Linda Inlay started an independent school in Hawaii in 1986 called Ho`āla. Ho`āla in Hawaiian means, “awakening of the self,” an apt name for the transformation of teachers, students, and parents to grow in the Four Rs: responsibility, respect, resourcefulness, and responsiveness to be modeled by the adults in order to foster these same values in the students.

Linda moved to California in 1993 and is on a new journey “Awakening Wisdom.” I am fortunate to have met and worked with Linda on this journey. I am learning why we need to awaken wisdom and share what that means with the world. Below are excerpts from the podcast:
 
How you began your career
I began my career as an educator at Our Lady of Schools in Wahiawa, Hawaii, where I learned a new way of orchestrating a school environment to nurture the well being of students into model citizens. At Our Lady of Sorrows School, Sr. Joan Madden and an Adlerian psychologist, Dr. Raymond Corsini collaborated to create a revolutionary educational program then called Individual Education. Using Adlerian principles and Carl Roger’s self-actualization theory, this program emphasized the core values of the Four Rs: responsibility, respect, resourcefulness, and responsiveness to be modeled by the adults in order to foster these same values in the students.

 
About Ho`āla in Hawaii 

After fifteen years at Our Lady of Sorrows School, I left with teachers and parents in 1986 to open an independent school called Ho`āla. Despite huge obstacles to establishing itself, Ho`āla has celebrated thirty years of existence. Ho`āla in Hawaiian means, “awakening of the self,” an apt name for the transformation of teachers, students, and parents to grow in the Four Rs. In 1988, I left Hawaii for California, teaching for the first time in a public middle school. Through the experience of public schools in contrast to Ho`āla, I understood the power of Awakening Wisdom in making a positive difference in the lives of students, parents, and teachers. From this knowledge, I explored the kind of school setting, the hidden curriculum, that best supports the humanity of students while earning her Masters in Educational Foundations from the University of Hawaii in 1995. My thesis, Ho`āla School: The Transformation of Character Through the Implicit Curriculum, continues to be used as a training guide for teachers at schools.
 
Moving to “Awakening Wisdom”

In 1993, my husband and I moved to the Napa Valley where I taught in the Gifted and Talented Education program in the elementary schools, using project-based learning and the constructivist theory as the basis for the curricular design. I was asked in 1996 to become the principal of River School, the first charter school in Napa County, a middle school, and one of the first one hundred charter schools in California.
Over my eighteen years as director/principal at River School, I continued to develop the principles and structures of Awakening Wisdom. I also taught the principles of Awakening Wisdom in parenting classes each year so that home and school collaborated to raise self-assured, responsible, and respectful students. During my tenure, I led River School to receive two California Distinguished School Awards, the Promising Practices Award and National School of Character Award from the Character Education Partnership, and the California School Board Association’s Golden Bell Award.

In 2016,  the name of the program which began as Individual Education and later changed to Ho`āla Educational Philosophy was changed to Awakening Wisdom, a “way of being” exhibited by students, parents, and educators that foster the Four Rs, the core values of responsibility, respect, resourcefulness, and responsiveness. Awakening Wisdom is a way to organize the entire environment so it nurtures the need for social-emotional connection as well as the sk...