About Mamenoki （English)

まめの木通信

2022年6月9日木曜日 8時 39分

We are an alternative school located in the countryside of Tambasasayama, Japan. We speak both English and Japanese, and as a democratic school, the students make decisions together to plan activities and projects and to establish rules. These activities can be as simple as deciding what games to play together or determining personal goals for study, or more long term goals such as planning a summer music festival or bike trips. Unlike most normal schools, we do not impose a timeframe, have a set curriculum, or make our students sit at desks and do homework, so each student's experience is customized to fit their unique personality and character.

We encourage our students to explore, play, move, and learn at their own pace in a rich and supportive setting. Students get practice deciding for themselves what is meaningful and important, and have the chance to determine their way forward on a daily basis. When a student has an idea, we try to support them without interfering with their process and controlling the outcome, so the child comes to understand their own abilities and take on challenges at the rate that is appropriate for them. We see students become comfortable with a trial and error approach to learning and creativity, and gain a certain ease with making mistakes and learning from them. Because studying is not imposed, we see an openness and curiosity towards learning and little of the resistance you see in normal schools.

While we believe it is important that all people be allowed to choose what activities to take on, we also value socialization and practice group decision making, so that everyone’s rights are respected. We take efforts to create a safe and welcoming space for all children, and encourage children to express their individuality without pressure to conform.

There is an abundance of nature at our school, with surrounding mountains, organic vegetable garden and orchard, and ponds free for the children to explore. We also have many animals, so children take part in a dog walks, caring for our chickens and gathering eggs, playing with the cats, and catching and keeping a myriad of critters. We think sustainability is important, so at Mamenoki not only do we produce our own electricity with solar panels, we practice composting, harvest rainwater, keep honeybees, and heat our school with wood from the local mountains. It's a joy to see our students devouring berries straight of the bushes and harvesting veggies to top pizza to bake in our wood-fired bread oven. We enjoy the slow country life, and hope that our space can provide fertile ground for children to pursue their dreams.

At Mamenoki we strive to provide a variety of contexts for children to learn, and we feel that the best way to learn is by doing, so we try to give our students every opportunity for hands-on experience. At our current facility we have:

-a crafts studio
-outdoor pottery workshop
-music studio
-playroom
-kitchen
-library
-central meeting area

We also have lots of bicycles and sports equipment, playground equipment, a playhouse, and plenty of trees to climb and room to run. We often go swimming at the pool or river and play at local parks, and go to the library or gym to play sports on rainy days. We also believe it’s important for our students to encounter different people and experiences, so we regularly set up workshops depending on the students’ interests at the given time. Some of the workshops we have held recently are:

-music
-ceramics
-language study
-cooking
-arts and crafts
-archery

We are currently doing a crowdfunding project to raise money for this renovation project. The money we raise will be spent on:

-200,000 yen (about $1,500) for demolition and disposal of the house interior
-500,000 yen (about $3,700) for building materials and appliances
-500,000 yen (about $3,700) to pay our carpenters and architect
-135,000 yen (about $1,000) to cover our crowdfunding fee
-100,000 yen (about $750) to cover the cost of our crowdfunding returns
-65,000 yen (about $480) to pay for publicity and advertising of the project

We hope to do a lot of the work ourselves, to make the most of our funds. Whatever isn't spent on renovation will be spent on improving the learning environment of the children. We hope you will consider donating to help us meet our our goal, and every little bit helps.

The crowdfunding site doesn't allow donations from outside of Japan, so we have created a paypal account to accept donations. We are so excited for this next phase in the growth of our school, and we are looking forward to working together on it with the students and sharing it with everyone.

Click here to donate to our paypal account.

https://paypal.me/sasayamamamenoki

投稿者 :Gen Nishimura

まめの木通信

About Mamenoki （English)

archives

🌟 新しいパルクールグル...

カラフルキッチン

まめの木シネマデー

まめの木の職業体験プロジェクト

カモのメル

カンタとキャンプ

レゴ作品紹介

ベンさんの剣作りワークショップ

おたまじゃくし

カカオ豆からチョコを作りました！

2人でピザ出店！

情熱の入り口

プログラミング

オンライン説明会

ボルダリング

民主主義体験ゲーム「デモポリー」

ハンバーガーショップ

1月のまめの木

第８回 えだまめのみ

第15回トーキョーコーヒー＠まめの木は講...

年末年始お休みのお知らせ

10月のまめの木

陰と陽

やりたいことをやること

子供たちが育つ場所として

9月のまめの木

第4回 「えだまめのみ」

第3回「えだまめのみ」

第二回えだまめのみ

＜職業体験プログラムとしての「えだまめの...

えだまめのみ

第９回トーキョーコーヒー！

Anna's thoughts (英語版...

アンナの思うこと

まめの木祭り Sound Shower!...

まめの木まつり Sound Shower

きらめ樹皮むき会🌲 in...

とある日のまめの木

とある日のまめの木

子羊の名前(男の子)コンテスト！！！！

［とある日のまめの木］

とある日のまめの木

まめの木新聞 （日本語版）

まめの木新聞 12月号 (英語）Mame...

2023年1月からまめの木新料金！

クリスマスパーティー

まめの木と集落の繋がり

バイリンガル新聞！

まめの木 新聞 日本語版

神戸ファッション専門学校見学・体験

第4回トーキョーコーヒー

まめの木ワークデーのお願い

第3回トーキョーコーヒー

丹波市も出席認定！

トーキョーコーヒー第3回！

Mamenoki Camp （Engli...

「遊ぶ日」1週間前！

キャンプで最強のカツ丼

＜まめの木秋祭りwith Camping...

第一回トーキョーコーヒー

まめの木の前の池

トーキョーコーヒーをまめの木で！

[まめの木無料体験月間！]

絶対見るべき映画

クラファン終了！！

屋根裏がめっちゃいい！！

解体工事スタート！

オフグリッド計画 MIT (マサチューセ...

子供たちがイメージ画に色を塗ってくれまし...

まめの木祭り終了！

まめの木まつりの案内を地元新聞に掲載して...

まめの木 新校舎プロジェクト 「枝豆の木...

子供たちが作る「まめの木まつり」

Crowdfunding Project

まめの木のクラファン！

篠山で一番おもしろい人来た！

美山のアウトドアキャンプへ

第８回　えだまめのみ

第4回　「えだまめのみ」

まめの木祭り　Sound Shower!...

まめの木まつり　Sound Shower

まめの木新聞　（日本語版）

まめの木新聞　12月号 (英語）Mame...

まめの木　新聞　日本語版

オフグリッド計画　MIT (マサチューセ...

まめの木　新校舎プロジェクト　「枝豆の木...

【『まめの木オンライン説明会』参加者募...

『まめの木オンライン説明会』追加開催の...

【『まめの木オンライン説明会』参加者募...

まめの木でスタッフしてみて　(2)

まめの木でスタッフしてみて　(1)

大学生ボランティア　(2)

文化祭　練習

丹波コミュニティカレッジ　開校！

ヒヨコたちの成長　（１）by みさと

味噌フェス　第一回

ピザパーティー　(with Englis...

まめの木祭り　第二回