San Francisco Schoolhouse is an intentionally small community where young people are valued as individuals. A compassionate team of educators approach academic and social-emotional development with the aim of cultivating justice-seeking humans empowered to transform their world. CORE VALUES: Children are naturally creative and highly divergent in their thinking to problems and solutions. Most education strips children of these natural talents. Children learn at different paces and have different interests, strengths and weaknesses. Learning must be individualized. Inspiring children to learn—as opposed to requiring them to absorb information—promotes the natural love of learning that all children are born with, resulting in a deeper commitment to their own education. Teachers must mentor, question and encourage. Learning will involve discussion and analysis in small groups and one-on-one discussions, instead of lectures and workbooks. A school is not just a place to learn academic skills. It is a community of families coming together for the purpose of educating and growing a child. Academic excellence is the right of every child and it must become affordable to more families.