FREEDOM SCHOOL: AT HOME
Welcome to Freedom School. We’ve built this program from the ground up so you and your kids can love being Jewish, together. By learning in “real time" (aka on Shabbat or on holidays) and as a family (students must have at least one parent attend with them), we cultivate Jewish fluency and contextualize Jewish practice as an organic way to approach the world.
Sound good? We think so and we’re doing it by inviting kids into the most moving parts of Jewish life. Why a Freedom School? Because we believe learning Torah will move students to justice. How do we do it? We teach Jewish by doing Jewish, in context, at home. In other words, Freedom School happens when Jewish life happens, where Jewish life happens. And guess what? Not only is learning through experience more effective it’s a lot more fun.
We will use our devices as a portal - and minimize screen time in favor of family time. Our aim is to help you continue to develop and deepen a lived-in Judaism, in the places you live, and strengthen the Freedom School community in the process.
At the end of the day, we want your kids to know (and you to remember) what it means to have a Jewish home, a place of joy and a place of refuge, a place of rest and a place where you figure out how to navigate the world together, now more than ever. Enrollment and financial aid information can be found on the Freedom School webpage. Take a look and let me know if you have any questions. I truly hope your family will join us in the fall.
We’d love to take credit for the spiritual learning-eating-justice combo you and your kids will get into at Freedom School, but it’s just what our people have been doing for a very long time.
GOALS + OBJECTIVES
We want families to:
→ FEEL capable having Jewish conversations and rituals in the home by studying texts and practicing Shabbat and holidays in authentic ways;
→ BE empowered to articulate their Jewish values in the context of justice work;
→ CREATE a Jewish home and community that contextualizes and reinforces Jewish practice as an organic way to approach the world.
→ KNOW Torah texts inside a mezuzah, home prayers and brachot (blessings), interpretive methods of Torah; the Jewish calendar and life cycle events; the importances of Shabbat
→ UNDERSTAND how the Torah influences personal lives and American justice movements, and inspire students to be socially responsible;
→ BE ABLE TO engage in Jewish study, rituals, traditions, and justice work.
SESSION SCHEDULE + CALENDAR
Here’s how we’re going to help your family do more Jewish, more meaningfully, more of the time, at home:
Two Shabbat mornings a month - a mix of family learning and student electives
All the major community holiday celebrations, maybe in home (think: backyard Hanukkah party), maybe in community (imagine: Rosh HaShanah seder in a park).
Looking outward to days of service, working with Glide to safely support the residents of the Tenderloin through a sharp racial justice lens.
Weekly Hebrew for students in grades 4th-6th
Download the 2020-2021 Freedom School Calendar.
Typical Saturday AM Schedule
9:00am Family Learning
10:15am Adults - Services; Kids - grade level classes/
11:15am Torah services
12:15pm Kiddush + lunch
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Simply put, when families move through the year of Freedom School: At Home, you will have the foundations of a Judaism that moves you towards an authentic Jewish practice, which moves you towards justice.
This goal begins with three Essential Questions that will guide our year:
→ How do we sanctify our home?
→ How do we create and sustain meaningful rituals?
→ How do we bring our values into life outside the home?
CLASS RESOURCES
Come back soon!
Enrollment for 2020-2021 is OPEN. If you have questions, please contact our Senior Family Educator, Joel Abramovitz.
REQUIREMENTS
→ Kindergarten level and up + parents
→ Become a subscribing member (optional)
→ Pay tuition:
Subscriber: $1,650/child (parents included)
Non-Subscriber: $3,000/child (parents included)
Please contact Joel Abramovitz to have a conversation about financial assistance or if you want to further support us by contributing to our Scholarship Fund.
