The Neighborhood Schoolhouse

Today I visited The Neighborhood Schoolhouse in Brattleboro, VT. I did not fall in love, but I didn't hate it either. I have found that there are many ups and downs to all schools, and very few are going to be as wonderful as The Community School in Denton, TX.
The Neighborhood Schoolhouse up was that it had a strong emphasis on nature and wilderness studies. The grounds are beautiful and hiking is easily accessible. In the winter months the children go sledding, ice skating, skiing, and snow shoe hiking. In the other months the children, garden, track, and learn survival skills. The down side is that the classrooms seem disorganized and unstructured. The older kids seem to have the best end of the deal as their class room is project based and self directed. While the lower grades are also self directed, the classrooms seem to be mostly for play and contain blocks, puzzles, and games. The do use quisinar rods (I am not sure of the spelling), and Lindamood Bell method for reading. However, everything else did not have a clear way of learning. Worksheets were used, although limited, and it seemed mostly to be a free for all.
So, my head is spinning. I love Montessori, the structure, the individuality, and all the learning that can be obtained from play. On the other hand, I love the outdoor focus and connectedness of people, plants, and animals The Neighborhood Schoolhouse tries to share. Really what I want is the two philosophies to combine. Why is it that outside of Denton Montessori seems to be a place for the rich who have no idea what Montessori really is making the school pretentious and business like? I want a school where the director is a teacher (none of the schools have this), in what feels like a home, where kids learn independence as well as social skills, structure, and have extensive outdoor time. Where is this school? I guess I will let Seth choose where he feels most comfortable providing the school accepts him. That is the only thing I have left to do. I now see why my mother opened her own school--sometimes it feels like the only way. But there it is again-- there are endless ways and endless people to dream them up. Finding the way that represents your own educational values is the hard part.

Boston

For memorial day weekend, Nic, Kacy, Seth, and I went to Boston courtesy of Kacy's dad. He was going to be in Boston and decided to treat us to a hotel and food for three days and two nights. The experience was vastly different than my last in Boston just about a year ago. I mean it was still smelly, noisy, busy, rude, and overall just a big city, but with the longer stay and the aid of a GPS we had a much better time. The first night was really just dinner and settling in to the hotel. Our room, number 503, was just across the hall from the fitness room. We all went there to check it out, and although we did not use the equipment we did use the extra space and mirrored walls to do yoga. It sure felt good after two weeks in absence. Seth joined in for certain parts, and really enjoyed watching TV in bed afterwards.

Saturday, our full day in Boston, was pretty sweet. We skipped being lost Downtown like last year and enjoyed the street performers and vegan food instead. During breakfast Seth lost his first baby tooth and almost cried when I pulled it out all the way. He soon got over the shock and proudly looked at his tooth in my hand. Later that night the tooth fairy actually found her way to our hotel and left him four shiny quarters in exchange for his tooth. It was like a mini Christmas in May.

After a full day of running around we decided to take a nap at the hotel. We closed the curtains and slept for about an hour, promptly woke and realized we came to Boston only to miss Earth Fest and nearly Cake playing at the outdoor stage for free! We threw on some clothes, grabbed the GPS, parked the car for $15 and ran to see the last 45 minutes of the show. As I have only been to a limited amount of concerts, I was pretty pleased to be at a Cake concert with only $15 dollars down the drain. Seth did pretty well too. He liked it even though there were a ton of people all around. We even thought he was dancing along until we realized he was just putting pebbles down his shirt and squirming until they came out the bottom. Cute nonetheless.

After a night of vegan pizza and calzones, a morning of subways, followed by another round of yummy food we made our way home to Vermont where we watched The Labyrinth and laughed at David Bowie's crotch.

Schooling

I have spent the last week here searching for the perfect school for Seth. So far there are 3 great schools worth mentioning in the area. The Hartsbrook School in Hadley, MA, a Waldorf school; Hilltop Montessori School in Brattleboro, VT; and The Neighborhood Schoolhouse also in Brattleboro, VT. Besides being 45 minutes away from my own school, The Hartsbrook School is quite amazing. With acres and acres of land set in the beautiful green mountains of Massachusetts, they have a sustainable farm livestock, and three awesome buildings going through high school. Waldorf education is also an outstanding feature with their emphasis on nature and art. However, as good as imaginative play sounds for the young students, the lack of structure and tools for learning incorporated into play is something I find deficient. I also found that, even though I have a love for the Waldorf method, I am more comfortable with the Montessori way of learning.

So, I visited Hilltop Montessori School in Brattleboro. The school is also in the mountains and has an incredible view. The classrooms are nice, the teachers seem good, and the works were amazing. Yet, I felt the absence of nature that was so evident at the Waldorf School. Outside time was too scheduled, and they were completely void of a wilderness program. The Montessori School did have a greenhouse that was built by the middle school students that was pretty cool, but both the Waldorf, and the Neighborhood Schoolhouse had ample garden space that outweighed that of the Montessori school.

Although I have not yet spoken with the teachers at The Neighborhood Schoolhouse, I have visited the school, looked around, and read their philosophy. The school is based on independent, interest-based learning that allows the child to learn by doing. It is extremely outdoor based with a huge garden and a school next to a trail head for hiking. Outdoor pursuits include hiking, camping, and skiing. The classroom itself felt homey and warm, compared to the other two, offering a separate room for reading. Forts outside, obviously built by kids, and self directed learning remind me all too much of my own educational experiences and has won my vote thus far. I will not be able to visit the classroom until next Wednesday, but I am sure that if they have room Seth will be going there next fall.



**And as a side note, Kacy is applying to work in the younger aged classroom as well :)

Stickney Brook & Memorial Park

Today, after we went to the weekly farmer's market and ate vegan somosas, we went to Stickney Brook located right outside Brattleboro city limits near Dummerston. The brook was not merely a brook--but one with many small waterfalls. The water was immensely cold, almost unbearable to stand in--but that did not stop us from having a day of fun. Wilbur, who joins us in all our family outings, had a particularly great time and was braver than the rest of us- submersing his entire body.

**************************

After the brook we went on a small hike at Memorial Park. Nic and Seth climbed trees while I attempted to climb a tree.. The experience was awesome minus the presence of black flies--small, gnat like flies that swarm your face. Relief is only found while hold your hands over your head as the flies are drawn to the highest point of the body.

Close to the hiking trail is a stage for plays and such. Nic doesn't agree with me, but I think it would be pretty sweet to make up a play to perform with Seth. We do not need an audience or anything. It would be fun in itself to be able to perform on a stage in a park.

First Day

12:30 pm on May 14th marked the beginning of our eleven hour journey to Brattleboro Vermont-brightened only by Seth's choice to sit next to a man in his late 50's who made time feel like it was of no importance. We told our life stories, and discussed politics, idealistic youth, dogs, and education. When it was finally time to go our separate ways, after warm felt greetings to Nic and Kacy, we said goodbye as if we were actually going to see each other again. I should trust Seth's judgment more often. He was spot on.

Today was absolutely amazing. I don't think we could have packed more into 12 hours than we did. We woke up late, missing Kacy on her way to work, and immediately went to the brook in the backyard to play around. Seth and Wilbur played fetch in the water while Nic and I talked and threw rocks (Well, I threw rocks, Nic skipped them). After a quick breakfast and Wilbur proofing the house, we decided to walk to town and check out the thrift shop. There we found vintage roller skates that fit both me and Nic! What luck. We could barely believe it. And then we found a sweet old leather couch corner for $50 and had to have it. We bought it. Bought the roller skates. and walked home. It wasn't long before our excitement over the roller skates died when we realized mine were two left feet.. some luck we had. Oh well. At least Nic has a pair.

On to the Connecticut River. Nic wanted to take us across the bridge over the river to show Seth how easy it was to walk to the next state: New Hampshire. Seth thought that was pretty cool. Nic then decided it would be pretty awesome to take us under the bridge to sit and look at the river with the cars over our heads. I agreed and found it was pretty awesome like he said. Seth thought so too.

We saw some other pretty awesome sights one of which was a "stone park"-- a word I learned from Kaia. Seth had no idea what a stone park was and when he found out it was a cemetery he was not at all too pleased. But it didn't take much running around to find that cemeteries can be fun--especially when some head stones date back to the 1700's. The Brattleboro cemetery is the coolest cemetery I have ever been to, actually it is the only cemetery I have been to simply for enjoyment.

All of this excitement took place before 12:30 when we picked Kacy up for her lunch break. We decided to eat on the street at a hot dog vender's booth. I know-- hot dogs-- but he had veggie dogs! I could not believe it. That was an experience in itself. Between 1:30 and 4:00 we had some down time before we had to pick up the before mentioned couch piece. Moving it proved to be no easy task as we do not have a vehicle that could aid us in the process. So, we walked with it for 3 blocks to the house. Fun and tiring at the same time. At least Seth enjoyed himself.

If that wasn't enough, we played tennis, or something like tennis, until it was time to make dinner. Which turned out to be more like a feast-- with enough pad thai and tempura vegetables to feed 10 people. Finally the day is through and we can sleep in tomorrow.