Sponsored by Learning Lab Wichita.
Last week, I was having a conversation with a local mom. Similar to dozens of parents, we’ve talked to at Learning Lab Wichita this year, this mother was hesitant to send her children back to their K-12 school environment. Tears welled up in her eyes as she weighed her options.
It’s not that traditional school models are “bad.” My children thrive in a seven-hour school day filled with lectures and textbooks. Every child is different – so it makes sense that where each child flourishes is different, too.
Learning Lab Wichita was created to support innovative educators who are trailblazing new ideas in K-12 education. Our space includes homeschool, public school, private school and microschool students. Families can make the best decisions for their unique children when new, better and different education options exist.
Since Learning Lab is opening for memberships on Tuesday, Sept. 3, I asked Learning Lab Wichita Managing Director Lydia Hampton to answer some questions to help area families understand what we do.
What is Learning Lab Wichita?
Learning Lab Wichita is a collaborative hub and co-learning space focusing on supporting education entrepreneurs in their pursuit to offer personalized learning to K-12 students. Families and educators can purchase monthly memberships and conduct learning in our entire space, including specialty spaces like our digital studio, podcast studio and makerspace.
We also will offer programming for K-12 learners and for educators. The goal is to partner with educators to plan all the details for impactful, supplemental learning opportunities. Any K-12 student is welcome to sign up for one of our classes, although our members will receive early sign-up access and discounts.
Finally, it’s difficult for families and learners to know what options are available to them, so we aim to amplify the work our innovative educator partners are doing, so people are more aware of their learning options.
How did Learning Lab Wichita come to be?
Stand Together invests in bottom-up solutions by empowering people who are close to the problem to be the changemakers. In education, we believe in investing in education entrepreneurs who are trailblazing innovative K-12 solutions, whether those educators are innovating inside a traditional classroom or creating a solution outside of a school system.
Learning Lab came to be through evaluating what people need in the Wichita community and what we have seen in other communities. We created this co-working space for education. We wondered, what would it be like to have several working models all in the same space? What would it be like to bring our community to see that? Today, in addition to our members, we have four very different school models operating out of our space inside Union Station.
Why should families and educators consider Learning Lab Wichita membership?
You should become a member to give your learners and family access to our specialty spaces and ongoing programming to supplement or enrich what you’re doing at home. Membership allows your learners to engage with peers in the community and offers you the chance to connect with other parents seeking innovative options for their children.
Plus, you’ll gain access to materials and opportunities that might be difficult to find on your own in our makerspace, digital lab, and podcast studio.
At the end of the day, everyone can agree that we want education to be better for all our learners. Our solution is to personalize education based on the needs of individual learners.
To learn about Learning Lab Wichita memberships and K-12 programming, visit www.golearninglab.org.
