New School

Ophelia is in a new school, 40 mi. away from home. I don't mind the drive and am grateful for the carpool opportunities! I figured I'd get that out of the way before I explain why.

Second grade started for Ophelia with the usual back-to-school excitement, looking forward to a new teacher, seeing old friends, making new friends, thrilling classes, fascinating field trips, etc. She loved going back to school and her enthusiasm was contagious. We met the new teacher who seemed friendly though a bit overwhelmed perhaps as a first year teacher, scoped out the new class room, check the student roster for her class and thought we were prepared. The new outfit and supplies were in order and the first day of school came and we took two little girls to elementary school for the first time and Ophelia introduced beginning Kindergartener Lavinia to her school. The first three days of school were simply wonderful. We thought Lavinia might have some adjusting to do but she fell into the school rhythm quickly and we settled in for smooth sailing in the new school year.

Three days into the second week of school I began to have my doubts but not for Lavinia, for Ophelia. They were little things at first that we thought would get better as the year progressed: Homework came home and was... boring and WAY too much. Spelling words seemed random and they took a test on Monday without even finding out what the rule for the week was. Red ink showed up on homework. The teacher seemed stressed all the time and didn't smile or great students when they came in.

Then it got worse: Number grades showed up. A strange grading system (actually, three different systems including numbers, checks/x's and letters) that was explained but didn't make sense. Homework was only worksheets- ugly and boring ones at that (I could only describe them as "ridiculous" and "stupid"). The Friday folder contained a large stack of worksheets that were done during class = 5/day. Ophelia would ask to stay home from school "just today." The school's e-mail system blocked my e-mails and the teacher and I couldn't seem to find a time to conference. Ophelia began to intentionally miss words on the easy spelling list so she wouldn't have to take the hard one for fear of a lower grade (never mind that she was getting high grades already). Homework became a fight and Ophelia didn't want to read, draw, or do anything but be away from people when she got home. She didn't want to tell us about her day.

And then, it got even worse: A few nights the homework took two hours (or nearly). Ophelia would cry saying she hated school. There was a test that Ophelia didn't feel prepared for and stressed about for days to the point of tears and not wanting to eat. I made the executive decision one night that Ophelia didn't have to do all of the homework (in second grade it doesn't count as part of the grade) and sent a note explaining why and what we did instead- when we met Ophelia at the bus she was in tears because that morning she had to walk to the front of the class and put her name on the board for not turning in all of her homework. Still couldn't get a meeting with the teacher. I sent in a letter explaining why we wouldn't be doing the homework sent home most of the time but that we would create our own "homework" that would be creative and engaging, we got no response. Ophelia begged us not to send her to school.

I was furious. Four weeks into school we had a child that had loved school and now suddenly hated it. We felt we had to do something. When the teacher became ill and was in the hospital for a week (not her fault and we're so glad she's better) and I still couldn't get a meeting with her we started to look for other options. Some of the issues we encountered, such as homework, were the same for the entire grade (and the whole school for that matter), others the entire district and few were just our class. We began looking for magnet/charter school options but struggled in finding something that we felt comfortable with. Then we began looking to move into another district and magnet school opportunities there. We couldn't find a home zoned for the all Montessori school we wanted in HISD and we were just praying that God work something out. For the first time we seriously talked about homeschooling. Ophelia got sick and we had to keep her home for a few days, homeschooling seemed to work but Ophelia needed to be with other children more and Jeremy and I had to admit we still aren't homeschool parent material. There didn't seem to be many options.

I had asked a friend at church about the school their children attended and began to more research on the pedagogy there. After a few conversations we were invited to visit the school and told there may be a full scholarship for a little girl in second grade. So Ophelia and I went to the school to visit. By recess that morning Ophelia found me to tell me that she loved it and wanted to stay. The second day was even better. She was offered a full scholarship effective immediately. Watching Ophelia in this new environment it felt like she had found her educational home. Surrounded by art (used as a tool to teach every subject), a gentle rhythm to the day, plenty of time outdoors (lunch is eaten outside, many subjects are experienced outside, an long recess time, and nature walks) , other languages (they study Spanish and German), a nurturing atmosphere, singing and music every day, hands on learning, and beauty Ophelia quickly was her old self again. She couldn't wait to go to school, excitedly shares her day with us, paints and draws again, engages her sisters, brings neat things home (Monday it was persimmons, Tuesday it was cracked geo-rocks with crystals inside), learned to finger knit, can tell you all about worms and how they make compost after making a worm column, makes up math games on her own, reads everything in sight, sings her math facts while jumping rope and approaches learning with wonder and mystery in every moment of every day. This school rarely has homework for second grade but Ophelia enjoys learning and sharing what she's learned every day after school- the best homework a kid could have.

The Harvest (the new school) is a Waldorf school which has challenged us in many ways including how we view education (they teach reading much later that traditional education), extreme views on children's exposure to media (we agree with but it's easy to get lazy), healthy living and reminded us of our responsibility in guiding our children's faith. Waldorf education isn't based in any one religion but does believe that we are spiritual beings and encourages this in the children. They recognize and celebrate several different religious holidays including those outside of the Judeo-Christian calendar. Teachers are not responsible for teaching faith though there are discussion as to what different groups believe and time is given to learning about different cultures and belief systems.

The school's tag line is: "Because education is a journey, not a race." We love that and taking the race attitude out of Ophelia's education experience has restored her joy of learning. This is an answer to prayer and a huge blessing. We believe that some competition is healthy but too much too soon can kill a child's learning spirit.

This is a long post, I know. If you'd like to know more about Waldorf education, google "Waldorf school" or "Waldorf education" or e-mail me. The school's website is under construction right now but as soon as that is up I'll link to it. We are looking at how we can get the other two into this school and are praying for God to open doors.