The purpose of Oakedu's program is not only to teach the student everything there is to know, but also to establish in the student a habit of mind which instinctively knows how to learn new material when the formal schooling process is only a faint memory. The student is taught not only WHAT to know, but also HOW to think. The structure of any given OakEdu course is two-fold:
- Content: the "particulars", the keywords, the elements, the bricks, the vocabulary.
- Dialectic: the relationships of these particulars to one another, the grammar, how the elements are interacting with each other, the dialog, conflict between elements...

Studies show that Learning goes in four phases, and this is how OakEdu proceeds:
- first you don't know that you don't know, unconscious;
- second, you discover that you don't know, that's conscious awareness;
- third, you actively gather information to fill the gap, you start knowing that you know, consciously;
- fourth, you know and it becomes automatic, unconscious, that is fully learnt.
With OakEdu's curriculum, the main intellectual weaknesses of the student will gradually emerge and become more obvious. The student will be clever in some ways, thick-headed in other ways. This will initiate a particular attention from OakEdu's tutor: to make the student feel conscious of what exactly is to be improved.
The intellectual ability of the student develop according to its natural pattern, which begins in observation, concrete experiences and self-directed activity, then which moves toward the comprehension and the formation of abstract ideas (cf. Pestalozzi).

OakEdu's tutors know:
- How to make the student know exactly what are her/his own best learning processes, be it auditive, visual, kinesthetic, people, location, action, material, anchor, mnemotechnique
- How to increase the level of attention and focus given to the learning
- How best to manage the timetable, time windows assigned to learning
- How to detect when learning time is wasted because there is saturation
- How to insist when facing difficulties and when the solution is just within grasping distance
- How and when to find help and resources

According to Marzano1992, learning first happens best when the attitude is positive. It then consists in getting exposed to the new knowledge up to achieving a level of understanding and integration. At first, the level of mastery is low but it is dynamic and, with mishaps and success, it gradually increases, gets refined, up to becoming a skill, ability to perform meaningfully the proper behaviour / action. Refining consists in Comparing, Classifying, Abstracting, Inductive reasoning, Deductive reasoning, Constructing support, Analyzing errors and Analyzing perspectives.
A good student with a bad attitude has no place at OakEdu. For example, the student should believe "Learning is useful and good", she/he has to acknowledge when she/he makes mistakes (work ethics, good faith, fair play) and has to complete the assigned homework. If not complying, see misbehaviours.
Successful learning occurs only when the student feels the need to learn, actively searches, receives and assimilates the information, then applies the new knowledge into life. Learning occurs only when the student is physically ready, has a clear alert mind. It means good nutrition, ample rest, physical activities, independence from addiction. It also means emotional peace, no worry, feeling safe, socially accepted not as a loser. Learning occurs in a proper environment, good light, fresh air, temperature, humidity and no distracting sights/sounds.
Learning occurs mainly when the student is motivated. If not, to spark the motivation engine, sometimes the OakEdu tutor proposes a stimulating fun game or chatting, engage into any activity that is grasping the interest of the student. This is because the positive feeling will help rebalance the mind and is transferable to the serious learning. When student's learning is difficult, the tutor can focus on special topics in which the student has a consuming interest, in order to capture the full attention of the reluctant learner; the good intellectual processes developed there are transferable skills that can be applied to less interesting topics. The student is ready for learning when she/he is sincere and continuously expresses interest.
The student learns if she/he is perceiving a need to know. The tutor pinpoints, identifies and puts the stress on this ignorance and all the things that the student cannot do because of this.
While the student is trying to understand, some elements can be unclear, like background concepts, word meanings, new symbols. The tutor explains each of them as the need arises.
The new idea can derive meaning as it is related to prior knowledge through induction (reasoning from particulars to general principles) and deduction (reasoning from generalities to particular outcomes). The tutor refreshes prerequisite knowledge so that the student is recalling all of it.
Learning occurs when the student spends enough quality time over the task with proper efficient studying techniques (for example, reading from printed material). The student should experience the relationship between her/his effort and her/his achievement. The school work becomes more purposeful.

Learning is facilitated when the teaching fits the particular learning style of the student, on three filters:
- behavioural / intellectual / feeling,
- visual / verbal,
- sequential / global.
All activities of OakEdu are stimulating those 3 dimensions (called metaprograms in NLP). The pedagogy features a variety of presentation, task and environment formats, like computer-based, in the study room, around a table, silent periods, dialogs, diagrams, laughs, detail oriented, overview, with a lot of interaction and feedback. Sometimes field trips are organized to experience things first-hand (holiday camp, schedule outdoor). When the student repeats aloud and writes at the same time, the memory retention is better. All children benefit from a visual perception, a material showing the word or the item / idea / concept. Some children need to write down or draw, physically on a paper / keyboard, grasp or touch. That is fun! It is stimulating as many senses as possible, thus multiplying the perception entry channels into the brain memory.

When the tutor is encountering an unknown concept to explain to the student, the tutor and the student learn together. The learning process is then shared, the student observes how the tutor is learning. There is a dialog, an hypothesis, a test in a learning loop. Then there is an understanding of how it works. The process usually consists in opening books, dictionaries, browsing internet, asking somebody, practicing and experiencing how the challenging task behaves when given certain stimuli.

When new concepts are built upon prior learning, when essential questions, key skill sets and habits of mind are carried forward from session to session, students know what they are doing, why they are doing it and how to do it.