Outcome Unknown Tours A Truly Amazing School
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If you've been reading, you know that I've really been struggling with finding a good, affordable school for Cassidy to attend next year. The school she is currently attending has been terrible for her. Coming from an incredible Reggio preschool and going into a traditional school has not worked out well, and I'm not surprised. Once a child learns in a way that is centered around freedom, individuality, empowerment and exploration based on interest, traditional schooling is just stifling. Worst of all, learning has a negative connotation. Homework often results in battles. She's just going through the motions of filling out the homework packet and isn't really learning anything. We've had to get her a tutor, which has helped tremendously. The tutor's approach to learning, especially one-to-one, is highly engaging for Cassidy and things are clicking, which is great, but school is not.
Everything I've read about education since Cassidy was born opened me up to the possibility that there might be a better way for children to learn. There didn't seem to be a particular name or term for it, but I had some ideas about what it might look like. I knew that it didn't involve traditional ideas of classrooms or teachers at the front of the class lecturing for hours. I knew that it was largely project-based learning, lead by children's interests, utilizing a combination of The Socratic Method and online learning. I knew that classes and the school itself would be small, likely private, but affordable.
In 2015, I came across an article by Rick Garlikov called The Socratic Method: Teaching by Asking Instead of by Telling (read it later) that really blew me away. I ended up spending a lot of time reading through his other writing. Another one that struck me was Teaching Effectively: Helping Students Absorb and Assimilate Material (also read this later) that also touched on The Socratic Method. It was probably around the same time that I became aware of a school in Austin that was putting the idea into practice and really taking a disruptive approach to education. Before this week, I would not have been able to tell you the name of the school or exactly when I became aware of it.
When Cassidy and Ozzie started taking swim lessons, Laura and I befriended another dad that we liked a lot. He and I bonded a lot, particularly over education and music. We learned his son was in the first class of kids that established the school Cassidy was planning to attend for Kindergarten. He spoke highly of the community, admitted it wasn't perfect, had gone through some turmoil, but his son was doing well there. A year or so later, he pulled him from the school and ended up going to a small private, progressive school in Venice. He told me the name, but I didn't take special note of it until it was clear we wouldn't be attending first grade where Cassidy was currently enrolled in Kindergarten.
We toured our neighborhood school, which was ok. The new principal seemed great, I liked what she had to say, the grounds were amazing, but the classrooms were very traditional and I walked away just feeling like everywhere I turned, it was a compromise. We toured what many considered the best charter school in the area and are number two on the waiting list. It's a lovely school, seems to be integrating some progressive approaches, but again I walked away with a similar feeling. I was compromising my children's education. I think about it almost every day. I've reached the point where I'm looking at schools all over the country, ready to try and convince Laura that we need to move in order to give our kids an excellent and affordable education.
Last week we toured the small private school that the dad from swim lessons sent his son to. It was totally, and I mean TOTALLY, different than any other school to which I had ever been exposed. It was, quite literally, the manifestation of so much of what I had in mind for how our children, and frankly all children, should be learning. I don't mean that in a high-and-mighty way, though I'm aware it probably comes off that way. It's early days for the school. It's very small and nothing fancy, but what they are doing, the way the students talked and carried themselves, floored me. I asked a ton of questions and nearly every answer I received, mostly from the students by the way, was so impressive. I walked out of the tour, turned to Laura, and said, "we're sending our kids here". She was equally impressed by what she saw and heard.
The director of the school made a book available to the parents attending called Courage to Grow: How Acton Academy Turns Learning Upside Down. I started it in the afternoon and finished it at 11pm last night. It solidified everything I took away from the tour and only served to emphasize that there is an alternative to traditional education that will undoubtedly disrupt the way children are taught. It's something I want my children to be part of. I'm not sure we'll get in at this point, but I can't imagine my children learning any other way.
Cassidy and I started watching Climate Change - The Facts over the weekend. After one of the hottest years on record, Sir David Attenborough looks at the science of climate change and potential solutions to this global threat. It's dark, but too important to bury your head in the sand. We are already witnessing the devastating impact of climate change and it's going to get much worse in the next decade.
16 year-old activist and all-around bad ass, Greta Thunberg delivered a rousing message about climate change to MPs at the Houses of Parliament.
I've seen and heard about an increasing number of parents who use some wrist-based tracking devices for their toddler kids. You should know the facts about these devices before you decide to use them. I don't want to spoil it for you, but you aren't the only ones that can track your kids.
LeBron James opened a school that was considered an experiment. It’s showing promise.
I've received some requests for some parent-related product recommendations, so I'm going to add those going forward. To be clear, these aren't advertisements. They're recommendations for products I've purchased on my own and use regularly. If it's a product available on Amazon (not everything I recommend will be), I use affiliate links. That means when you buy something I recommend on Amazon, they kick back a small percentage to me. With that said...
I buy RXBARs by the box. They’re healthy, high in protein, have a great texture (assuming you like chewy) come in good flavors that appeal to kids and don’t melt when exposed to heat. I usually cut them up into little bite-sized squares for the kids and throw them in a container for them to munch on. I highly recommend the Peanut Butter & Berry or plain old Peanut Butter.
Speaking of containers, I love Kids Konserve nesting containers. We use them every day for lunches and snacks. They’re super easy to clean, never ever leak and because they nest, they don’t take up a bunch of space. The company makes a bunch of other well-designed, nice stuff for kids that’s worth checking out.
❤️
Brad