Thoughts From Emily Young Johnson

It was good to be at the meeting on Thursday and meet everyone and learn more about the group and goals/values. I have been thinking a lot about it since then and wanted to share some thoughts. I am sorry I did not attend the first two meetings, so I don't know the full extent of where every one is coming from and everyone's more specific goals and ideas about education for our children.

In short, I think it might by worth while for us to visit the public schools in Decorah or North Winn, and also visit Casa Montessori school in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Here is why---

First, on public schools:

Andy and I have had Helen in public schools for three years now (first in Waterloo, and then here, since our move back to Decorah in April of this year. I have learned (and been pleasantly surprised) that her experience in the public school system has been dramatically different than my own (I grew up in Georgia). I am not sure about the extent of everyone's exposure or experience with the public schools in Decorah or North Winn. I assume that some of us went to public schools ourselves growing up and some maybe even in Decorah or Iowa. I am sure our experiences are varied.

(A little about my background: My parents were committed to public school for their children, because they felt like it was part of their commitment to their community. There are so many children who don't have a choice and must attend public schools, so they wanted to support the public system, so that they could contribute to making it better for everyone. The idea being, that if we all stick together and work together for our kids, then all will benefit and we will live in a better society. Plus, all those children being educated by the public school system will grow up to be adults in the community, so the investment is worth it. They also had the confidence in us (their children) that we could excel in any environment and wanted us to learn about and be with different people at an early age. (We moved to the Philippines for two years when I was five, and the middle and high schools that I attended in Georgia were predominantly black/African American.)

So..I wanted to throw out the option/idea of visiting one of the public schools in town, (in addition to visits to Montessori and Waldorf schools). If we do not choose the public school system for our children, then I think it is important to know and recognize what we are not choosing (instead of believing stereotypes and rumors). There are, of course, many things that I
don't like about the public school system, but I have also been pleasantly surprised by many things.

Overall, Helen has had a pretty good experience in public schools-she has attended four so far (two in Waterloo because they were renovating our neighborhood school the first year we were there, and then John Cline (for 6 weeks only) and Carrie Lee here in Decorah. She has had very good relationships with her teachers and the ELP (extended learning program) teachers, especially in Waterloo. They were the ones who suggested and pushed us to accelerate her from kindergarten to first grade, and they considered the "whole child" by evaluating her social and emotional maturity before doing so. She has had caring, intelligent and motivated teachers who have challenged her to do things at her own level, even if that meant it
was a grade ahead or different from other students (and therefore, more work for them). Last year in Waterloo, she was the age of a first grader, in a second grade class, and going to a third grade class for reading and math and that was all their idea (we were involved of course, but didn't have to push them to consider Helen for acceleration or advancement). Our main
frustration since moving to Decorah has been how thinly the ELP teacher is stretched, so that Helen gets much less time with her than she did in Waterloo. Art, music, and PE are also more thinly stretched here. And there has been no opportunity or suggestions for letting her go to an older class for reading or math.

As far as educating the whole child, Helen has received many types of learning opportunities, including fun ways to look at math, like games and mind teasers and puzzles. Art, especially, has really kept her intrigued. Recently, her art teacher taught her how to dye yarn and weave, complete with actually dying the yarn in the Native American tradition, from natural
products, including onion skins, walnut hulls, black eyed susans, and purple grapes. I thought that was really cool and I hope Helen will teach me how to do it too.

Second on -Montessori schools.

Both of our daughters, Helen (age 8) and Leila (age 4) had wonderful experiences with Casa Montessori in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The classrooms were always well organized, each child always engaged in a "work", either individually or collectively, and the teachers had exceeding amounts of patience and were able to juggle many kids at once. Art work was present, but not a free for all center where a child could spend three or four hours in a day. Two teachers worked well together and each had their own classroom of students, instead of one trying to do it all. I am sure that they would be open to visits from us as well. I know that is it impossible and not really a good use of everyone's time to visit tons of schools, but we felt like it was an excellent experience for our daughters. In talking with Christine, it is clear that there are differences between her methods
and theirs, but I wonder if Christine and Jenny would benefit from visiting other Montessorri schools, to see how they juggle many children at once, how they set up the classroom, their expectations from the students, etc.

I welcome any feedback or thoughts about these ideas. I am looking forward to learning more about the Montessori and Waldorf traditions. A good friend of mine in Georgia chose the Waldorf tradition for her kids and it always struck me as odd that reading was not taught until third grade, but I could be totally wrong about that.

Also, has anyone done any kind of survey of the Decorah community to find out how many parents would be interested in choosing an alternative choice for their childrens'education?

Thanks, Emily (Young Johnson)