Reflections

While chatting with my mom this weekend, I realized I hadn't blogged about my visit to Horizons, the alternative K-8 school we are open-enrolling to. The visit was great-they did a good job of spelling out exactly what makes their school unique and why it still ranks Excellent in the CSAPs and other tests. The tour helped too, because we got to see the classrooms. The classes are grouped: K-1, 2-3, 4-5 and 6-8. There are 4 classes of each. I think the bottom line, what I walked away with, was that while our kids will get a first-rate academic education at ANY school in Boulder Valley, this school has the potential to mold our little ones into excellent citizens of the world. Yes, this is our responsibility as parents, but it sure would be nice to get some outside help, especially when they will spend 30+ hours at school in a week. I love this school. I will drive them there without griping (well, I might gripe a little, if it's snowy...) But it all comes down to the lottery. So, we wait and see. The first round comes out Feb.2. If we aren't in that batch we are waitlisted. Ted's teacher's kids weren't accepted until 2 days before school began! I know Eldorado would be fine, so if we don't get in it will be OK. But it would be GREAT to get in.
Sunday night, while watching the boys dancing like dreidals to Hanukkah music, it just hit me so hard. This is what I want for them. I want to see this kind of joy in their lives forever. I don't want it set aside for some academic ideal deemed important by someone who has never taken a child development class. I want them to have JOY and LOVE for school, for life, for their friends, for their religion. And RESPECT for different cultures, different religions, different ways of living.

And for fun, here are the top 10 reasons I love Horizons:

1. Classes meet from 8-3 Mon-Thu and 8-12 on Fridays.
2. Mountain biking and skiing are commonplace fieldtrips on Fridays.
3. Field trips to Mesa Verde, RMNP, and other amazing locales happen often in grades 3-8.
4. K-8 has Spanish class daily.
5. Horizons is a Green School-no waste is produced by the kids' lunches that can't be composted.
6. The ratio of male teachers to female is 40/60. Pretty good ratio!
7. Mixed age classes (K-1 are together) are small, about 17 kids in a class.
8. CSAP and other tests consistantly rank Horizons as Excellent, one of the top schools in the county.
9. Many families are 'non-traditional.' Not just white mom, dad, brother & sister.
10. The child has ownership of his work in class. Rather than report cards, the kids meet with their parents and teacher and do a presentation about what they are doing in each subject.

There are more, many more, things that I love, but those are the top 10. Those are the ones I don't think I'd find anywhere else. We shall see.