight former members who have graduated including the OG Four Founders: Lucy, Teegan, Jacob & Gwen)

05/30/2026

Self portraits of our lovely learners made during the last community Friday of the programming year 2026

05/30/2026

The Spirit of School Around Us shone big this week with some fun Spirit Day activities! Learners came to school in their jammies with "anything but a backpack" to hold things like their lunches and changes of clothes, took part in learner led classes (Mr. He"Alternative logic math class", soccer drills, chicken class, sticker making and food painting (and some eating too if we're honest!), had a fabulous BBQ grilled by Tim our Facilities Mgr, did some face painting and ended the day with a talent show! What fun! We LOVE SAU! ❤

05/29/2026

Our songwriting afternoon with Jason Roman & Miss Ellie was a great success! Here is the song written by the middle & older learners with some sweet photos of our pups! Enjoy "Hello to the Dogs of SAU" !

05/29/2026

Our end-of-year expeditions are one of our favorite traditions — a joyful celebration of learning and community for our Full-Time kids.

The Middle Spiral had a blast planning their own 3-day/2-night adventure, and what a trip it turned out to be!

**Squam Lake Science Center — where they met the animal ambassadors (including a big brown bat!), explored animals in residence, and dove into some incredible hands-on learning stations
**A squirrel playground that gave them a whole new appreciation for life as a squirrel
** Boda Borg in Boston — an epic challenge for curious minds
**Lost River Gorge — because exploring underground never gets old
** Boating (and a little brave swimming — brrr!) on Squam Lake

These kids planned it, lived it, and loved it. What a beautiful way to close out the year!

05/24/2026

Friday's Garden Community Day was everything we love about this time of year. We're so fortunate to have Frinklepod Farm right in our neighborhood — close enough to walk! We rolled up our sleeves to support the farm, then got to hand-pick our own seedlings to bring home or plant in the SAU garden. Beautiful weather, good work, and great community. We can't wait for next year!

05/23/2026

The older spiral expedition was a fun mix of country and city! Our five day expedition found us in Central Pennsylvania, where we explored the countryside on horseback, spent a fast and furious day in Philadelphia seeing the Liberty Bell, the rocky steps, the art museum, and even a Cirque du Soleil show and then to the mountains where we went zip lining! We even ended with an amazing escape room experience. What did we learn? Patience, resilience, collaboration, self-care, some geography, and a little history and more! Our end of the year expeditions are intended to push us out of our comfort zone just enough to help us grow and flourish. We created lasting memories together on this trip.

05/23/2026

Not just preschool or Kindergarten. School Around Us is the place where your child discovers who they are.

The Sprout Program at School Around Us is where little ones learn to play, explore, connect, and grow — at their own pace, in their own way.

Our approach is play-based and nature-focused, and every child is surrounded by a warm community of educators and families who truly see them — not just what they're learning, but who they're becoming.

Enrolling now for Full-Time — come see what learning feels like when it starts with love.
FMI or to apply scan the QR code or visit https://www.schoolaroundus.org/sprout-spiral

Providing full- and part-time holistic education to learners ages 4 - 14. Thriving relationships are the heart of learning. Learning is natural to being human! Perhaps the most valuable gift we can give our children is learning how to learn for life. At SAU we understand that the foundation for life...

05/22/2026

Join us for our last Community day of this programming year! Self-portraits & Songwriting is open to all families with children ages 4-14!

This wonderful day of creativity will begin with Guest artist Vi Lizotte who will help us paint beautiful expressive watercolor self-portraits. Then, In the afternoon we'll engage in songwriting workshops with guest musicians Miss Ellie and Jason Romagnoli. There will be space for songwriters to perform their original songs at the end of the day if they choose to do so! We can't wait to see and hear all of the beautiful creations!
Sign up here https://www.schoolaroundus.org/cdays