OUR COMMUNITY

MISSION STATEMENT

At TLC, we inspire children to realize their true selves by nurturing curiosity, creativity, resilience, and a conscious connection to nature and community within a challenging academic environment.

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OUR HISTORY

The Learning Community School (TLC) was founded in 1996 by a small group of parents and a teacher from Warren Wilson College who shared a vision for a cooperative school where children could learn through experience, creativity, and connection. From the start, TLC integrated experiential learning with outdoor education, the creative arts, and community service.

In 1998, the school received its nonprofit status and transitioned away from its cooperative structure while maintaining its cooperative spirit, as parents have remained an integral part of the school community ever since.

TLC began on the campus of Camp Rockmont, which was home to Black Mountain College from 1941–1957, an influential hub of progressive education and modern art that hosted renowned figures such as Buckminster Fuller, Josef and Anni Albers, Merce Cunningham, Willem de Kooning, John Cage, Ruth Asawa, and Albert Einstein.

In May 2019, TLC purchased 40 acres on Bee Tree Road and, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, moved permanently to its new campus in August 2020. Today, TLC continues to honor the spirit of experiential and innovative education that has defined it from the beginning, where learning is hands on, creative, and deeply connected to community and place.

OUR COMMUNITY

As a community, TLC thrives on coming together and celebrating each other. At its essence, TLC lives its commitment to community. From educating students to welcoming families into our classrooms, we want to make connections, build understanding, and foster relationships that go far beyond TLC’s classrooms.

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OUR EXPERIENCE

We create an environment where children enjoy learning and where the educational needs of the whole child are met. TLC achieves this by providing experiential academics in combination with outdoor education, artistic expression, service learning and TEAM—our conflict-resolution model. TLC prides itself on its ability to set rigorous academic standards without overloading students with an abundance of homework or rote learning exercises all while helping them fulfill their academic potential.

On any given day, you will find TLC students involved in hands-on academic lessons as well as other classes including Spanish, gardening, bucket drumming, drama, sports teams, knitting, chess, science labs, chorus, ukulele, or recorder.