Praxis: Pathfinders for Ages 11–14

Praxis: Pathfinders is an interdisciplinary learning program for ages 11–14 built around a simple idea: what we know becomes more valuable when we learn how to use it.

Praxis gives young people opportunities to develop practical skills, investigate science and engineering, strengthen communication and leadership, work with others, solve meaningful problems, and put what they learn into action. Participants are encouraged to ask questions, test ideas, take healthy risks, make decisions, adjust when something does not work, and gradually become more capable and effective in the real world.

The program draws from across the SynchroVerse, bringing different areas of Synchronicity’s experiential learning work together through four recurring Labs.

Four Different Ways to Grow

The Praxis program is built on a series of “Labs”. The four Labs rotate through distinct areas of learning, each with its own focus while reinforcing the others. Pathfinders might build a practical skill in one session, investigate the science or design behind a problem in another, develop communication or leadership in a Success Lab, and then bring several kinds of learning together through a Challenge Lab. Participants can join a single session or follow the full rotation, with each Lab designed to stand on its own while contributing to a broader development of capability, curiosity, and confidence.

SkillCraft Lab

SkillCraft Labs develop practical capability through hands-on work with tools, materials, traditional knowledge, nature, and real-world problem-solving. Participants may explore crafts, outdoor skills, cultural technologies, repair, making, navigation, natural materials, or other ways people have learned to work effectively with the world around them.

Discovery Lab

Discovery Labs focus on science, engineering, design, and investigation. Participants ask questions, test ideas, explore how things work, compare possible solutions, and learn through experimentation rather than simply being given the answer.

Success Lab

Success Labs develop the human skills that help people function effectively in school, work, teams, relationships, and everyday life. Topics may include communication, leadership, teamwork, confidence, resilience, decision-making, goal achievement, entrepreneurship, and other skills that help participants turn intention into action.

Challenge Lab

Challenge Labs put learning into practice through missions, projects, field experiences, and collaborative problem-solving. Participants draw on skills, knowledge, judgment, creativity, and teamwork to accomplish something tangible, whether that means completing a challenge, building a solution, improving a space, or contributing to a larger project.

How Praxis Works

The four Labs rotate throughout the program, giving Pathfinders different ways to learn and different kinds of challenges to tackle. Some sessions may connect directly with one another, while others explore entirely new territory.

Participants do not need to attend every Lab for an individual session to make sense. Each Pathfinders experience is designed to stand on its own while regular participation creates a broader progression across practical skills, inquiry, human effectiveness, and real-world application.

That means one week might involve working with tools or natural materials, another might investigate an engineering problem, another could focus on communication or leadership, and another might ask the group to bring several kinds of learning together to complete a larger challenge.

Where Does Praxis: Pathfinders Happen?

The Praxis: Pathfinders program works especially well for homeschool families seeking interdisciplinary, hands-on learning that is difficult to reproduce through conventional coursework alone. Its larger purpose, however, goes well beyond homeschool enrichment.

The model is designed for young people wherever meaningful experiential learning can happen: through community programs, schools, clubs, libraries, camps, nonprofits, parks, and other environments where they can practice becoming active participants in their own learning.

Choose one session, follow a full Lab rotation, or build the schedule that works for you.