This article makes the following three assertions: (1) The combination of the four sources that nourished communal education for 90 years, and particularly progressive education and the youth movements, gave rise to educational principles expressed in a variety of educational frameworks and institutions implementing unique methods. The 'sum total' produced by this combination was more innovative than its separate parts; the affinity and overlap between progressive education and non-formal education fostered unique educational frameworks within the kibbutz movement; (2) The relatively isolated setting of the kibbutz with its ideological underpinning and communal way of life had a large impact on its educational system. The inevitable dynamic relationship and mutual influences between the societal and the educational systems everywhere were intensified in the Israeli kibbutz, because of its unique way of life; and (3) The two basic assertions made in this article will show the development and updating of educational ideas. First, each principle will be analyzed, followed by a demonstration of its implementation in 'classical' kibbutz education, as it evolved from the 1920s to the 1940s; each time two principles and their progressive and non-formal sources will be exemplified in the unique and updated kibbutz frameworks, in institutions realizing them in the second half of the twentieth century, and particularly since the 1970s. With these ends in view, the article will be divided into the following sections: (1) definitions of progressive education and non-formal education in the context of the kibbutz, based on summaries by distinguished researchers; (2) a list of eight principles of kibbutz education, developed in the course of historical research, and their applications from the 1920s to the 1940s; in each case the link with progressive education on one hand, and the youth movements on the other, will be clarified; (3) four examples of contemporary frameworks, created mainly since the 1970s through this unique combination, will be analyzed according to two of the progressive and non-formal principles, even though the remaining principles of kibbutz education are also integrated within them; (4) in conclusion, the three claims of the article will be summarized, as well as a brief comparison of kibbutz education with the education in other communal settings, past and present.