Our Approach

Think of Kingsbridge as a rigorous homeschool-style of education with peers practicing the art of learning together. We become acquainted with our own ignorance. We will train the mind, learning to read seriously and to study. We wrestle with truth to inoculate us from commercial advertisement and propaganda. We don’t simply stuff facts in our heads, but rather seek to understand them. We follow the general pattern of the classical trivium; grammar, logic, and rhetoric.

Students engage in genuine scholarship. They harden the body. And they develop a palate for goodness, truth, and beauty. And they use their minds and bodies to discover these qualities that point to the source of all being.

Sitting at desks and taking exams is actually quite strange when you think about it.

“Authentic learning happens organically peer-to-peer. This doesn’t require bells or hall passes.”

Open-Source Education

We promote open-source education at Kingsbridge. Open-source education involves exploration and experimentation. In this model the world is our classroom. Students encounter the world directly. They become the initiators — creating, solving, and doing. The teacher moves to the periphery becoming more of an editor, adviser, coach, mentor, and guide. The underlying premise is that practically anything can be the starting point towards self-mastery and a good life. Everyone you encounter is a potential teacher.

Learning for Mastery

Learners advance, not necessarily according to the calendar or even after showing some modicum of proficiency, but only after demonstrated mastery. That means they've written a novella or produced a short film. They've built something useful. They've replicated an experiment. They've taught others. Their thinking is challenged and their ideas are pressed. They've wrestled with the big questions like origins, meaning, and morality. And they've committed to a particular vision after thoroughly exploring the alternatives. The goal is not simply to get to college. College is just one option among many.

Learning for Mastery

Sitting at desks and listening to a teacher is actually quite strange. Encountering things directly is much more fundamental than doing so through abstract representations. We are real people situated in the world and oriented towards human concerns. The goal is not just to know about some ultimate reality; but to participate in it. We engage in practices that fix knowledge, commitment, and belief into our being so we can possess and exercise these higher goods. An educated person must not remain unaffected by the knowledge acquired.

Educating the Whole Person

Students are encouraged to pursue their passions while expanding the breadth of their knowledge. They don’t sit around all day. They get up and do things. Students have opportunities to lead. They read serious content. They learn to think critically and independently, not just obey reflexively. They experience solitude in order to develop an inner dialog so that they never have to be bored. And they get to participate in a thick community. Our education pillars encompass body, mind, and soul.

Strength &

Conditioning

Forming our bodies for fuller family and social lives, aesthetic pleasures, and for the psychological benefits that physical fitness affords.

Logic &

Rhetoric

Practicing the art of learning through a rigorous personalized education that trains the mind and informs the conscience.

Leadership &

Service

Enriching our community by being rooted in family, place, tradition, religion, and culture and guiding each other towards virtue.

Physical Activity Five Days A Week

Physical fitness is the perfect place to start reclaiming the real. The body is not incidental to our nature. Our bodies give real physical form to the content that is the person. Thus physical fitness is a core component to one's education. Disciplining the body is our first lesson in freedom. We form our bodies for fuller family and social lives, aesthetic pleasures, and for the psychological benefits that physical fitness affords. This teaches us to accept hard work, fatigue, and even physical pain. And we also get to experience the freedom and pleasure of being in great shape. Everyone, regardless of their ability or fitness level, is capable of making real measurable gains.

A Guarded Approach to Technology

At Kingsbridge students do not have unfettered access to the internet throughout the day. Smart phones and other web-enabled devices are deposited in a central location where students can access them only for specific purposes. Any technology we incorporate must enhance the learning experience without harming our relationships or our souls. That said, we will take advantage of open online courses and utilize e-ink readers to access digital articles and books. But these will never replace regular trips the library to do research. We aren’t afraid of technology, but we won’t be controlled by it.