Service-Learning Effort at Honey Creek Combines Bartering and Homelessness (Learn and Serve America Grantee)

Honey Creek Community School in Ann Arbor offers its students a unique learning experience.  The public charter school, located in the High Point School, serves students kindergarten through eighth grade in Washtenaw County.  Its mission is to provide an education that emphasizes the integration of thought and experience by centering learning on themes and projects in a multi-age setting.  Service-learning is a tool Honey Creek uses to accomplish just that.

Previously a Learn and Serve – Michigan grantee from 2001 to 2007, Honey Creek has engaged its students in various service-learning projects, including community partners such as the National Wildlife Foundation, the LEAGUE, and the Huron River Watershed Council.  The school’s curriculum does not use text books so each teacher is responsible for creating content and projects that are aligned.

"We have had a steady group of teachers for the last five years who have attended service-learning trainings," says Sue Hofbauer, service-learning coordinator at the school.  "They know what they are doing and they can just naturally build things into their curriculum and build community partnerships [for service-learning]."

Complete story available online: http://www.michigan.gov/mcsc/0,1607,7-137-8148_49706_8149-219236--,00.html