Open Doors Center- WHO WE ARE 

Curriculum
Staff/Guides
Parents/Guardians
Future Vision
Sharing the Vision
FAQ

Life is a school, where you learn how to remember what your 
soul already knows....



Imagine children who love to learn...who are seen for who they truly are and appreciated for that...whose "disabilities" are only seen as ABILITIES...children who can really lead our world...who are in touch with nature and can revive our planet...who follow their hearts...who understand the oneness of all...and are guided by their passions.   

Open Doors Center is an alternative program for ages 4-19, located on the west side of Phoenix.  It offers youth an unique approach to life & learning that encourages intrinsic motivation and trust in the student. Children and teens learn through self-directed discovery as we come together to experience and expand in our wonderful, changing Universe. We focus on nurturing the whole child, respecting individual differences and needs. 

Our Main Themes Include...

Authentic, Self-Directed Learning
Authentic learning occurs when we are self-motivated, self-disciplined, and ready to learn. The children and teens are free to design their learning experience, including exploring and pursuing interests driven by their innate curiosity, using the resources of the community, staff, and one another to deepen their knowledge and understanding. Participants truly learn and integrate knowledge and skills into their everyday life. 

Sense of Community
Students ranging in ages 4-19 are interacting with each other and staff throughout their days to form a strong, cohesive community, where each individual is equal, accepted and encouraged to be her/himself. Everyone participates in cooperation through conflict-resolution from a non-violent communication approach, learning how to be at peace in their own and in each others' lives.

Apprenticeship with Community Mentors
Students learn directly from professionals in a wide variety of disciplines through hands-on experience. Successful members of the community share their expertise, life and business experiences, and mentor the children and teens as they explore their world. This experiential education prepares them for their life's work.

When a child is able to follow their own internal inspiration the experience is far more meaningful and ultimately true learning takes place. Rather than memorizing facts for a test, at Open Doors Center, they are engaged in a real life project that has meaning and significance to them personally. These experiences are more often remembered and integrated into their lives. Children that have the opportunity to learn with these real life experiences demonstrate a much higher degree of creativity, confidence, maturity, an idea of who they are and what they want to contribute - and most importantly happiness.

Everyday it is becoming more evident that new education programs need to be developed for the many children who are not experiencing success and happiness in the present day systems.  So many of these children are creative, highly intelligent beings who need to learn in a different way.  The current system tends to label them, discipline issues occur, and the children never reach their full potential. Open Doors Center is that sorely-needed New Education, where we encourage children and teens to learn to think for themselves and allow their creative juices to flow. We want them to grow into their full, true selves, enabling them to bring their knowledge and wisdom to our ever-changing world. Our world needs intelligent, creative, vibrant, and compassionate people to lead us forward.  These people are today's children and teens at Open Doors Center.

In our program, children and teens who are very unhappy in their previous school become alive and love what they are doing.  They surpass what is expected of them in the present education system.  They become involved in their community, learn from each other, and have real life learning experiences.  

Our children are growing up fast and will soon be the adults making the important choices. The world they are inheriting is changing faster than ever before in history. With rapid change there is a sense of uncertainty. What will the world be like in five years, ten or twenty years? What tools will they need? What skills must they have to survive, to hopefully succeed with a great deal of peace and joy? It's impossible to know for sure. What we do know is that we all need to be able to make good choices. At Open Doors, children and teens learn how to make choices based on what they believe and want for the world, instead of out of guilt and peer-pressure.

As a society we are conditioned to give our power away, therefore, relinquishing our decision-making rights. We give our power away to please another (seeking praise and approval) or we give it away to avoid criticism (fear) - in either situation our motivation comes from outside of ourselves and consequently many, if not all of the choices we make throughout day stem from the absence of internal power. This lack of internal power is a fundamental flaw of our public education system. The current system slowly takes the power out of the present moment and our amazing ability to feel; and then use our feelings - our intuition - and replaces it with this idea that we need to look outside of ourselves for the answers. Our Center promotes looking within and listening to our souls to find the true answers. 

In our program, adults are not putting the ideas of students' down or questioning their ideas, nor are we praising them for their ideas. The praise as well as the criticism takes the power out of the hands of the child. Some recognition and honest acknowledgment is wonderful, however when a child interprets praise negatively it can have some adverse consequences such as undermine independence, pleasure and interest.  We feel empowered when we know on a deep level that we are fully capable and fully responsible. We are doing the project for ourselves and our own sense of accomplishment, not for someone else or for some other reason.  

The children and teens at Open Doors Center are able to live a life where the majority of their choices come from internal motivation, inspiration, and power. They are the most creative, confident, deeply compassionate, peaceful and overall happiest people.


WHY CHOOSE OPEN DOORS CENTER...
  • Our world is changing, thus our education system needs to evlolve.
  • Children are TRULY happy at Open Doors and do not want to leave at the end of the day.
  • Your child is empowered, respected as an individual, and knows she/he is important.
  • Individual learning occurs instead of a generic formula.
  • A sense of community is formed.
  • Learning is integrated into the SELF.
  • Skills and knowledge are gained that will assist them in being successful in this quickly changing world.
Our Mission:  Assisting Beautiful Children Develop and become Empowered.


                                               

Contact us at: Opendoorscenter@gmail.com    (623) 703-3452    El Mirage, AZ