9:15 am – 10:30 am
Seminar: one short text, one question
Bakari Gipson · Long table
A microschool in Fayetteville, Arkansas
Eighteen students, two guides, one project at a time
Seminar is a learner-driven school for ages 9 to 14. Students pick their questions, plan the work with a guide and carry a project from the first idea to a showing for others.
The week
Seminar in the morning, projects in the afternoon
Doors open at 8:45. The morning shape stays the same; the afternoons belong to each student's project.
A week in the school year
Monday
10:45 am – 12:00 pm
Math workshop, in groups
Emani Gilchrist · Long table
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm
Lunch and yard time
Emani Gilchrist · Back room and yard
12:45 pm – 3:15 pm
Project time, then tidy up
Both guides · Workshop
Tuesday
9:15 am – 10:30 am
Writing workshop
Bakari Gipson · Long table
10:45 am – 12:00 pm
Science bench
Emani Gilchrist · Workshop
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm
Lunch and yard time
Emani Gilchrist · Back room and yard
12:45 pm – 3:15 pm
Project time, then tidy up
Both guides · Workshop
Wednesday
9:15 am – 10:30 am
Seminar: one short text, one question
Bakari Gipson · Long table
10:45 am – 12:00 pm
Math workshop, in groups
Emani Gilchrist · Long table
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm
Lunch and yard time
Emani Gilchrist · Back room and yard
12:45 pm – 3:15 pm
Project time, or a trip out
Both guides · Workshop
Thursday
9:15 am – 10:30 am
Writing workshop
Bakari Gipson · Long table
10:45 am – 12:00 pm
Reading corner and garden beds
Emani Gilchrist · Reading corner
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm
Lunch and yard time
Emani Gilchrist · Back room and yard
12:45 pm – 3:15 pm
Project time, then tidy up
Both guides · Workshop
Friday
9:15 am – 10:30 am
Seminar: one short text, one question
Bakari Gipson · Long table
10:45 am – 12:00 pm
Project work in pairs
Emani Gilchrist · Workshop
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm
Lunch and yard time
Emani Gilchrist · Back room and yard
12:45 pm – 2:15 pm
Showing: work in progress, with questions
Both guides · Long table
2:15 pm – 3:15 pm
Look back and write the Friday note
Both guides · Long table
Sample classes.
Friday ends with a showing of work in progress.
How a project goes
One project, from the first question to the showing
A project runs about four weeks. No two look alike, and the steps stay the same.
- 01
Step 1: Ask a question
A student writes down what they want to find out or make, and why. The guides answer with questions of their own until the idea is clear.
- 02
Step 2: Plan on paper
One page: what to read, what to build, what to borrow and which week each part happens. A guide reads the plan before any work starts.
- 03
Step 3: Gather what you need
Books, tools, a person to ask, a place to visit. Students make the request and the guides help decide what is possible.
- 04
Step 4: Make it
Most afternoons for about three weeks. A guide checks in with every student each day, and teaches a short workshop when several students need the same skill.
- 05
Step 5: Show it, and take questions
On a Friday the student shows the work to the group and to invited adults, then answers what they ask.
- 06
Step 6: Look back
A page on what went well, what the student would change and what to try next. It goes in their folder, and the guides write home.
The room
A long table, a workshop and a reading corner
Seminar fills the ground floor of a former print shop a few blocks from the square. Students share one long table for seminar and math, a workshop with benches and hand tools, and a corner with shelves and cushions for reading.
Families see all of it on a visit day.
A long table for seminar and math
A workshop with hand tools
A reading corner with cushions
A small yard with garden beds
The guides
Two guides, one long table
Bakari and Emani are with every student, every day the school is open.
Bakari Gipson
Founding guide
Started Seminar after teaching middle school. Leads the seminar mornings, the writing workshop and the Friday showings, and is at the door when the first student arrives. Brings a ukulele to lunch most days.
Emani Gilchrist
Guide
Leads math, the science bench and the garden beds in the yard. Keeps every student's project folder and writes the note that goes home each Friday.
After a visit day
What families tell us
4.6
14 reviews
5★10
4★3
3★1
2★0
1★0
“We sat in on a seminar and nobody hurried us. By lunch we knew how the day runs and who is in the room.”
Eliot D.“The guides asked our son what he wanted to make before they told us anything about the school.”
Nayelli R.“The note on Friday says what each student worked on that week, in plain words.”
Addie S.
Sample reviews.
Visit
Book a visit day
A visit day is a school morning. Sit in on seminar, see the workshop and talk with Bakari and Emani about your family. Students your child's age are welcome to come along.
Phone(479) 555-0103
School hours
- Monday to FridayToday
- 8:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
- Saturday and SundayToday
- Closed