Students at PLI are learning in a non-traditional way. Instead of traveling to 8 classes a day, students are assigned a workstation to work at throughout the day. The teachers travel to the students and hold individual meetings with students to foster learning and growth. It is much like a business person’s day: most of the day the student works independently with disbursed meetings with advisors.

Students can complete projects on any number of topics. (First year students and some returning students will participate in at least one guided project to get their bearings straight.) Projects generally start off broad and slowly narrow in to a specific focus.

Examples of Projects:
• Cancer… lung cancer… prevention of lung cancer.
• Hurricanes… major hurricanes in US history… the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina… planning of how to better respond to hurricanes in the South.
• Nutrition… How the body uses food and exercise… effects of poor nutrition on children.

Students are expected to complete one project each quarter, and that project is expected to incorporate ALL subject areas. This means that students will be working on skills in reading, writing, social studies, science, and math while conducting their research.

In addition, most students complete reading of literature, grammar work, and additional math work outside of the project’s immediate parameters.

Students also participate in ELECTIVE courses such as literature, science lab, advanced math, gym, poetry, and many others.