The Whole Life Learning Center, which neighbors Akins on Old San Antonio Road, is a place for families to get their children’s education in a different way.

The kids choose what they want to study and focus on that subject that specific day, in the process of promoting a healthy and stimulating learning experience.

The Whole Life Learning Center started off as a one-day program with around 15 kids, the private school has now turned into a thriving school of around 40 students in the timeline of three years.

Starting off with the first class available, “Freedom Fridays.” Here kids learn about setting goals, achieving those goals, and developing the social and emotional sides of themselves.

Once “Freedom Fridays” became a success, “Mother Earth Mondays” were added to the list of programs. In this new program, the mentors and students focus on connections with the wilderness and the natures of the Earth.

The group plants seeds, and learns about growth in nature as well as going on walks in the Barton Creek Greenbelt minutes behind Akins.

Eventually, a three-day program that teaches the core classes such as math, science, history, and nglish were added in addition to a program for homeschooled teenagers on Fridays called the Teen Program.

“The kids actually ask for homework and quizzes because they’re not pressured by us force feeding them information to teach towards a test,” founder, director, and mentor, Michael Carberry said.

At the WLLC, children are encouraged to find inspiration in the world around them, work as a team, and to respect themselves.

“We do a lot of project and inspiration based learning. We focus on the development and growth of the person, not just what’s above the shoulders,” Carberry said.

Instead of teachers, the school has mentors. These mentors lead the kids to their goals and help them achieve them will not pushing them.

“We let the children choose what the day is going to consist of. We’re simply here to put challenges in front of them, guide them to achieve goals, and lead them to what’s next,” Carberry said.

Harmony and kindness play an important role to how things are run at the WLLC. The mentors guide the children to use nice words, to expand their vocabulary and work through incidents in a peaceful manner.

“Teasing and putting people down is not acceptable here,” Carberry said. “We don’t have a method of detention, or punishment. When something happens, we take the time to sit down and talk about happened.”

With this mindset the children at the Whole Life Learning Center not only learn what they need to know in the real world, but also learn about the processes of nature, kindness, and love. The children develop themselves as people, and build a connection with the world around them.