PROGRAMS

at Christianne's Lyceum

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School Year Programs

Bookclubs for preschoolers, children, youth, and adults in Vancouver

Home Learners literature and art programs in Vancouver

Writers' Workshops for preschoolers, children, and youth in Vancouver

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Join us for a monthly parent and youth bookclub designed to get you talking - about literature, but also about the way you see the world, the values you share and the experiences that have shaped you. Each month, parents and children read a book together, and then join us for a high-quality craft, a challenging puzzle, a book-themed snack, and a lively discussion. At least once a year, bookclubbers will have the opportunity to meet with local authors.

Our workshops for home learners give youth the opportunity to use great works of literature and challenging ideas as inspiration for their own writing and art. Our small class sizes and commitment to co-constructing curriculum with our students, mean that no matter what your children’s interests or abilities, the Lyceum is a safe and encouraging environment for them to explore their own creativity.

In a world where our days are compartmentalized into small units of time, the creative space needed to nurture imagination seems put aside. It is now, more than ever, that this imagination fuels the innovation and advances in science, technology and humanity that we are lucky enough to witness.

What we have found at the Lyceum is that the easiest and most natural way to nurture originality is through literary journeys and artistic expression; this is why our concentration continues to be on programs rooted in literature and art.

Imagination can be difficult to cultivate in a society where our tendency is to overplan; it comes where there is time, space and a void from noise. However, there are certain activities that have this reflection built in. At the Lyceum, we use story as a vehicle for modelling this kind of contemplation and allow the space to reflect on and read our surroundings. Our offerings aim to enrich and complement the teachings that happen outside of the classroom.

Dr. Christianne Hayward has been educating children and adults for over forty years. She established her unique parent and youth bookclubs in 1996, and now facilitates 13 bookclubs, 8 writers’ workshops, and literature and art classes for children and youth at the Lyceum. She also acts as a educational consultant for families, works as a teacher consultant, spent more than three decades facilitating parent groups in the ANCHOR Program at the Vancouver Child Study Centre, and is the mother of two sons.

Great writers aren’t made overnight. At the Lyceum we invest in the creative process over time, encouraging young people to see themselves as writers, and to see writing as an essential way to express themselves and interact with the world.

Our programs focus on nurturing a playfulness with language, allowing students to develop confidence in their abilities and instilling a passion for the written word. We find that once these three elements are present, students become invested in their own writing, passionately discussing principles of strong writing, and actively participating in the editing process. This process allows us to teach to the needs of the group.

Writers’ Workshops at the Lyceum are an enjoyable opportunity to create great writing in a supportive community.

Christianne’s Lyceum is a centre that celebrates literature and art and puts it at the centre of family and community life. Through programs that emphasize making connections between literature and what’s going on in the outside world, the Lyceum encourages young people to see themselves as readers, writers and artists, as they engage with abstract ideas and reflect on their own place in society. Armed with these experiences, students begin to seek possibility and explore ways that they can use their voices and actions to participate in their communities.

The Lyceum is a cozy living room, a specialized library, a well-equipped studio and a whimsical art gallery bound up in one. It’s a place that brings together writers, illustrators, educators and families to share diverse ways of making meaning, different schools of thought, and the richness of story in its many forms.