BAREFOOT LIFE-ARCHITECT SCHOOL

"Encouraging youth to find their passion"

"Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. 

Teach a person to fish you feed them for the rest of their life. "

The mission of the Barefoot Life-Architect School is to provide an opportunity for youth to gain the skills and knowledge necessary to adapt to our ever changing world. The center of the Barefoot Life-Architect-School is located on the beautiful island of Madeira, more precisely in the municipality of Prazeres. In the middle of the green and with a view of the sea, the land of Casa Zen offers enough space to find yourself.

Freed from the constant overload of stimuli of everyday life and the associated distortion of reality, we find together and with the help of nature, a state of calm and inspiration. Personal perception should be strengthened with the inclusion of all senses and ensure a more intensive experience of one's own work.

In the Barefoot Life Architect-School, experience-oriented means - my knowledge should be practically experienced. According to the principle of "learning by doing", we have made it our task to organize every part of survival skills necessary to endure the vast impending world changes.  

A holistic experience concept, which has a mentally and physically strengthening effect, and which is outside the comfort zone. Because only there can we experience new impressions and locate our strengths and weaknesses.  Classes include experiential and hands-on work with woodworking, social media and e-commerce, cooking, artisan projects, age-appropriate social skills, interpersonal developmental issues, and outdoor sports activities such as surfing, hiking, camping, and many many more.

The Barefoot Life-Architect School is open Monday through Friday 10 am until 3 pm.  Additional coursework in Mathematics and Languages (English, German and Portuguese) is offered through classroom and online sessions.  This allows for youth who participate to receive the proper educational instruction geared towards their grade level.

As an example:

A youth works on building a table by fetching from the surrounding nature, the wood and materials necessary, safely utilizing the tools required for assembly and finishing techniques to complete the project.  The youth then learns how to use e-commerce (i.e., eBay Kleinanzeigen, Etsy) and social media to sell his project and gain monetary compensation for his work.  Geometry, physics, biology and other mathematical concepts are also taught during the project.

This youth learns about nature, building and construction, mathematics, e-commerce and other facets necessary to complete the project.  By working on the project, the youth gains self-esteem, a sense of self-accomplishment and self-worth.  The end product, whether it is sold using e-commerce or kept as a personal souvenir, gives the youth the satisfaction necessary to gain passion for such projects or the sense of actually completing a project from the beginning to the end.