The Garden School Tattler

There have been a lot of good questions about school changing lately, and here's how it is:

Yesterday at the Garden School my kindergarten class read their first book. My class is comprised of 4 and 5 year olds. We did a number puzzle to 100 as well. Most children 4-5 would be learning letters, learning to write their names. Every day my class does a piece of writing work. Children who come to my class need to know their letters - upper and lower case, write their names and count to 20.

In Miss Kelly's class, ages 5-6, the children are doing first grade work.

Age plays an important role in schooling. What we've found is that the normal curriculum for the public schools is geared for children who have not had preschool. The kindergarten work is simple. At the Garden School, our work is much more advanced.

In addition, our "out of the classroom" activities teach as well. We have a thing called Scholar's Club that is designed to teach the children about the world. It takes in science, geography, history, religion, and fine arts. These are things that are not a part of the kindergarten curriculum in other places, but an important part of our day.

When we do the play, we often don't go into the classroom because we are working on the production. But producing a play is a whole experience children need to experience early. This kind of activity often stimulates a child into a lifetime of interest.

If work sheets and copy pages were all there was to education, I'd say we lacked considerably, but we feel that a liberal arts education right from the beginning of education is the way to interest children in learning.

As far as "promotion" goes. We can only recommend. The principal of any school makes the final decision for "his" student. I can't tell another school what to do with a child. I know that over the years many of our first graders have gone to second grade. Many of the younger ones have gone to first grade again simply because the principal of another school thought the child was too young.

I've often thought we should change our classroom names from kindergarten and first grade to other classroom names because although our children do kindergarten and first grade work, often they are younger than their public and parochial school counterparters.

Why do we push? Because we let the child lead. If a child is ready to do the classroom work, we welcome him or her. The desire to learn is very keen in young children. The desire to understand is also keen. What is the point in delaying learning because of age? Would you hold back a 18 month old child who was taking his diaper off to use the bathroom on his own? Would you keep a five month old from crawling if he was ready to take off? My son crawled at two months. Was I supposed to put a weight on him?

One of the things we require of our teachers is a knowledge of the world. This is something we find most teachers don't learn in college. Most people can't answer the simple questions we ask when we interview and what we are looking for is that special teacher with an eye on the world and a grasp on the classroom. When we pull out Pointillism, we expect our teachers to either know what we are doing, or have an interest in learning. When I say, "It's time to study the Norman Conquest," I expect my teachers to know what that is and when it happened.

The Garden School is a year round school. That means we have school all summer. So in the winter we can take off some days to do other things like the plays and like holiday in school days.
But that doesn't mean children aren't learning. Remember that copy pages are only 8x11 and there is a whole world out there.

One of the things we have been able to do with some of the children is to take labels off. We have had several children come to the GS with labels like retarded and special needs. One of my favorite children was slated for an institution by two psychologists. At least a dozen children with those ungracious titles have gone to regular classrooms over the years including the little girl slated for an institution. This means a lot to us because it's through the kind of special work we do that good things happen, and we hope good things happen to all our children.

As for accreditation: That has always been a problem because kindergarten is still not mandatory in Indiana, so a kindergarten is not accredited. We have spoken to the state about our first grade program but they recommended we not apply because we would have to group the children by age. That's not what we do. So there is really no one to accredit us even if it were possible.

What we go by are the State of Indiana Standards. We exceed those standards. If anyone from EVSC were to come to the GS on any day, they would approve of what we do. I know we had some people in from the State Board of Education from Indianapolis a few years ago and their remark was, "This is an outstanding school. I wish there were more like it."

With all the hubbub about all day preschool in so many states, I think it's time to invite the governor to see what can be done with a little private industry and a love of teaching, but that's a whole other story.

The Garden School is not for everyone. It's not a place to "dump and run." It takes a lot of parent involvement to make it go, and that's what we count on. But I can assure anyone who asks, we will continue to do our own thing because it is superior to what's out there and we think this with good reason.