Four Principles of Lodestar Learning
Principle #1 Achieving Balanced Perspectives is our Primary Learning Goal
We foster collaboration and work with like-spirited individuals and groups. Likewise, we welcome diverse perspectives and seek to be better listeners. We work with other growers, ranchers, homesteaders and artists of all persuasions in order to coordinate a well-rounded curriculum for students. We aim to create learning opportunities which include the necessary time to develop relationships with Self, other human beings, and the more-than-human world. We value intuition as well as intellectual approach to knowing. We believe in the capacity of the individual to grow and thrive without the aid of any external enhancements.
Principle #2 Heart-Mind-Spirit-Body-Earth Connection
The Renaissance homesteader understands the necessity to balance physical work, so essential to the self-reliant lifestyle, with time for reflection, expression and creativity. In this way, the student may discover “joy in all things.” Literature, poetry, music and art inspired by nature are also part of our holistic curriculum. We seek to host and instruct a community of artists who find their greatest inspiration in their relationship with the Earth processes.
Principle #3 Relationship with PLACE
We believe in the powerful instruction that the diverse landscapes and geographical features of this region can teach us, so traveling to local monuments, parks, and reserves is also slated as part of our curriculum. Instead of referring to them as field trips, we call these experiences in place excursion immersions. Excursions take place within a 200-mile radius of Interstate 40 east, Hwy 77 south, Hwy 260 east. Excursions include trips to the Grand Canyon, Walnut Canyon, Salt River Canyon, Homolovi Ruins, Petrified Forest/Painted Desert, Woodruff Butte, Fools Hollow & Lyman Lake State Parks, El Morrow National Monument, and the Mt. Baldy Wilderness Area USFS/Apache Reservation. As permaculturalists we appreciate the uniqueness of each place; as artists we appreciate the power of place to inspire the creative process.
Principle #4 The Necessity of Solitude
We believe in time to work alone. Observing, reflecting, creating, experimenting are verbs that require time and solitude. The creative process is intensely personal. Students will have time to pause between inhaling information and experience, and then exhaling individual expression. Encouraging dynamic solitude is part of the curriculum.