A Living History

The story of Laurel Grove School is vitally important to the much-transformed demographic and educational landscape of 21st-century Fairfax County. As the area has developed, and lost its agricultural character, its homes and schools have welcomed a broad diversity of Americans from all over the nation and all over the world. For these families and children, education is still the critical step toward economic livelihoods, cultural participation, and the exercise of democratic freedoms.The Laurel Grove School Association has developed the old one-room schoolhouse as a site to inspire and instruct local children in the values, methods, and history of schooling.

Through exciting hands-on learning programs, the modern-day children and families of Fairfax County (and ultimately, the broader Washington metropolitan region) explore the day-to-day experiences of children in a 1920s-era school, and learn for themselves the games and skills still alive in the memories of the old students of the Laurel Grove School. In addition, the visit is supplemented by a lively classroom curriculum that will help today's students meet the challenges of the state's Standards of Learning.The primary audience for the Laurel Grove School project is schools in Fairfax County.

The current program has been developed to accommodate the learning needs and schedules of elementary students, especially those children in the first and fourth grades.The schoolhouse also offers cultural and educational programs to the local community, such as pictorial history exhibits, talks by history makers like the Tuskegee Airmen, children's story hour, and other topics that bring to life the history and contribution of the Laurel Grove School.