Leonardo DaVinci was an incredibly intelligent and amazingly creative individual.  As was typical for the time, DaVinci received no formal education. While the renaissance gave rise to masters in math, science, and art, education was provided only to wealthy families by private tutors – truly individualized education. DaVinci was schooled in basic reading, writing, and arithmetic at his father’s home. When he was 14 he was apprenticed to an artist’s workshop where he would have been exposed to drafting, metallurgy, plaster casting, leather working, mechanics, and carpentry in addition to skills related to art. From the beginning, his education was individualized and competency based: he was introduced to subject matter as he was ready to take it on.

 

DaVinci also likely suffered from ADHD and Dyslexia. He exhibited many ADHD behaviors: because he had so many diverse interests, he was able to complete only 17 of his paintings in his lifetime. Even though he demonstrated superior mathematical abilities and was able to contribute so many detailed and creative explanations about the physical world, the sum total of his work was small when compared to his abilities. He changed occupations and projects impulsively, leaving many unfinished.  In addition to living with ADHD, his backwards handwriting in most of his notes leads us to believe he may have been dyslexic as well.

 

The bottom line is that the individualized manner of DaVinci’s education allowed him to attain a potential that might never have been realized in a modern structured school setting.  As is true for so many children, the modern school environment is a cookie-cutter approach to education that just doesn’t meet everyone’s needs.  Too many children are “square pegs in round holes”. The solution is not to get a bigger hammer and pound the peg in harder… The solution is to change the shape of the hole.

 

The DaVinci Day School was founded on the belief that education plan should fit the student instead of forcing the student to adapt to education plan. At DaVinci Day, we try to make a “hole” – an education plan - that best fits each student. We specialize in helping students who have been “lost” and have academically slipped behind their peers. The curriculum at DaVinci Day is competency-based and the teaching is student directed. The goal of DaVinci Day is to build a set of academic competencies for each student.