Admissions
Joining ALC Mosaic
We’re a small community, and fit matters more here than at most schools. The admissions process is built so you and we can both find out whether this is the right place for your family.
Who this is for
We’re looking for families who:
- are active in their kids’ education, or want to grow into that
- want their kids practicing real decisions, personal responsibility, and responsibility to a group
- want to help build a more equitable society, starting with respect for one another here, and see conflict as a chance to learn together
- will pitch in: lead an offering, share a skill, drive on a trip, help care for the campus, or carry an interest forward at home
Curious what it’s like from the inside? Read what families here say.
What we ask of families
- Take part in your child’s education. You’re their primary educator; we’re your partners in it. That means reading what we share about their days, talking with them about what they’re choosing, and carrying interests forward at home.
- Document the learning you see. Add the meaningful learning you witness at home, on weekends and on family trips to your child’s portfolio in Prism.
- Pitch in. Lead an offering, share a skill, drive on a field trip, or help care for the campus. Every family finds their own way to contribute.
- Stay in touch. We share news, schedules and sign-ups online, and families connect with each other there too.
- Apply for the Opportunity Scholarship each year (or ESA+, if your child qualifies), and fill out the tuition worksheet honestly so the sliding scale works for everyone.
- The everyday basics. Pack your child’s lunch and snacks, and pick up by 3:30.
- Support the agreements your child makes here, including how we handle conflict and the guidelines around devices.
Who this might not be for
We’d rather you find out now than after enrolling. ALC Mosaic is probably not the right fit if you’re looking for:
- grades, tests, or report cards that rank your child against grade-level standards
- a set curriculum, where adults decide what every child learns and when
- a school that takes on your child’s education so you don’t have to; we work best with families who stay involved
- one-on-one supervision all day; we don’t have the staff for a child who needs constant individual support
- a place that keeps kids away from people different from them; our community is mixed in age, background and belief, on purpose
Ages
We serve kids from kindergarten through 12th grade. New students can join through age 14; after that, our high school program is open to students who’ve been with us at least a full year, with exceptions considered case by case.
The steps
- Read about us. Look through the FAQ, a day here, and how the school runs. Our resources page has the articles, books and videos that shaped the school, and agilelearningcenters.org explains the wider ALC model.
- Request the admissions packet. Fill out this short form and we’ll send you the admissions packet: documents and short presentations that explain how joining works. It’s all online, at your own pace. Please read it carefully before booking a tour.
- Tour the campus. We’ll invite you to tour with our Director of Operations, ideally on a day we’re in session, so you see the school as it really runs and get your questions answered.
- Apply. Once you’ve finished the packet, we’ll send you the online application for each of your children.
- Visiting week. If we’re all feeling good about it, your child visits for one or two weeks of real school days ($100 for one week, $175 for two). Every day here is different, so a longer visit shows more of it, and it lets us make sure we can support your family well.
- Family interview and enrollment. After the visit we ask the kids and facilitators how it went, then sit down with all the active parents in your family for a final conversation about fit and any support you might need. To enroll, you pay a deposit of 20% of the annual tuition offer and sign the enrollment documents.
Tuition
Tuition runs on a sliding scale based on household size and income. We ask every family to apply for North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship, and most of our families use it or an ESA+ award. What a family pays should come down to whether this is the right place for them, not what they earn.
Coworking on campus, for the adults
If you’re an adult who wants to join the community and use our coworking space without enrolling a child, see the coworking page.