February 2024

A Look at Leisure

How would you define leisure? Is it simply how you choose to spend your non-working hours? Is it a commitment to pursue a hobby or ensure you take a vacation each year?

At MacLaren, leisure is more broadly understood as a celebration of being human. It is an approach and practice that gives time and space to nurture curiosity and allows us to take delight in learning new things.

Lower School students enjoy leisure reading (left). High school students soak up a nature hike (right).

MacLaren's Head of Upper School, Benjamin LaBadie, explains, "The heart of schooling is leisure: a condition of stillness and attentiveness where the disruption of the ordinary propels one to know. In other words, the primary purpose of school is to foster space for wonder." Leisure happens in every classroom every day at MacLaren. Teachers lead their students into the basic ordered knowledge of a subject, awakening more ways of understanding the world which propels curiosity and questioning so that students may know more. 

Leisure is not vacation or rest. It can involve work and exertion as well. A senior who works strenuously on an analytic essay of The Brothers Karamazov can experience leisure when she says, “I am so tired after writing this essay. But I feel amazing because I poured myself into it.”

There are unique school events too that emphasize the freedom and delight of leisure. Whether enjoying the leisure-focused rhythms of February Festival (Lower School), after-school clubs, Leisure Day, Project Days (Lower School) or Project Week (Upper School), MacLaren is a place where students are invited to wonder, to ask questions, to dream, and to find enjoyment in learning new things. 

The Snow Queen announces February Festival (left). Twinkle lights add a bit of whimsy to leisure reading time (right).

The Snow Queen made a surprise visit to Lower School Morning Assembly, gifting students with supplies to decorate their classrooms as part of February Festival. This annual tradition enlivens the cold winter days of February with a full month of winter-themed surprises, games, and leisure activities.

Lower School students decorated their classrooms with paper snowflakes (left) and learned the science behind how snowflakes form (right).

MacLaren's Lower School curriculum is taught with leisure in mind. Student curiosity and exploration is encouraged, and a full class period is devoted each week to a Leisure Hour. This Leisure Hour affords students dedicated time to explore activities that spark their interest. One Leisure Hour may feature a teacher-guided handicraft, and another allows students to choose from a variety of options.

The Lower School chess club.

At the heart of leisure is the opportunity to dive into learning, not for a grade, or to excel at a test, but purely for enjoyment. MacLaren after-school clubs provide such leisure experiences. New to the Lower School this year is a Chess Club. Students meet each week to learn and enjoy the game together.

"Funeral games" at MacLaren.

Often the commitment to leisure means that ideas sparked by a rich curriculum find expression in creative ways. MacLaren eleventh-grade students found inspiration in their reading of The Iliad and The Odyssey. These students – with the encouragement of a leisure-minded teacher – envisioned and celebrated their own "funeral games," giving a lively nod to Greek culture.

Last year's Leisure Day (left). Students at a Latin American feast (right).

"Surprise! It's Leisure Day!" This annual Morning Assembly announcement, made on a day unknown to students, is met with cheers and excitement. On this day, normal curricular studies are suspended to make room for a variety of classes faculty design to share their love of learning with the students. While the offerings vary, last year's Leisure Day included classes on architecture, print making, simple machines, folk dancing, and cupcake decorating. 

Curricular feasts also provide time for students to further explore a topic of interest. Eighth-grade students celebrate a Latin American feast, where they supplement their studies with a feast of foods from Latin American countries and learn traditional dances from Latin culture. 

First-grade students dissect owl pellets.

Following winter break, Lower School students ease back into the school routine with two Project Days. These are dedicated to leisurely pursuits, engaging students in hands-on activities that spark and nurture curiosity.

Fourth-grade students design, build, and test toothpick bridges.

Though projects vary by grade, several invite students to conduct experiments as scientists, engineers, and designers. Many projects start as questions which lead to exploration. What can we learn by dissecting an owl pellet? How might you design and construct a toothpick bridge to hold the most weight?

First-grade students construct marble runs (left), and third-grade students create battle shields (right).

Upper School students display and discuss their finished Project Week projects.

Of leisure, LaBadie explains, "It is learning for its own sake. It is having time for leisure, the space and time to encounter something in the world, to delve into it, and understand it better." 

This understanding of leisure is emphasized during the Upper School’s Project Week, a full week dedicated each year to the leisurely study of a particular topic. During Project Week, students spend at least thirty hours of time at home engaged in research, writing, and, for many projects, a construction. The projects of each grade level vary.

Twelfth-grade students test the strength of their team-built balsa wood bridges.

Upon conclusion of their at-home efforts, students gather for Project Day, a half-day where student projects are on display. LaBadie says, "One of the most striking things about Project Week is that it culminates in our community of learners." Different grades share and enjoy each other's work. In this way, the idea of leisure learning is expanded as Project Day viewers learn new things, simply by viewing and discussing a wide range of project topics on display. 

Examples of Upper School projects on display include a poster detailing geography studies (left) and a diorama of an animal in its habitat (right).

A student who shared with his friend about his Project Week project, “I spent way more hours than I needed to, but I don’t care because I loved what I was learning,” is recognizing an experience of leisure.

Our Vision

We believe all students should be immersed in the best our tradition has to offer. We believe all students can be active and useful participants in the ongoing and enduring conversation that is a vibrant civilization. We believe all students can be formed in a habitual vision of greatness that makes lifelong learners of the doctor and the mechanic, the homemaker and the professor. Thomas MacLaren School strives to build a lasting community of learners in which each student is the agent of his or her education.



Our Mission

From the seminar to the science lab, from the music room to the playing field, we begin with the conviction that all human beings can know truth, create beauty, and practice goodness. To that end, we expect students to develop basic tools of learning, ordered basic knowledge, moral seriousness, breadth and depth of imagination, artistic ability and sensitivity, and a sense of wonder.

We believe all students can be active and useful participants in the ongoing and enduring conversation that is a vibrant civilization. Jacques Maritain, the French philosopher, described education as a human awakening. The goal of Thomas MacLaren School is to develop young men and women who are fully human and fully awake to the world.