Ke Kula `O Ho`omakuapono Start Up Campaign

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Aloha, my name is Licia Sakamoto. I am adding another schooling option to the already great variety that Maui has to offer. This whole idea of a new approach to learning started for me  in the mid 90's. After my first year of teaching, although I absolutely loved where I worked and the faculty and families that I worked with, I saw how so much more learning could take place outside of the 4 walls of the classroom. Fast forward over 20 years, now raising my own children, I am driven to make this happen. As you see in the video above, schooling is so much more than just preparing children for a future career, it's about preparing them for life. By teaching them as many necessary skills and tools  in preparation for life that they can attain under their belt during their schooling years,  we can feel more confident  knowing that they will more likely be successful because of the solid foundation that was created. This school is taking learning to that further place while still including the much needed basics and skills, although  instead of cramming facts and information through textbooks, we are having the children experience and apply the information so that it is more meaningful, fun and influential. When learning is a joyful experience the learning sticks. Life was meant to be a  continual  journey of seeking, experiencing, learning and enjoying.


One of Maui County's main goals is to keep Maui, Maui. It's such a beautiful place for people to enjoy, but also rapidly changing. One of the main reasons that kept Maui from being over developed so quickly was due to our agricultural industry and sugar production. Now that the sugarcane  is gone, we are left to decide where to go from here. Agriculture is still one of the aims of our island along with sustainability, but where are the future farmers or people with the mana`o, or know how, going to come from. Having a school immersed in an already producing farm is an amazing opportunity, not just for kids to have their learning take place outside, but to be engulfed by the operations of farm life. We know not all of the students will become future farmers, but  they will all  have the `ike or knowledge of how to sustain themselves with it least a  backyard garden and a desire to eat healthier foods. We also know that they will form a strong relationship to the land, learning that we are all caretakers of this special place in our lifetime and will have the desire to want to perpetuate that for future generations. By connecting to our `āina (land), here on Maui we know that we are connecting to our culture currently and what was here before. This roots us to the place of our birth, connects us to something greater than ourselves, and forms a solid foundation for who we are as people and who we want to become as adults on this earth.

As you can also see from the video above the cultural and bilingual  aspect is another important part to our school. The Hawaiian culture and language is so unique in that we are the only place in the world that embodied a strong sense of Aloha. In my youth I was surrounded with a strong sense of  Aloha ia`u iho, Aloha kekahi I kekahi a me Aloha `āina. A love and respect of self, others, which includes all people, animals, beings, ancestors, gods and goddesses, and aloha `āina  which is a deep connection to our land, island, earth and  environment. Now as an adult that feeling is fading as more are moving into our island and ways. I believe it is our kuleana or responsibility to teach it and bring it back to a mea ma`a mau or normal way of living, for that is the true essence of our islands.  The Hawaiian language also carries wisdoms and knowledge not translatable into other languages. If the language is lost, so are the indigenous insights. And I believe those are the insights that help us to heal.

In my opinion it is essential in this exponentially advancing society that we teach balance to this younger generation. That they embody the wisdoms of old and use it to guide them into the future. That we learn a balance with technology, so we remain human with our innovative , creative thinking and humanly interactive way of communicating. That we learn there is more to success in  life and our well being than preparing for a good paying job. That we learn, although technology is able to copy a lot of human capacities that they can never replace the intuition and essence of being human.

Our curriculum is based on a balance of Focused, Brain Skills Studying versus Creative, Productive Learning. At the start of each day, when the brain is the freshest, our students learn essential skills of language arts and math. They will learn through stories, both historical and fictional, that peak interest and grab the imagination keeping learning fun. During this time, technology will be used as a tool to access information at age appropriate levels. Our afternoon sessions include papa ola, or life classes, where children will apply the skills they’ve learned and partake in a problem based curriculum on the farm. In addition to farming time, students will experience  other skills from kupuna and community members of weaving, knitting, sewing, carving, rock wall building, dying and printing, pounding, painting, sculpting and other cultural means. They will learn the  hula and other modern dances styles and `olelo Hawai`i where students will learn to speak, read and write in the Hawaiian language. Be introduced to music, where they will learn to play both Hawaiian and other instruments and  body movement, where they will learn fun games and skills to stay physically healthy and learn cooperative skills through sports. And lastly, mana classes, where students will learn the know how of  caring for children and animals, basic vehicle care, budgeting, cooking, cleaning and other essential home skills.


Because we are a start up, we are seeking support from the community who shares and supports  this vision and would like to see it come to its full fruition and beyond. We would eventually like to see the Ke Kula `O Ho`omakupono be available to children from birth to high school. But first things first. We are starting from Kindergarten to 6th grade this year.

Here is a sample breakdown of where the start up monies will go....

Tables and chairs........................................$3,400
Book Shelves/furniture...........................$5,000
Indoor play equipment............................$3,000
Outdoor play equipment........................$3,500
Books/Supplies...........................................$4,000
Farm supplies..............................................$2,000
Insurance/Utilities.....................................$2,300
Maintenance/ Repairs..............................$800
Teachers........................................................$246,000




Mahalo for reading our information. My vision for this school is to make it available to all children on Maui whose families share and support our vision for a better community. 

We are so grateful for whatever support you can gift us. No donation is too small. In order to create something so new and innovative, we rely on community support that shares in our vision of a new, effective way to educate children, in order to make it happen. We are so grateful to you for joining our community. For updates, you may join our email list on our website. And please help to share our fund raiser with your community to help us to reach more people and spread the word about our school.

True educational transformation will occur when people have the courage to step outside of the box and deliver a whole new approach to learning.

Mahalo, me ke aloha,
Licia Sakamoto