Academic Calendar
Concentrated Adventure, Built-in Recovery
Instead of one school building, your child's 8th grade year unfolds across five campuses: Ocean, Downtown, Mountain, Europe, and Forest. Each campus is built around a six-week block of hands-on, immersive learning.
This is not boarding school: Downtown, Ocean, and Forest are all based locally in the vicinity of Fairhaven, MA with students living at home for the majority of these blocks. When students do spend time away from home, it is concentrated, intentional, and supported by recovery time back home in the form of four week-long breaks and a month-long winter break. The longest stretch away from home is a culminating expedition to Europe in the spring for roughly 4 weeks. In total, students will spend roughly 10 weeks away across the entire year.
Our campus sequence is designed so that each experience builds on the last, with students taking on more independence and responsibility as the year goes on. It's a different rhythm than a traditional school year, but a deliberate one that eschews having adolescents sit in the same classroom all year. The Planet School curriculum revolves heavily around the places we visit, resulting in students studying topics that allow for extensive trip planning during class time. For example, studying European history and the Age of Exploration naturally involves exploring Portugal just as studying the weather and oceanography allows students to visualize the experience sailing aboard our tall ship. In this way, academics weave into a mental rehearsal of our expeditions, creating a sense of readiness in students for embarking upon their journeys.
Fall Semester
Ocean Campus
SIX WEEKS ~ Second week of August until mid-September
Students get dropped off for school at the Planet School dock in Fairhaven, MA and the schooner Wonder is our campus. Most days we will go sailing, but we will also have class on the beach or spend the day on an island. Classes will be geared towards preparing students for the two week overnight voyage in mid-September that acts as the capstone of their ocean experience.
ONE WEEK BREAK ~ Late September
Downtown Campus #1
SIX WEEKS ~ End of September through first week of November
After a one week break in mid-September, students spend the fall preparing to launch their pop-up business: a haunted house will run for the final week of October. Days are spent learning to use power tools, getting an introduction to business, and designing the costumes and sets. Over 2,000 people attended our 2022 haunted house, which helped us design our curriculum for this campus project. Students also spend time preparing for their upcoming Mountain Campus expeditions.
Mountain Campus #1
TWO WEEKS ~ The two weeks before Thanksgiving
Our first Mountain Campus expeditions build in challenge and the amount of student leadership and planning. This first expedition is fully faculty-led and, depending on weather, will either be to the Lone Star Hiking Trail north of Houston, TX or to the Florida Trail through the Ocala National Forest. The drive from Fairhaven to the trail is part of the experience with cultural stops and camping along the way.
ONE WEEK BREAK ~ Week of Thanksgiving
Mountain Campus #2
TWO WEEKS ~ The first two weeks of December
After taking a week off for Thanksgiving, Planet School students regroup on campus in Fairhaven and prepare for a another trip to whichever trail was not done in Mountain Campus #1. Incorporating lessons from the previous expedition, students are given greater responsibility throughout the trip. The hike itself is an 8-day expedition.
Winter Break
FOUR WEEKS ~ mid-December to mid-January
Spring Semester
Downtown Campus #2
SIX WEEKS ~ Third week of January through end of February
With the experience of a pop-up business under their belts, students now zoom out to investigate what makes healthy downtowns work. Within this urban studies context, students learn to operate the Planet School’s student-run coffee shop. Our first student-run business, The Secret Workshop, helped us refine this curriculum. Time is also spent studying and preparing for the upcoming final Mountain Campus trek, the Europe campus, and the Forest Campus.
Mountain Campus #3
TWO WEEKS ~ First two weeks in March
Students have been building towards this final trek: hiking a section of the legendary Appalachian Trail. We will break into two groups of six students and two faculty, adding another unique dimension to this final trek. Students will be largely responsible for planning meals, supplies, researching the route, and creating a driving route from Fairhaven to the trailhead.
ONE WEEK BREAK ~ Mid-March
Europe Campus
SIX WEEKS ~ Mid-March until the end of April
After a short 3-4 day preparation period on our Downtown campus, we will fly to Portugal to walk the legendary Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route from Porto to Santiago de Compostella.
At this point, students will be well-versed in taking ownership for major elements of voyage planning. In preparation for traveling to Portugal, students will research relevant European history and tie this to a tangible segment of the walk that they plan: where we will eat, what cultural sites we will visit, and so on.
ONE WEEK BREAK ~ Last week of April
Forest Campus
SIX WEEKS ~ May through mid-June
By the time students arrive at the Forest Campus, they've sailed, backpacked, and built design and management skills across three seasons. This is where it all comes together. Students take on more responsibility for their own food, shelter, and daily rhythm than at any other point in the year. Students will assemble a structure that they built modularly indoors during Downtown Campus #2, but perhaps even more impactful is the challenge of building their own community. The block culminates with a week-long campout, where students run their community largely on their own while adults stay nearby with interspersed check-ins for reflection.
