What if the classroom was the forest? At Life School, math can be learned by watching muriquis. Science, by planting trees. And stories, inside an indigenous oca. This is the children's routine at the multilingual, rural school in Ibiti Village, Vila Mogol, where nature is the main textbook and freedom the greatest lesson.
Recognized by the MEC, the Life School is a branch of the Fundação Guairá Educational Centre in Andrelândia (MG), and offers two multigrade classes for children aged 3 to 5 and 6 to 10. Open to the local community, it also welcomes children from families staying temporarily in Ibiti, creating an atmosphere of exchange, diversity and hospitality.
"We believe that learning is living. That's why we remove the walls of the school and integrate everyday life into the pedagogical process," says Lane Machado, director of Life School.
Nature as a classroom
Here, every natural phenomenon becomes a starting point for knowledge. The muriquis, for example, inspire interdisciplinary projects involving biology, botany, geography, literature and mathematics. In this way, the contents of the Common National Curriculum Base (BNCC) are approached by the pedagogues through projects and real experiences, always with play as the guiding thread.
In addition, the students have contact with inspirers: Ibiti professionals who share their diverse knowledge, from gastronomy to the arts, from permaculture to organic cooking. "It takes a whole village to educate a child": this is the maxim that guides the inspirers' project.
Non-profit education with a social impact
Although it operates as a private school, Life School is a non-profit initiative. This means that all surplus funds are reinvested to grant scholarships to children from the Vila Mogol community and to children of Ibiti Projeto employees. It is an open, diverse and inclusive school, which believes that a transformative education must be accessible and connected to the area in which it is located.
To guarantee its economic sustainability, Life School has an "Adopt a Student" program, through which any person or company can directly support the continuity of the project and increase its social impact.
Find out more:
