OUR HISTORY & FUTURE

Voyagers’ Community School was opened in 2004, initially as a homeschool resource center.

The following year, the school offered both full-time and part-time enrollment. From September of 2006 to June of 2010 the school resided in Howell, New Jersey, in a rented facilities with 43 acres. Here we established the connection between curriculum and nature, beginning every day with a walk through wooded trails.

From the Fall of 2010 through the Spring of 2015, the school moved to its first stand-alone building, also in Howell. On this property, having outgrown our space, we added a customized trailer and established our Outdoor School, Grades 5 through 12, and increased our enrollment until we were bursting at the seams.

OUR MOVE TO EATONTOWN, NEW JERSEY

In the Fall of 2015, the school moved to Eatontown, New Jersey in Eastern Monmouth County, within miles of the Jersey coastline. Eatontown boasts a long history, with vibrant retail centers, businesses large and small, and residential communities.

Our new home, the historic Fred Steelman Elementary School, built in 1908, is adjacent to the area once referred to as Fort Monmouth, which offers unmatched forward-thinking opportunities for innovation and outdoor recreation. Just down the street, the Bliss Price Arboretum, with many acres of paths through woodlands, provides a haven for wildlife and Voyagers’ students.

OUR MOVE TO OCEANPORT, NEW JERSEY

Currently, located in Oceanport, NJ, in Russell Hall on the retired Fort Monmouth, we continue to be inspired by John Dewey, Maria Montessori, the leaders of Reggio Emilia Schools, and others. We provide a progressive, constructivist teaching and learning environment where children are seen as powerful, resourceful, and competent. The child is understood to be essential and fully recognized today rather than some time in the future.

We provide an attractive student/teacher ratio in all classes and cutting edge curricula designed to promote intellectual development through deep exploration in Computer Coding, Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math, Music, Culinary Arts, Literacy and Humanities.

INSPIRATION

Voyagers’ Community School curriculum is shaped by pieces and parts of many approaches:

• Montessori Schools, where, in its true form, education is child-centered and plays is a child’s work
• Waldorf Schools where a play-based approach exists with predictable structure and routines
• Reggio Emilia schools where learning is project-based and driven by children’s interests. Many are heard to say that learning is “child-originated and teacher-framed.”
• Holistic Education where, according to Ron Miller, each person finds their identity, meaning, and purpose in life through connections to the community, to the natural world, and to humanitarian values such as compassion and peace.
• The Socratic Seminar Method which is student-centered and challenges children to develop their critical thinking skills and engage in analytic discussion. Lessons are adapted to fit a changing society.