High School

Our 5-year accredited high school program prepares teenagers (ages 13-18) to create a world in which all Life thrives. This is vitally important given the widespread social, ecological, and spiritual crises of our time. To prepare to build life-giving culture amidst great adversity, teenagers at Springhouse learn about themselves, study the problems we face in the world today, gain insight from inspiring cultural examples, and practice culture-building skills. These areas of study are the focus of our curriculum, which is informed by Sourced Design, the principles we practice and share to create a culture that takes care of Life over the long term.

Our curriculum is radically different from what most of us are familiar with. Our goal is not for our alumni to succeed in the dominant culture, but rather to be able to navigate that culture in order to build something different. Everything we teach prepares teenagers to build life-giving culture when they leave, wherever they are. We know that leaving behind the familiar educational system can feel risky, and yet, if we want to live in a different world, we need to live and educate in a radically different way.

This kind of education is rigorous and vital.

We are looking for teenagers (13-18) who are:

Excited to a participate in new form of education

Eager to learn and work hard

Self-reflective and motivated to know themselves more deeply

Able to think beyond themselves and their own needs

Excited to participate and grow in community

Able to adapt to change and think complexly

Our program has a tiered tuition, and no one is turned away due to a lack of funds.

The next application deadline for a fall 2024 start is August 3rd, 2024

Three Guiding Principles

of our Educational Model

Community

Knowledge

Practice

We learn in a community, and we must take care of that community for it to remain healthy and life-giving. Some ways we strengthen our community are: 

  • Practicing a shared set of values
  • Dancing, singing, and playing games together
  • Cleaning the school building and maintaining the grounds 
  • Honoring growth through rites of passage and other rituals

In order to build life-giving culture, our teenagers must:

  • Get to know themselves through mentoring; personal practices like dance, yoga, and meditation; and explorations of what it means to be a teenager
  • Learn about the issues we see today, their origins, and how they have spread globally
  • Explore inspiring examples of thriving culture, wisdom traditions, and how Life works on Earth

We need to practice creating and sustaining new ways of living. To prepare for this, teenagers practice skills that are not generally valued by our current educational system, such as imagination, experimentation, and discipline. They do this through engaging in weekly apprenticeships with the Springhouse staff  who are working on long-term, life-giving projects.

Learn More About our Lasting Impact