Cayde Phillips jumps up from his desk at the opportunity to show off his animal-focused collection of paintings that he's spent nearly three months completing. Barefoot and grinning ear to ear, the 11-year-old was preparing to host his very own art show at his school and was happy to practice his presenting skills.

As one of four students at The New School, a new private school that is similar to the Montessori model, Cayde's personal interests — as well as those of the other students — are things the school attempts to focus on throughout the learning day.

Opened by Amanda and Steven Cook in fall 2018, The New School was a solution to their frustrations over schooling options for their two children. They had been going to Hampstead's Montessori School, but it was no longer available for students older than age 6. They considered private or homeschooling, but decided they could continue offering what they enjoyed about the Montessori model to their kids, and to others as well.

Starting with four students in Year 1, the Cooks could accept as many as another 16 students for fall 2019. They are still working out the details that come with being first-time school administrators. Whether or not they will add catering next year, when they might be financially-capable of offering scholarships to low-income students and developing a discipline policy are things they are trying to figure out.

As a private school, the only requirements under Alabama law are weekly attendance sheets and background checks for everyone that will be around students. Aside from the complexity of some of those details, the main goal is simple: get the students through high school. Their biggest concern for enrolling more students, though, is that their parents truly buy in to the approach.

Steven Cook serves as the class' instructor for the first half of the day. Technology plays a major role in the students' learning, with the only item required by those enrolled being a Chromebook computer. Math is generally the first subject of the day, taught through Khan Academy, a free online app. As the students work their way through the modules, they can pick which parts to tackle first, with completed topics building on one another. Steven, who has a bachelor's degree in math, stands back, ready to take questions and making sure students are staying on track.

After math, the students move to foreign language, with each eventually deciding after a few trial runs in other languages to focus on Spanish. Because they are different ages, two of them 7-years-old and the others 11, the amount of time it takes varies. Once they are finished with the daily assignment, they can grab their snacks and enjoy their free time period. The two girls choose to play video games on the couch in the hall, while the boys stay in the snack room, talking about video games.

For their exercise session each day, they take turns leading the group. On Tuesday, 7-year-old Lily Hahn is in charge.

"If they like a slow pace, they get a slow pace. If they feel like burning some calories, we all burn some calories," Steven Cook said.

Lily's choice is too burn calories, smiling as she tells the group they'll be starting with burpees, after she starts the playlist she created for the session. Each student has their own playlist for when they lead.

Depending on the day of the week, the group will then move into lessons on coding or music. At the start of the year, they each assembled their own ukulele.

By afternoon, Lily's mom, Marieke Hahn, takes over as instructor, focusing largely on the 'Daily 5' — a literacy framework that outlines the five activities students should participate in each day: listen to reading, read to yourself, read to someone else, work on words and work on writing.

Like the Cooks, Marieke Hahn also enjoyed her daughter's experience in a Montessori school and wanted to find something similar.

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"What I liked about them is the philosophy of letting kids direct their learning and the learning by doing," she said.

One of the big differences between the Montessori model and The New School is the heavy use of technology, but it's a difference that Hahn enjoys, pointing to how the students just taught each other how to attach photos in emails.

"That’s what I see all the time — they’re teaching each other," she said.

The mixed age group is "absolutely essential to that," she added. Pointing to her daughter, "right now she’s sitting right next to someone that’s two years older than her, that's two years more of life experience that can teach her," Hahn said.

To the Cooks, the need for this type of learning environment was based on their personal experiences. After nearing expulsion from a private school in Montgomery as a senior, Amanda Cook went on to get her GED, then eventually on to law school. She now works as an attorney handling business, real estate and immigration law.

She made all A's and B's, she said, but the big problem she had with traditional school was that, "I was just bored."

Also, "I felt kind of oppressed," she said. "'Go here, go there. Do this, don't do that'."

For her children, she wanted them to have the freedom to learn what they are passionate about and to "create an environment where they can express themselves, to speak the truth if they want to speak the truth. And, not be bored."

For the families that want to join the school, "We just want to make sure that they have an enthusiasm for the method, that they see the same problems with the traditional school model that we see ... that they understand that isn’t just an alternative school, this is the next evolution of what schooling is going to look like in the 21st century," she said.

Call Montgomery Advertiser reporter Krista Johnson at 334-303-9019 or email her at kjohnson3@gannett.com. You can also follow her @KristaJ1993.