By email: gever@tinkeringschool.com
By mail: Tinkering School c/o Gever Tulley, P.O. Box 370721, Montara, Ca, 94037

The Tinkering School offers an exploratory curriculum designed to help kids - ages 7 to 17 - learn how to build things. By providing a collaborative environment in which to explore basic and advanced building techniques and principles, we strive to create a school where we all learn by fooling around. All activities are hands-on, supervised, and at least partly improvisational.

Grand schemes, wild ideas, crazy notions, and intuitive leaps of imagination are, of course, encouraged and fertilized.

Details
Sessions are limited to 8 tinkerers.
The cost is $1200/week.
To reserve a spot, half must be paid in advance.
Cancellations must be received at least 30 days before the session starts.
Parents/guardians will be expected to complete the big scary liability waiver.

Bio
Tinkering School is taught primarily by me, Gever Tulley, aided of course by my indispensable wife Julie Spiegler and the inimitable Robyn Orr. By day, I am a Senior Computer Scientist at Adobe, writer, and practicing sculptor. Julie is the XD Playground Monitor at Adobe (and we both teach paragliding at the Advanced Paragliding School), and Robyn’s secret identity is still kept secret but she only uses her super-organizational skills for good and the Tinkering School.

I started the Tinkering School because it’s the kind of thing I would like to have been able to go to myself.

In no particular order, here are the questions people are asking about the school and the program.

How does the whole pick-up/drop-off thing work?
You drop your tinkerers off any time during the day on the Sunday of the start of the session, and you pick them up any time after noon on the following Saturday.

What kind of food will be served?
Meals range from simple foods such as spaghetti, vegetables, chicken, rice, grilled-cheese sandwiches, and scrambled eggs to the more complex. Fruit and nuts will be on hand for snacks. Special dietary accomodations can be made, given prior notice. All foods will be organic and fresh.

Where is this taught?
The Tinkering School is based at our property in Montara, California. We have a large studio that we use as the classroom, and a big yard that we use for testing our constructions or as the site for projects too large to fit in the studio.

Do you have supervisors for all of the tinkerers?
Yes. Our current staffing is myself plus three full-time adult collaborators during the day. One adult is assigned to the cutting and drilling station at all times to make cuts and holes to the tinkerers specifications.

Where will the kids sleep?
The bottom floor of our house is arranged as separate boys / girls sleeping areas.

When does the next session start?
We offer two one-week sessions per year, usually in mid-July. The exact dates are announced each winter, as soon as the summer logistics are finalized.

How much does it cost?
The whole session is $1200 per tinkerer. Fees are paid half up front to reserve spaces, and half at the start of class. Cancellations less than 30 days before start of session forefit some or all of their deposit depending on whether we can fill the spot in time.

Do tinkerers really get to keep their tools?
Everyone gets a parting gift to ensure that they can take some of the Tinkering School experience home with them.

What is the age range in the sessions?
My best educational experiences were in “one-room schoolhouse” situations which has heavily influenced the approach here, but we have found that the younger tinkerers are not having as much fun on the multi-day projects so we have created a session just for them.

How do I sign up?
Parents and guardians should mail info@tinkeringschool.com. We will send you an application during the yearly prep months (January/February) and follow up with questions and a possible interview.