Life Project Education
In 2015, Life Project Education emerged as an experimental homeschool project, a seedling in a modest 2-bedroom, one-bathroom rental home in Manuel Antonio. Four years later, seeking permanent roots, founder Alys Jasmine Robinson relocated to an expansive 16-bedroom, 16-bathroom dream estate where her once intimate project is now a blooming, vibrant alternative educational initiative serving 70 students.
New branches of this tree of learning continue to grow like the young minds it nurtures. Once an offering for ages 5-9, Life Project now offers preschool, prekindergarten, elementary education, and the current Upper Years children (ages 11-13) are co-creating their future secondary education campus, a collaborative project called “The Village”. Projected to start construction in December 2022, the Village at Life Project Education will accommodate adolescents through 12th grade.
As community development and authentic project-based learning are the driving pedagogies of Life Project Education, the elder children have participated in every step of the middle & high school expansion. From unrestricted envisioning of their dream campus, to rendering realistic 2-dimensional master plans, creating 3-dimensional models of bamboo structures alongside bamboo architects, participating in regenerative permaculture and eco-engineering workshops, leading the marketing and fundraising, to actual construction, the children are full participants in the process of creating their future learning environment.
Inspired by the Bali Green School architecture and principles of regenerative, holistic education, The Village at Life Project Education is an ambitious, multi-phase community project. The student-conceived campus will serve as both an alternative learning campus for 120+ local and international middle and high school students, and a dynamic community center offering a community garden, an iconic movement and performing temple, 6 sustainably-constructed classrooms, a media & research center, amphitheater, communal kitchen, ninja obstacle course, and multiple chill-out spaces designed by the students themselves. The Village students will additionally maintain access to the existing main campus swimming pool, art studio, greenhouse (vivero), woodworking studio, and animal farm.
The community space intends to additionally offer weekend markets, concerts, festivals, ecstatic dance, after-school experiences, camps, and community workshops, with the overarching intention to bring together local & international adolescents, children, educators, families, neighbors, and travelers to enjoy this multipurpose space. The expansion is projected to attract both international and local families within the southern zone who seek a less traditional, community-based approach to education.
Life Project Education will host an inaugural fundraising and Open House event on September 24th from 1-4 pm. If you wish to learn more or to explore opportunities to enroll, teach, or invest within our growing project, Life Project Education welcomes inquiries to [email protected].
We invite our community to schedule a visit with us any time, and come experience how this tender seed, planted eight years ago, has sprouted into a prolific flowering tree, with even more abundant growth on the horizon!