A small Hawaiian-­language immersion school in Wailuku called Ke Kula ‘o Pi‘ilani is extending its educational services with a program offering free classes to students’ families.

The Ka Piko Kaiao course covers Hawaiian language, grammar, cultural practices and values so that families can better support their children’s learning at home.

“We’d like there to be a multigenerational approach to education in the home, and really the whole village, because it takes all of us to raise our children,” said Kekai Robinson, who heads Ke Kula ‘o Pi‘ilani and created the new program.

Robinson began working at the independent school, founded in 2016, when she was hired to create Ka Piko Kaiao in 2018. Since starting the program as a pilot project, Robinson has been its first and only teacher.

Classes geared to participants age 16 and older are held weekly from August through May. Instruction is supplemented by a handful of workshops throughout the year that typically bring in cultural practitioners specializing in ocean studies, lunar cycles, use of papa and pohaku kui ai (poi pounding stones and board), and other traditional knowledge, Robinson said.

“We provide a variety of options so that our families can stay engaged with Hawaiian language and stay engaged with Hawaiian culture and values throughout their week,” she said.

Many of the workshops aim to help families reconnect with the land through cultural practices, according to Ke Kula ‘o Pi‘ilani lead instructor Leimana Pu‘u. This helps ground parents, many of whom have busy schedules, while creating an environment where the Hawaiian language can be most brought into use.

Pu‘u said students whose parents have attended the class have shown improved confidence in the classroom.

“A lot of students are sometimes hesitant to speak (Hawaiian) because they don’t want to be wrong or make mistakes,” Pu‘u said. “And so to see their parents being willing to ask, ‘Kumu, is this correct?’ or ‘Kumu, can you help me?’ — it really motivates them to do the same in the classroom.”

Some of the challenges the program has faced include accommodating parents’ hectic schedules and making additional resources available to families who wish to take their learning further, Pu‘u and Robinson said. Other parents have difficulty attending the classes since they have younger children they need to care for, especially since the sessions take place after school around dinner time, Pu‘u said.

However, with a $77,700 grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs awarded to Ka Piko Kaiao in June, these issues might soon be addressed, they said.

This coming school year, Ka Piko Kaiao is expected to have an additional teacher on board to care for infants and younger children while their families participate in the after-school program, and the number of workshops is expected to increase. Additionally, workshop hosts, many of whom volunteered their time, will now be paid to lead workshops.

A new intermediate class will be created for parents with prior Hawaiian-­language knowledge or for those who attend Ka Piko Kaiao for multiple years, Pu‘u said. The school is also looking to create online resources for families that wish to continue their learning even further.

With Ke Kula ‘o Pi‘ilani continuing to grow as a school, Robinson has found that the number of those wishing to attend Ka Piko Kaiao has grown as well. With the help of the grant money, classes that have previously hosted 20 to 40 participants will now be expanded to accommodate about 100, according to Robinson.

“We’ve come to realize that when one kid comes, their parents come and then their grandparents come,” Pu‘u said. “It’s really difficult sometimes when we’re restrained by financial assistance and so forth, and so we are really, really blessed to get this grant to be able to expand our services.”

Classes are open to all adults in the community; however, families of Ke Kula ‘o Pi‘ilani students are given priority. Learn more by visiting the Ke Kula ‘o Pi‘ilani website at tinyurl.com/­27dxf2nd.

Linsey Dower covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.