The Dandelion Project – Wild Seeds ALC
Philadelphia, PA 19147-5703
United States
Description
Who We Are
The Dandelion Project (TDP) is a learning community in South Philadelphia that supports self-directed, inclusive, and joyful learning for young people ages 5-18. We offer camps, after school programs, and daytime learning for homeschoolers and unschoolers, providing a space where young people can explore their passions, build community, and lead their own learning.
Our Mission
Our mission is to create equitable, supportive, and empowering partnerships with young people. We support young people to identify and develop the skills, knowledge, and confidence to lead meaningful lives. At TDP, every individual—regardless of age—is seen as a teacher, learner, problem solver, and community builder, with valuable points of view and experiences to share.
Our Approach
We trust that learning happens best when young people are invited to explore, experiment, play, question, and interact with the real world, while being immersed in, responsible to, and supported by a caring community.
We affirm that young people deserve a voice in what and how they learn, providing a responsive environment tailored to their interests and needs. We integrate practical skills in literacy, math, history, and science through activities inspired by interests expressed by kids. At the same time, we prioritize holistic growth, helping learners develop tools they need to thrive both now and in the future.
Discover more at our website!
SDE Optimizing Conditions
- Responsibility – We are actively reframing learning as something that should be self-determined and evaluated.
- Youth Autonomy – Kids choose how to spend their time.
- Access to Tools and Technology – We have a resource-rich space that kids are encouraged to explore and make use of for self-determined interests.
- Adult Allies – Facilitators at The Dandelion Project are in a constant process of reflecting on our power and impact on the space and the way adult bias shows up as part of our responsibility to the youth we are building community with. We don’t grade or evaluate
- Free Age Mixing – Mixed-age community, ages 5-18 years old.
- Community – We use Agile tools to support community decision making and agreements, revising agreements, and challenging the systems by which we make agreements.
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