Hi, I am Daniela! I’m taking you with me today for a day at the lila.school.
My start into the day
In the morning I get to school around 8. We don’t have a bell that tells me I’m late. It’s a lot less stressful than I was used to at my old school. Some of my friends are already here and we have enough time to tell each other the most important news. Just like every day, there is also a meditation session. I’m almost always there, but today I don’t feel like it.
At half past eight, I start my day with a conversation with my mentor over breakfast. We talk about how I’m doing personally and how I’m getting on with my current projects, what I’ve already completed and what the next steps are for me.
Exciting projects in the morning
After that, open learning begins. There, we students create projects of any kind ourselves. You can join an existing project or develop your own. If you don’t have a concrete plan for what to do, our learning guides always have good ideas. And if that doesn’t help either, you can take extra time to get your bearings. This form of learning was very new to me, as I was used to being taught in subjects. Of course, there are always arguments in the project groups, disputes about what is more important for the project, but together we always find a solution. But when we are already well coordinated in the team, everything often runs smoothly because everyone knows their role and what they have to do, and in the end a great thing emerges.
We have already discovered some exciting things with our projects that I probably would never have gotten to know otherwise. In our last project we built a real raised garden bed and planted some things in it. Worked great! Before that, I was in a group that was trying to program a LEGO robot. The result was quite different from what we had planned, but we had a lot of fun and I learned a lot about programming.
After Open Learning, I grab a snack from our kitchen. Today it was Samuel and Alexandra’s turn to prepare the snack. They cut up some fruits and vegetables, and there’s bread and spreads, too.
Afterwards, as a project group, we will discuss the final presentation for Friday in the large assembly. We made more products for our self-made online store of the school. The presentation will be mega exciting for me because I don’t really like speaking freely in front of people. I’d rather just have Mark talk, who likes to be the center of attention — but my mentor says (and I’m aware of this myself) that if I don’t challenge myself, I’ll never learn. My group once again encourages me and pushes me to do a small part of the comedy sketch. Puuuhh … Luckily I signed up for the input lesson “English Grammar — Past Tenses”. Now I quickly get other ideas.
Time for a break together
At lunch with all the learning guides and students of the school, it gets rather noisy. We talk about current news and projects or like today simply about Natalie’s new dog. The food is also cooked by ourselves or from time to time simply ordered.
After lunch, I’m usually lazy and retreat to the chillout corner to talk with friends, try games, listen to music, and sometimes even take a nap.
Great offers in the afternoon
In the afternoons to evenings, a lot of different courses are offered, such as pottery, drumming, languages, sports and theater. Today I didn’t sign up for any courses and am going straight into my self-study time. I use the time to still deal with the new topics from the English lesson and the preparation of the presentation.
I leave school at half past four. On the way home, I’m looking forward to tomorrow, because I’ve signed up for the excursion to the Haus des Meeres. I hope Kathi will join us too!
Here I feel comfortable!
What I like most about our school is the relaxed atmosphere between all of us. Of course, there are also some things that we as students have to do, after all, we also have a curriculum. But you can talk to our learning guides in a relaxed way and don’t have the constant feeling that they want to force you to do something. I feel in great hands here and accepted as a human being. That’s how I’ve always wanted it to be.