Philosophy

Educators are innovators.

 
 

The mission of Dream AcadeME is to empower each child with a love for learning and an enthusiasm for life. Through long term investigation of the Reggio Emilia philosophy, Founder Dr. Traci Korhonen recognized that a huge component of Reggio was STEAM education and connection to nature. Through the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) your child will discover his or her dreams and spend time in nature. Each child will explore his or her interests, as well as the interests of peers, through collaboration, communication, problem-solving, and experimentation. Dream AcadeME education facilitators provide the environment, experiences, and tools that nurture the development of each child’s integrity in fulfillment of his or her dreams.

The primary goal of Dream AcadeME is to foster each child to discover his or her place in the world and embrace it with love and gratitude. Through an innovative approach to learning, children engage with STEAM curriculum to think, discuss, build, connect, recreate, and refine their projects.

  • Learning through STEAM

  • Innovative and Creative Thinking

  • Meditation and Mindfulness

  • Dream Manifestation

  • Self-Discovery

  • Cultural Competence

  • Cooperative Problem-Solving

  • Positive Social Influence

  • Environmental Awareness

 

Why Dream AcadeME?

Dream AcadeME takes a unique approach to centering the curriculum around your child’s interests through the lens of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Science (STEAM). Dream AcadeME is a place where your child will understand himself or herself as a learner - essentially uncover their ME. Through a Socratic approach, children will be asked questions that deepen their ways of thinking, fundamentally shaping the nuero-pathways in their brains. These molded pathways increase their learning, where upon this cycle continues of questioning, learning, molding, and deepening of knowledge and understanding. These methods set Dream AcadeME apart from other programs.

Theoretical Foundation

Dream AcadeME's philosophy and mission are based on the theoretical foundations of psychologists, philosophers, and significant education influencers such as Lev Vygotsky, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Socrates, Howard Gardner, and Loris Malaguzzi.  

  • Vygotsky’s research investigated how children learn from others who can challenge and expand their growth through scaffolding and discussions – a sociocultural theory and the zone of proximal development.

  • Ralph Waldo Emerson valued the role of nature in learning and found nature and learning inseparable.

  • Socrates believed in facilitating learning through questioning as opposed to rote teaching.

  • Howard Gardner defines intelligences in separate categories: Linguistic, Logical- Mathematical, Spatial, Musical, Naturalist, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal, with each person exhibiting a natural tendency towards certain intelligences.

  • Lastly, Loris Malaguzzi was the father of the Reggio Emilia philosophy in Italy and valued the image of the child, 100 languages of the child, and that learning is connected to the natural environment and community.

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