Finnish-Inspired Educational Model
A Finnish education is rooted in respect for and collaboration between teachers who are experts in their fields; research-based education practices which focus on the well-being of the child and creating a joyful learning experience; and ensuring education is equitable in that learning is individualized to the maximum extent possible. The VSL curriculum is inspired by this Finnish model and is representative of and therefore accessible to students from different backgrounds, the education is developmentally appropriate, and all students are provided the resources they need to learn, succeed and be challenged. In addition to implementing these principles in VSL classrooms, we weave curriculum on gender and racial equity into learning beginning in kindergarten.
VSL believes that direct instruction can include discovery-based and hands-on learning. Thus, we have selected our comprehensive math and science curricula to align with this approach to education. Our teachers are not limited to these curricula, but they do serve as a foundational framework for these subjects.
Mixed-Age Classrooms
VSL has mixed-age classrooms. Such an arrangement ensures that teachers expect students to enter school at a wide range of skill levels and, therefore, prepare lessons and activities that will challenge each student in the class. Mixed-age classrooms also allow students to stay with the same teacher for more than one year, facilitating more student progress and growth. Finally, mixing ages has demonstrated wonderful benefits in terms of outcomes, building confidence and collaborative abilities through learning from classmates, and experiencing a variety of perspectives.
Play-Based Kindergarten Curriculum
At The Village School of Louisville, we honor childhood and believe that Kindergarten should feel like wonder, not work. Our program is rooted in the belief that play is the foundation of learning and is intentionally designed to support the developmental needs of young children while fostering curiosity, confidence, and compassion. We view play not as a break from learning—but as the most natural and powerful way that young children explore, grow, and make sense of the world. In our Kindergarten classrooms, structured academic content is integrated seamlessly into meaningful, open-ended play experiences. Children engage in hands-on discovery, movement, storytelling, experimentation, and social collaboration throughout their day. Rather than following a rigid schedule of isolated subjects, we offer interdisciplinary, theme-based learning that allows for depth, agency, and creativity.
Core Elements of the Curriculum
🧩 Inquiry-Based Learning Through Play
Children lead their learning through questions, storytelling, building, imaginative play, and exploration. Teachers observe closely and scaffold new concepts through student interests—turning curiosity into curriculum.
🗣️ Social-Emotional Development
Kindergarteners learn to identify and manage their emotions, resolve conflicts peacefully, express their needs, and develop empathy for others. Circle time, cooperative games, and class meetings are part of our daily rhythm.
✍️ Literacy Through Language and Story
Early literacy is nurtured through rich oral language, songs, read-alouds, drawing, storytelling, and play-based writing opportunities. Children develop phonemic awareness and letter knowledge naturally, through exposure and interest—not drills or pressure.
🔢 Mathematics in the Real World
Math concepts are introduced through play scenarios, manipulatives, games, and daily routines (like cooking, calendar time, and building). Children explore counting, sorting, patterns, shapes, and problem-solving in meaningful contexts.
🌿 Outdoor Exploration and Nature Play
Children spend a significant portion of their day outdoors, connecting with nature and engaging in gross motor play, observation, risk-taking, and environmental stewardship. Unstructured time outdoors fosters resilience, creativity, and physical development.
🎨 Creative Expression
Art, music, movement, and dramatic play are embedded throughout the day—not as enrichment but as central to the way children learn. Self-expression is celebrated, and each child's voice is honored through multiple modalities.
🧠 Executive Function and Independence
Through choice-based centers, classroom responsibilities, and guided transitions, children develop critical life skills such as focus, self-regulation, problem-solving, planning, and independence.
The Teacher’s Role - Kindergarten teachers at VSL are skilled observers and facilitators who design engaging environments, ask open-ended questions, and support each child’s learning journey with warmth and intentionality. Their goal is not to "deliver" content but to co-construct learning experiences that are responsive to the child.
Why Play Matters - Play builds the foundation for future academic learning, but more importantly, it fosters joy, resilience, confidence, and love for learning. Our Kindergarteners are not just preparing for first grade—they are becoming capable thinkers, kind classmates, and joyful members of a thriving school community.
ELA Curriculum – Logic of English (traditional grades 1–8)
At The Village School of Louisville, we believe that every child can become a joyful, confident reader and writer when they are taught in a way that respects how the brain learns best. Our English Language Arts (ELA) program uses the Logic of English curriculum—a linguistically sound, multisensory, and inclusive approach to reading, spelling, writing, and grammar instruction.
Logic of English removes the guesswork and frustration from literacy by teaching students why English works the way it does—making the structure of our language logical, accessible, and empowering.
📚 What Is Logic of English?
Logic of English is a comprehensive, research-based curriculum that teaches:
Systematic phonics (the 75 phonograms and how they combine)
Spelling rules and patterns that explain most English words
Grammar and sentence structure through meaningful practice
Vocabulary and word roots to build comprehension and fluency
Handwriting (manuscript and cursive) as a tool for fluency and memory
Reading comprehension strategies built on decoding and language analysis
This approach integrates reading, spelling, writing, grammar, and speaking into one cohesive learning system. Students learn the why, not just the what, giving them tools to decode unfamiliar words, edit their writing, and develop metacognitive awareness of how language works.
✍️ Key Features of the Program
🔤 Explicit Phonics Instruction
Students learn the building blocks of English sounds and how to decode and encode words accurately. Even irregular words are examined logically through rules and etymology, reducing confusion.
👂🏽👁️👐🏽 Multisensory Learning
Lessons include visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile activities. Students see the letters, hear the sounds, say the words, write them in the air or on paper, and manipulate phonogram cards or word tiles.
🧠 Linguistic Awareness
Grammar and spelling are taught through inquiry and reasoning. Students learn how root words, prefixes, and suffixes affect meaning and structure—tools they use in writing and reading across subjects.
🧾 Handwriting and Cursive Integration
Handwriting is treated as an essential part of literacy. Research shows that cursive and manuscript writing build stronger connections in the brain and support spelling, memory, and fine motor control.
🧒🏼 How It Supports All Learners
Logic of English is especially effective for:
Early readers who need strong phonemic awareness and decoding skills
Students with dyslexia or learning differences, due to its Orton-Gillingham-based, multisensory design
Advanced learners who thrive when challenged to understand why English works the way it does
ESL and multilingual learners, who benefit from explicit language instruction and predictable patterns
Instruction is flexible, allowing teachers to differentiate and scaffold based on individual readiness, pace, and support needs.
The Role of the Teacher - In the Logic of English classroom the teacher is more than an instructor—they are a language guide, pattern finder, and learning partner. Our teachers understand that reading and writing are not talents a child either has or doesn’t—they are skills that can be taught, modeled, and celebrated. Through Logic of English, teachers empower students with the tools to unlock the logic, structure, and beauty of the English language.
Why It Matters - English is not random—it’s logical. When students understand how and why our language works, they gain:
Confidence in reading and spelling unfamiliar words
Stronger writing and grammar skills across subjects
Improved reading comprehension through word analysis
A lifelong appreciation for language as a system they can explore and master
At The Village School of Louisville, we use Logic of English because literacy is power—and every child deserves access to the tools that unlock it.
Mathematics (traditional grades levels 1-8)
Our mathematics curriculum is based on the Mindset Mathematics framework developed by Dr. Jo Boaler and her team at Stanford University. This approach transforms math from a rigid set of rules into a dynamic, creative, and inclusive subject where all students are capable of deep understanding and success.
💡 What Is Mindset Mathematics?
Mindset Mathematics is rooted in the belief that mathematics is a growth subject, not a fixed ability. This means:
All students can learn math deeply and meaningfully, regardless of prior experience or perceived "ability"
Mistakes are valuable opportunities to grow and develop flexible thinking
Visual, conceptual, and collaborative learning leads to stronger understanding than rote memorization or procedural repetition
Our program is not about rushing to the “right” answer—it’s about exploring patterns, reasoning logically, and communicating ideas clearly.
Key Features of the Curriculum
✏️ Open-Ended, Rich Tasks
Students engage in multi-step, real-world problems that encourage reasoning, creativity, and persistence. Tasks often have more than one entry point or solution, allowing for differentiation and deeper discourse.
🔄 Multiple Representations of Mathematical Thinking
Concepts are introduced and reinforced through visuals, models, stories, manipulatives, movement, and dialogue. Students learn to approach problems from different angles—algebraically, numerically, visually, and verbally.
🧠 Growth Mindset Practices
We explicitly teach students that intelligence is not fixed. Students learn that struggle is a part of learning, and they are praised for effort, strategy, and progress—not just correct answers.
🤝 Collaborative Exploration
Students frequently work in pairs or small groups to discuss their thinking, challenge ideas respectfully, and build a shared understanding of mathematical concepts.
🧮 Conceptual Before Procedural
Rather than jumping straight to formulas, students develop a strong number sense and intuitive grasp of mathematical relationships. This builds lasting understanding and application, not just short-term performance.
Math with Purpose - Math is not taught in isolation. Our students use mathematics to:
Analyze and solve real-life challenges
Explore social justice and equity issues using data and statistics
Collaborate on interdisciplinary projects (e.g., budgeting a sustainable garden, designing blueprints, or coding logic puzzles)
Build confidence in their own reasoning and communication skills
The Role of the Teacher - Math educators at VSL act as facilitators and thought partners—not answer-givers. They guide inquiry, ask open-ended questions, differentiate tasks, and nurture a classroom environment where students feel safe to take risks and explore.
Why It Matters - By grounding our program in Mindset Mathematics, we ensure that students:
Build deep, flexible understanding
Develop confidence in their mathematical identity
Learn to persist through challenge and value mistakes
Experience joy, relevance, and empowerment in math
We are committed to dismantling the myth that some students “just aren’t math people.” At The Village School of Louisville, every student is a math person—and every student is capable of powerful mathematical thinking.
Science (traditional grades levels 1-8)
Our science curriculum is built on the Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (BFSU) framework, developed by Dr. Bernard Nebel. BFSU offers an inquiry-driven, conceptually rich, and developmentally coherent approach to science that fosters both curiosity and clarity. Rather than isolated facts or memorized units, BFSU cultivates interconnected scientific thinking—helping students see how everything in the natural world relates and builds upon itself over time.
🔬 What Makes BFSU Different?
Unlike many science programs that teach fragmented topics, BFSU focuses on four deeply interwoven strands of scientific understanding:
The Nature of Matter
Life Science
Physical Science and Energy
Earth and Space Science
These strands are not taught in isolation but spiraled across years, allowing students to revisit key concepts at increasing levels of complexity and relevance. The result: a deeper, more intuitive understanding of how the world works.
🌱 Guiding Principles of Science at VSL
🔍 Inquiry-Based Exploration
Our students learn to observe, hypothesize, question, and investigate. BFSU provides structured prompts and teacher-guided discussion that stimulate curiosity and foster scientific habits of mind. Children are not passive recipients of facts—they are active participants in discovery.
🧠 Conceptual Coherence
Lessons are not isolated “units,” but interconnected ideas that build logically over time. For example, understanding the difference between solids and gases helps students later understand weather systems, the water cycle, or even plant biology.
🌍 Cross-Disciplinary Integration
Science at VSL naturally connects to math, literacy, environmental studies, ethics, and the arts. Students may write persuasive essays on sustainability, measure chemical changes with math skills, or illustrate systems using visual media.
🧪 Hands-On and Minds-On Learning
Whether exploring erosion with sand and water, growing plants in a garden, or building circuits to study electricity, students learn through active, sensory-rich experiences that connect classroom content to the real world.
🧭 Developmentally Appropriate and Scaffolded
Concepts are introduced when students are ready for them—developmentally, cognitively, and socially. A child might explore "What is air?" in early grades and return to gas pressure and thermodynamics in middle school—with the confidence of built understanding behind them.
The Role of the Teacher - Teachers act as facilitators of dialogue, providing structure for scientific conversation, exploration, and experimentation. They prompt students with open-ended questions, guide investigations, and help students make connections across disciplines. Rather than racing through a textbook, educators pause for depth, dialogue, and wonder.
Why It Matters - In a world shaped by science and technology, our students need not just facts—but foundational understanding and critical thinking. BFSU prepares students to:
Ask good questions
Make evidence-based decisions
Connect ideas across systems
Feel empowered and excited by science, not intimidated by it
Our approach ensures that science is not a subject students memorize for a test—it becomes a language they speak fluently, a lens through which they view the world, and a toolkit for solving problems that matter.
High School Grades
We use a combination of proven curriculum, area experts, and resources based on individual need, project scope, and content. We also have Inspire Science and Interactive Mathematics Program texts available to students.
Curriculum Development Committee
The Village School of Louisville is doing something really new and different in terms of educating children, so we knew we couldn’t implement our entire curriculum off the shelf. We are inspired by the Finnish model, and education in Finland is supported by a team of experts in relevant disciplines. We decided to adapt this model of collaborative expertise and create a Curriculum Development Committee. This committee was comprised of graduate and upper level undergraduate students in the relevant disciplines, such as education, women and gender studies, and developmental psychology and was led by VSL Board members. This committee built a curriculum scaffolding of the academic and anti-bias skills children learn at VSL at each academic level. VSL teachers then fill in this scaffolding with particular lessons and materials. The Curriculum Development Committee completed its work in April 2021. New committees will be formed in the future, as needed.