Searching for the “right” school

Alt Ed Austin welcomes Laura Delgado to the blog today to share with our readers some of her wisdom about choosing schools, preschools, and early childhood programs—and to invite you all to the 2nd Annual Small Schools of South Austin Tour!

Laura is a certified Montessori guide with more than 20 years of experience working with children and families. She owns The Montessori Tree, which provides support and education for both parents and children, guided by the Montessori philosophy of respect. She also runs a beautiful home-based, largely outdoor toddler program called The Nest.

Nine years ago, I sat in a circle of expectant mothers. My belly had grown along with my awareness of the uncertainties that lay ahead, but I was certain of one thing at least.

I wanted my little one to start school early, and I already had a school picked out. Silly, right? After all, there are so many other things to think about when you’re expecting, and school? Well, it’s not usually at the top of the list of considerations for first-time parents.

Still, I found myself encouraging the other mothers to start looking at schools. I know it seems far away, I implored, but think about getting a feel for your options, time is going to fly by!

Little did I know how quickly it would fly by! It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was sitting in that circle and, yet, just the other day, my partner and I were talking about middle school options for our daughter! How is that even possible?!

All that being said, I know how overwhelming the school search process can be for first-time parents. Where to begin? When to begin? The only reason I spoke up that day was because I was working in admissions in a large school at the time, and I spoke with so many families who confessed, I wish someone had explained this process to us when we were expecting!

If you’re reading this, and you’re just getting started on your search, regardless of your child’s age, take heart. There are an increasing number of early childhood options available to families in Austin, especially since the onset of the pandemic, which fueled the opening of a great number of “micro-schools.” In addition, there are great resources, like Alt Ed Austin, who will support you in finding the “right” school for your child and your family.

On that note, I’ve had many families ask, Where should we go? What’s the “right” choice? Ultimately, I think that answer is different for every family, every child even. What works for some families may not work for others, what works for one child in your family, may not work for another.

While the school search can truly be a soul-searching process, I always encourage families to begin by considering logistics. How far are we willing to drive? What’s in our budget? Are we needing full or part-time care? Do we need year-round care or can we get by with less?

Once you narrow down your options, you can start considering other factors. Are we looking for a specific philosophy or open to exploring something new? Is class size important to us? Are we looking for specific elements, such as extracurricular offerings? How involved do we want to be?

Ultimately, I encourage parents to visit the school and “get a feel” for the space. The reason is that I’ve had families tell me time and again, We finally found a school, and we knew it was the right one because it just ‘felt right.’ 

I truly believe this is the number-one indicator of "goodness-of-fit." After visiting a school, I encourage you to ask . . . How did I feel when I walked into the space? Was I able to imagine my child learning and growing there? 

In exploring the questions above, you will get closer to finding the right program for your child, or better yet, a handful that feel promising! Following is simply a process of educating yourself about the admissions process at your schools of choice. 

Still, I know that finding time to do all of the above can feel a little intimidating. For this reason, I nurtured a seed of inspiration that sought to answer the question, How can we, as educators and school owners, make this process a little easier for families? 

The answer came in the form of a “tour,” inspired, funnily enough, by the East Austin Studio Tour. Wouldn’t it be great, I thought, if families could spend one morning visiting a handful of schools without having to take time out of their work week? Instead of touring studios, they could tour schools!

This year, I’m thrilled to be collaborating with thirteen other schools to host our 2nd Annual Small Schools of South Austin Tour on Saturday, October 21st from 9am to noon. It’s a celebration, of sorts, of the diverse program offerings available to families in south Austin!

Parents, if you’re just starting your search or still looking for the right fit, I highly encourage you to take advantage of this FREE event. Children are welcome, and there’s no need to RSVP. 

For more information and a full listing of schools, you can follow @themontessoritree or find the event on Facebook. We look forward to seeing you there!

 
Laura Delgado | The Nest at The Montessori Tree

Paper, please

Guest contributor Ken Hawthorn is back with a great art + geometry activity you can try with your family. Ken is the founder of Austin School for the Driven, a unique environment of experiential learning, the hacker mindset, and outdoor education, all curated by community. He is the author of Super Arduino and consults with both Austin Community College and the University of Texas at Austin on makerspace education and design.

Paper is a structural material that forms the basis for so many wonderful math, science, and art projects at school and at home. From slide rules to “sharks with frickin laser beams,” paper is an amazing place to start!

Today I want to share some recent explorations of pop-up card geometry and even provide you, dear reader, with the actual files we used in class at Driven so you can make the same project at home with a Cricut, scissors, or an X-ACTO knife.

The below picture is a prototype pop-up card design students constructed in the third week of school at Driven. The genesis of the idea was a collaboration between Adam Soto, a literacy teacher at Griffin School, and me, Ken Hawthorn. Adam works with his students to individually go through the process of writing their own novel. Adam and I were looking for meaningful project-based intersections that combined the makerspace and the novel-writing project.

We realized that cards people give each other are really about the story of two people and the relationship between them. A spouse purchases a card that has symbols and words that proclaim appreciation and love for a partner, mom might get a handmade card from a child with a drawing of the whole family, or a co-worker might select a card that expresses how good the recipient is at being an inclusive member of the team. Whatever the occasion, the well-chosen card will usually express not just a particular sentiment, but also images and words that reflect a relationship and shared experiences between two people. When a third party reads a card, originally given from one person to another, they can infer a lot about the story of that relationship based on the design of the card and the words used.

With this in mind, why not have students make cards that are not from one person to another, but that encapsulate the important parts of the novel they are reading or writing? In this case, students at Driven wanted to look at a fairytale castle. Below are the steps they took to create a pop-up castle card.

 
Here is a link to the svg file you can use for your own geometric explorations.

Ken Hawthorn | Austin School for the Driven

Media Monday: Read it. Watch it. Talk about it. 6 book-to-screen adaptations for the family coming this fall

I don’t know about you, but once we got beyond Barbenheimer, late summer felt a little lacking in large- or small-screen excitement. But for family viewing, some good news is on the way this fall, with a lot of acclaimed Tween and YA books making their way onto screens of all sizes. Here’s a roundup of a few of the best that have just arrived or will be arriving before the December holidays. We’ve linked to reviews of the books since reviews of the on-screen versions are not yet available in most cases.

September

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (short film, on Netflix, September 27) is one of four short stories by Roald Dahl adapted for the screen in a unique way by director Wes Anderson, whose adaptation of “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” was a hit with parents and kids over a decade ago. Anderson is following up Henry Sugar with adaptations of Dahl’s stories “The Swan,” “The Rat Catcher,” and “Poison,” also premiering on Netflix on September 28, 29, and 30. In each one, the actors will read the author’s words and act them out. Voldemort himself, Ralph Fiennes, plays Dahl.

October

Goosebumps (TV series, on Disney+ and Hulu, October 13) is based on the beloved series of horror-mystery books for tweens by R. L. Stine. Kids are the heroes of each book, and they inevitably triumph over whatever ghost or monster or freaky situation they face. The suspense and scares could be too much for those younger than age 8 or 9, so parents should assess their own kids’ tolerance.

November

All the Light We Cannot See (TV series, on Netflix, November 2) is based on a Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel. Although it is not technically a YA book, its two protagonists are both teens—a sightless young French girl separated from her devoted father and a German orphan boy-turned-soldier—who form an unlikely connection during World War II. Teens interested in historical and family dramas will appreciate the beautiful and intense story of the characters’ struggles during the Nazi occupation of France.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (TV Series, on Netflix, November 17) is an anime series for teens based on the graphic novels by David Lee O’Malley. Protagonist Scott Pilgrim is a twenty-something Canadian musician who woos his potential girlfriend, Ramona, by battling her “evil exes.” Many of the characters in the series are voiced by actors from the 2010 movie.

Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (in theaters, November 17) is a live-action movie prequel to Suzanne Collins’s wildly successful books and films that began with The Hunger Games. The story takes readers and viewers back to the 10th Hunger Games, in which future President Snow competes. Definitely only for teens (and parents) who aren’t disturbed by the graphic violence typical of the franchise.

December

Percy Jackson and the Olympians (TV Series, on Disney+, December 20), Texan Rick Riordan’s epic series of books, is getting the big-budget treatment in an initial season of 8 episodes. Young Percy has to come to terms with both his ADHD and dyslexia and his amazing powers as a demi-god, the son of sea god Poseidon and a mortal woman named Sally. 

Shelley Sperry | Sperry Editorial

Now this really looks like an alligator!

Marie Catrett is back with another glimpse into the world of children’s learning and growth at Tigerlily Preschool in South Austin. Marie is inspired by Reggio Emilia and informed by her deep curiosity and many years of experience working with young children. This guest contribution is adapted from one of her regular letters to Tigerlily families.

5/4/2023

Marie writes:

Today is a fine example of how we can help children think more deeply about their work and loan them the use of our skills in a way that helps them grow their own.              

Marie (as we’re headed into the classroom, to R, a young three-year-old in our group): I have a question I want to ask you, about the alligator you made in clay yesterday.

R’s alligator is a flat face figure, with drawn-in eyes and a cheerful mouth, and this piece stands up because he added a nice big tail at the back in response to my asking, “Can you think of anything else your alligator needs?”

Today we look at Alligator together. It’s so charming as is, and doesn’t necessarily need any further embellishment if R doesn’t want to go further, but maybe . . .

Marie: Here’s a question I have for you. I notice you drew the alligator’s mouth, and I wanted to ask you something. May I look at a picture of an alligator with you?

We look at some pages from a well-known current story in our group, Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile.

Illustration by Julie Paschkis, in Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile, by Won-Ldy Paye and Margaret H. Lippert.

Marie: I’m wondering (this is me asking children about their work, are you satisfied?), sometimes people make an alligator and it feels important to show about teeth. It’s up to you (me, really working hard to make a yes or a no thanks be acceptable here, the maker truly is in charge, but the opportunity to add a meaningful detail is always exciting to me!), but if you’re interested in adding teeth to your alligator, that’s something we could think about together.

R looks at the pictures and announces that yes, his alligator needs some teeth.

My co-teacher, Lulu, has the excellent idea that it might also help to go look at the toy alligator that’s been such a popular player in the classroom this week.

From earlier in the week: the wild animals birthday party, no wilding allowed.

Re: no wilding allowed at the party, the alligators take a meeting.

Ah ha, looking back at play this week, it makes sense that thinking about alligators has been on R’s mind, enough to want to make one with the clay.

And while looking at images can help kids think more about what they want to do, touching an example of what they’re thinking about is even better.

R explores the mouth of the alligator. His first “face” alligator is also in the frame above.

I am imagining helping him add bits of clay to his drawn mouth line to make the wanted addition of teeth happen, but R now has a richer vision of how to make this alligator more alligator-y.

 R: I think an alligator should have an open mouth. And teeth. And a tongue that sticks out.

Marie: Hmmm. Wow. Okay. Oh! You know what, when my potter friend Jane came to show us about how she uses clay, she said starting with a pinch pot is a great way to make creatures. Would you like to try that?

Yes, says R, and we get a small ball of clay out to begin with a pinch pot. When it’s big enough, and turned on its side, R sees the shape he needs to decide it’s an open mouth. He adds eyes on top by drawing them on, in the way he’d done on the “face” version.

 Marie: I heard you say about teeth. I can think of two ways you could add those . . .

I take an extra bit of clay and show him some options to think about. You could use the tool to draw them in, as he’s done his eyes. Fingers could pinch up some teeth bumps maybe? Or . . .

Marie: These are just to show some ideas, but you’re the maker, so it’s up to you what you’d like to do.

R likes the idea of using his fingers to make “teeth shapes” out of clay. He places them where he thinks they need to go on the mouth, and I help him make them attach securely.

Marie: You know what, I bet you could also make a tongue shape like you’re wanting.

From left to right: R’s first and then second alligator.

As we’re looking at the finished work, an older child says, with admiration, of the second piece: “Wow, now this really looks like an alligator!”

One of my favorite things about striving to be a Reggio-inspired teacher is working with children like this:

I hear your interesting idea.
Let’s think more about this together.
I see a way that I can be a resource for what you’re wanting to do.
Here are some options to think about what feels right to you.
What do you think?
And, are you satisfied?

Marie Catrett | Tigerlily Preschool

The case for expectation-free, exploratory music learning

Grace Thompson is a voice and piano teacher based in Austin. She is a classically trained soprano who graduated from Kennesaw State University in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in music–ethnomusicology. A longtime advocate for the neurodiverse community, Grace joins us on the blog to discuss her nontraditional methods of teaching music to kids through the Groove Garden program at Eastside Music School.

Musicking: (v.) any activity that includes playing, performing, listening, writing,
recording, or sharing music.

Childhood music lessons. We’ve all been there before, or maybe you haven’t. A parent has signed you up for a music lesson—piano, guitar, violin, or maybe even singing—and you’re getting ready to demonstrate to your teacher what you were meant to have practiced in the time since your last lesson.

Only you haven’t practiced or didn’t get as much practice time as you wanted. Teachers always can tell when a student hasn’t practiced, and you know walking in that your teacher will pick up on your lack of practice. Does this make me a bad student? A bad musician? Will my teacher be mad at me? Or disappointed? Will I ever learn to play this instrument?

As you go to play your instrument, these fears and anxieties course through your still-developing brain and begin to distract you and tell you that you’re not good enough. Playing your instrument has now turned from a fun hobby after school to an insurmountable test. The traditional private music lesson environment can, unfortunately, breed these sentiments in students, eventually turning students off from music as a whole.

Now imagine yourself as an atypical learner. Traditional learning environments are already not geared toward you, and now there is compounded stress from not being able to meet the expectations set by your teacher. These expectations have been set from a hegemonic system of learning music that is centuries old. This system of learning does not reflect the modern learner and is, in part, creating more failures than successes.

As a music teacher, I define success as a student being happily engaged in their studies, followed by an improvement in their technical and theoretical abilities. To support this type of musical education, the environment must be conducive to every learner, and we can create these environments by leading exploratory-driven, expectation-free music classrooms.

Musicking is a life-long process that no one will ever truly master. It is the embodiment of “about the journey, not the destination,” so we should present to students this idea of a musical journey. Twists, turns, and unforeseen circumstances may occur on our journey through a musical life, and allowing students to explore for themselves will well-equip them to navigate these changes. Perhaps a violin student watches a harpist and becomes enamored with this new instrument, or a classical piano student wants to begin playing jazz repertoire. These changes in instrument or repertoire are not typically supported in a traditional music education environment due to the expectations to stay with and master one particular instrument or genre.

Taking out the expectations of a traditional music classroom environment gives students fewer restrictions to explore different areas of music they might not have been exposed to before, and more confidence to try without the fear of failure or rejection. Expectation-free learning passes the baton into the hand of the students to create and express themselves without any limitations. Autonomy is given back to the child, therefore creating a more enthusiastic student. Exploration-led classrooms also promote social growth through a free exchange of ideas between peers, unclouded by any pre-existing musical “rules.”

Music education is vital to all people, but especially children, as it has been linked with a plethora of brain-boosting qualities such as supporting language and reasoning skills, emotional intelligence, coordination and fine motor skills, memorization and imagination, and intellectual curiosity, among many others (see nafme.org). Learners who find themselves on the Autism spectrum or any other spectrum of learning differences can especially reap the benefits from any of these characteristics.

Music plays a part in many other fields of academia, and finding an interest in music can help support other areas of interest for students as well, such as math, science, visual arts, and history. Music also supports a social outlet for students who lack interaction with peers, whether because of developmental differences or more solitary forms of education such as homeschooling or virtual learning.

Eastside Music School’s Groove Garden is an inclusive music class for children of all ages, backgrounds, and learning styles. It’s designed for kids to learn and make music together in a way not normally offered in traditional music classes or private lessons. Parents are also welcome to join their students as parents play a fundamental role in the student/teacher relationship. We encourage exploration-based learning as well as expectation-free instruction. In this class, we aim to give students the basics of music education, such as rhythm, melody, harmony, and instrument types, while also allowing for independent and group playing as well as encouraging student leadership and autonomy. While children in traditional music education are often given very little voice, if any, in what they choose to study, at the Groove Garden, we allow students to have a say in what kinds of music to study and activities they enjoy.

The next Groove Garden class will be held on Thursday April 27, from 3pm to 4pm at Eastside Music School.

Grace Thompson | Groove Garden

Looking for the roots of children’s mental health crisis: A conversation with psychotherapist Louis Weinstock

I recently had a chance to chat with U.K-based psychotherapist Louis Weinstock, who has written a new book about helping children deal with the anxiety, depression, fear, and stress that seem to plague our 21st-century lives. The book, How the World Is Making Our Children Mad and What to Do About It (Penguin, 2022), is full of real-world examples from Weinstock’s 20-year career as a therapist, and he offers practical exercises in every chapter.

Weinstock approaches the questions parents and kids face with compassion, humor, and a sense of deep connection to history, myth, and spiritual practices from a variety of cultures. The book is structured around seven patterns that can be seen all over the world and that “shape our lives in unconscious ways.” The patterns include victimhood, virtual reality (a desire to escape our bodies and live only in our minds), narcissism, scarcity, anesthesia, chaos, and hopelessness. In each case, Weinstock examines the negative “roots” of the pattern and the more positive “fruits” that can turn the pattern into something beautiful and nourishing. So, for example, the root of victimhood is a feeling of helplessness, which can, in the right environments, turn into empowerment and strength. The root of virtual reality is the desire to escape the confines of our bodies, which can, in the right environments, turn into a feeling of being at home in our bodies and in nature.

Weinstock explains that the problematic roots of each pattern always connect to an unloved, uncared-for part of each of us. As he says in the conclusion of How the World Is Making Our Children Mad, “The world is making our children mad because it is short-circuiting our capacity for love. And so the way to help our children is by reclaiming love.”

Here is a short excerpt from my chat with Louis, which has been lightly edited. I asked a few questions inspired by topics that come up often in connection with alternative education models.

Q: Can you tell me a little about your perspective on the movement to encourage “resilience” or “grit” in kids as part of school curricula? In your book you seem to question the value of those approaches.

A: I started questioning the ideas of resilience and grit because I saw the kids who weren’t adapting easily to the dominant systems of education were the ones deemed “unresilient.” These children were being sent to me as a therapist or came to me when I was teaching mindfulness. Essentially, it seemed that the goal of making the kids more resilient was to allow them to keep going through the system . . . and to make sure the schools were doing well in the league tables [evaluations]. 

I think the concepts of resilience and grit are problematic because they just look at the individual child but completely ignore what’s going on in the environment around the child. I’m not throwing out the idea that we need to help our children be “tough” and expose them to some reasonable risks so they can grow and develop. But from my perspective,  if a child is not adapting to a mainstream school, maybe their behaviors and symptoms are actually showing us adults something important that we need to listen to. Rather than trying to put them back in a box they’re uncomfortable in, we need to try to listen to those symptoms and see the intelligence in them. Maybe the children are showing us that something isn’t working in their environment, not that something isn’t working within them.

Q: You talk a lot about making sure children are sensing what’s happening in their bodies when they feel anxious, afraid, depressed. And I know that you believe that putting our bodies back in connection with nature is one key to feeling better and learning better. Tell me a little more about that.

A: Forest schools are quite popular in the UK, just as they are in the United States and Europe, but they are still alternative options, not mainstream. What is surprising to me is how much people still underestimate the impact nature has on our kids’ mental health. I ask parents how often their kids go out into nature, and often they say they do not go outside at all. So, I frequently make that part of a care plan. Research is showing that even 20 minutes a day is all that’s needed to make that connection, and it can be in a city park—there’s no need to seek out a wild forest. Often, time in nature is more effective than ADHD medication.

I think the reason time spent in nature is so good for us is simply because we are part of nature, and a lot of our modern way of living cuts us off from that part of ourselves. I used to have a practice on a houseboat in London and there was nature all around and I could use that during my meetings with clients. Since COVID, I see clients online, but I often give kids and parents a “prescription” to get out in nature and connect.

Q: Is there any particular change you see happening in schools today that you find especially good for kids’ emotional and psychological health and happiness?

I was just thinking and writing about this recently and considering how much things have changed since I was a child. When I was at school, if you were emotionally dysregulated you were sent to the naughty corner or given the slipper. The shoe of one of my classmates was used to smack people right at the front of the classroom. It could not have been more about shaming children, and it was the norm.

But now, my young daughter is learning about “zones of regulation,” a concept that is now a model used in schools around the world. The model uses colors to help children understand and describe the emotional state they are in. For example, yellow means they are feeling silly and funny. Green means they are feeling good and ready to learn. Red, of course, means they are angry, and blue means they are sad. This is such a non-shaming way of talking about feelings, and I think it’s quite positive.

I’d like to thank Louis for the conversation. You can order his book from any bookstore and read his blog here. He is currently working on a new charitable project called Apart of Me, that uses a mobile app and games to help children learn to deal with grief and loss. The most recent addition to that project is an app called Nadiya, specifically for Ukrainian children who have faced the trauma of war.

“At Apart of Me, we use technology only to enhance real-world connection and relationships,” said Louis. “We don’t want the future of kids’ mental health to be them looking at a screen alone in a dark room.”

Shelley Sperry | Sperry Editorial