At the O Waho Mountain School, we have 5 main buildings, each focusing on a different subject matter. There are four tree house buildings and one building that is located on an island very close to the shore. The first treehouse is a STEM building that focuses on the math and science courses. The next treehouse contains the humanity courses, including English, social studies and Hawaiian culture. The third treehouse has the life skills workshops where woodworking, cooking, and personal financing occur. The last treehouse is used for all the remaining electives offered that are no taught in the other 3 buildings; for example, public speaking is taught here. All of the marine classes take place in the building on the island where they can study …show more content…
The four tree houses are made from local wood and are open to the air. Their simple square shape allows students to focus on learning, while the fresh allows them to connect with nature and be outside, even when they are in the classroom. The building on the island is even more minimalistic. It looks more like a cabana than classroom, and is completely open to the air. The open sides allow students to see the ocean as they learn about different aspects of it, and allows them to easily transition from the classroom to the ocean. In the marine classes, the students will make the ocean their classroom, so the location of the island building makes it remarkable easy to go from the classroom to the water. The location of the O Waho Mountain School and the open air classrooms allow our students to connect with nature throughout the day. Students are never fully inside, because all of the classrooms are open to the air, so they are always in nature. Also, the school is conveniently located on the beach, with a mountain directly behind it. This allows teachers to bring students off campus into the mountains to study things like geology, or down to the beach to study marine animals. The ability to go to these places allows our students to interact and connect with nature as they learn, enhance the learning