Friends School of Minnesota is a K-8 progressive education school grounded in Quaker values. FSMN was founded in 1988 and is located in the Midway neighborhood of Saint Paul, convenient to South Minneapolis. We are a diverse community with students from a broad range of religious and non-religious backgrounds, including ten percent from Quaker families.
When we begin a study, we observe and listen to our students. What do they notice and what do they wonder about what they notice? What conclusions are they making?When Kindergarten decided to study snow, they started with a snow prediction. I wonder what will happen to snow that is put in a jar and […] Read more
For over 300 years Quaker schools have been teaching students to know and understand themselves and their relationship to others through a set of values–simplicity, stewardship, peace, integrity, community and equity. These values compel us to notice, acknowledge, and disrupt injustice. On January 6, 2021, we all witnessed an armed insurrection against our nation’s capitol […] Read more
This fall I received a mirrorball as a gift from a wonderful middle school student and her family. At first I had no idea what to do with it. For weeks it simply hung on an empty hook on the coat rack in the corner of my office. It was fun to look at, but […] Read more
At the end of October, middle school students joined the Mississippi River Youth Explorers Program to pilot their first year of virtual field trips. It is a joint effort between Wilderness Inquiry and the National Park Service, two organizations we have worked with very closely over the years. This year we joined the Park Service virtually at four locations. […] Read more
