Different types of schooling

[mck211]

Can someone explain to me the different types of schooling listed in this forum?  Very curious as to what each one means. Or, is there one website that lists them and explains how they differ?  Thanks!

[Linda on the move]

May be people who have kids attending the various types of schools could explain their schools.

My kids attend a progressive school. I usually refer to it as an alternative school because the word "progressive" seems to confuse a lot of folks. It would fit in the 3rd folder on mothering -- after Waldorf and Montessori.

Hands on experienced are highly valued, learning in ones' own ways at one's own schedule is a priority, and the kids have tremendous freedom over over their schedules. It's a k-12 school with mixed age homerooms, so a 5 year old and a senior can be in the same homeroom. The art center is always open. There is an animal center with goats and chicken, a shop where kids weld and work with wood, a dark room, pottery kiln etc. There are no grades, and instead, every teacher who works with a child writes a paper about them (3 times a year) -- about what they are doing and learning, strengths weaknesses, etc.

It's awesome.

(they do academics too!)

[Ragana]

Linda, that school does sound awesome!

My kids go to public school, but because they attend a two-way language immersion program, I will put us in the Other category on this forum. Sometimes interesting options are available in the public schools, and I have seen questions asked about this particular type of program before, so I thought I would post.

What two-way immersion means in our town is that they are in a classroom with half English speakers and half Spanish speakers (at least starting out - some kids only have one language coming in, some have at least a certain level of both). The lessons are taught in Spanish from day 1 with English increasingly being used until in 5th grade it's about 50-50. The kids participate in specials such as gym and art taught in English in teams made up of kids from the three strands in our school (Spanish two-way immersion, African-centered curriculum, general education). Most of the Spanish speakers here are Mexican, so there are some holidays celebrated Mexican-style, which is fun - Children's Day, Day of the Dead, Mothers' Day. Other than that, all three strands follow the district's curriculum, just with a particular emphasis. We love it!

[gmvh]

My children go to a charter school. I run into loads of misconceptions about charter schools so I thought I'd jump in and include it here.

Charter schools are public, free schools. States that allow charter schools have different rules/laws about how they are created, how they are funded, and how they operate but I'll go out on a limb and say that in all (at least most) cases, a group has an idea for a school and their idea gets approved by a group that can approve such things and they are given a charter to operate a school.

In our state, there have been only two categories of groups that can approve - the mayors office of Indy and any university.  Only one university in the state, however, has chosen to take on the role of approving school proposals.

Once approved, the group that sent the proposal in now has a school to operate. I am part of the founding group of my children's school and we hired a company to run our school. In our state, the school is free and public but children are chosen by lottery and we operate outside of the local school district - we are considered our own district, with one school. We take students from anywhere in our state (we border two others within 30 miles) but we provide no transportation.

Our school has a focus on place-based education and our property is adjacent to a national park. Trails have been established to allow us to walk off campus and into the park.

Our school is truly an alternative in our community, not a school full of children who were struggling elsewhere. We have students with disabilities and students who are high ability, a full range of socio-economic levels represented and more racial/ethnic diversity than is typically present in our quasi-suburban area.

Charter schools can serve so many needs, though money and financing in schools are huge and complicated topics so many schools do fail. Our founding group has been very specific in seeking out fellow school board members to make sure we've got all of our interests covered - multiple attorneys, a special education professional, and two CPAs - one working in the field and one who is a professor.

People in our community associate charter schools with school districts that are failing (which is where they were used around here, previous to the establishment of our school) and they also do not understand that they are free and public. 

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by gmvh 

Our school is truly an alternative in our community, not a school full of children who were struggling elsewhere. 

Ouch. I have a kid who struggled in traditional school. In finding a school that truly works for her, I've met a bunch of other kids who also struggled in traditional school.  Most of the kids in the upper grades at my kids school struggled elsewhere. (In the lower grades, more of the kids are there because of their parents' idealism).

I really doubt you have any idea how you sound.

[gmvh]

Originally Posted by Linda on the move 

Ouch. I have a kid who struggled in traditional school. In finding a school that truly works for her, I've met a bunch of other kids who also struggled in traditional school.  Most of the kids in the upper grades at my kids school struggled elsewhere. (In the lower grades, more of the kids are there because of their parents' idealism).

I really doubt you have any idea how you sound.

 I am terribly sorry if I offended, but you are right, I do not understand how I offended.

I was speaking specifically towards the idea of charter schools and that, at least in our broader community, people who don't know much about them have the impression, incorrectly, that they are a "dumping ground" of sorts for children who just weren't making it elsewhere. I do not believe this is the case at our school.  We do have children who were not finding success elsewhere, academically or socially, and we have children who they or their parents were looking for a smaller environment. This is what I meant by the school is an alternative to the traditional setting - it's another option for all children and one, that in my opinion, could/should be considered by all parents, if for no other reason than to know what other (free) options exist in our community.

[pek64]

I am a homeschooling mom. Among homeschooling, there are various styles. From school at home, which mimics conventional classrooms, all the way to child-led or unschoolimg. The latter is what we do. I could go on in more detail about the various styles, but will limit myself to a general overview of homeschooling.

With homeschooling the child learns in the family environment. Homeschoolets are allowed, and frequently do, leave the home. Usually it is to go someplace educational, like a zoo, museam, nature study center, or to meet with other homeschoolers for educational or social events. Some choose homeschooling for religious reasons. Others to keep or remove a child or children from negative influences (drugs, gangs, bullying, to name a few). Still others have a child or children who don't fit in with the conventional school system. A child with a learning disability or a gifted child may benefit from homeschooling. There may be as many reasons to homeschool as there are homeschooled children.

Each state has some kind of rules about homeschooling. Some a very strict, others loose. You would need to familiarize yourself with your states laws, if you choose to homeschool.

Hope this helps your understanding.

[pek64]

"Dumping ground" just makes it sound worse.

These are human beings, not trash. A few of them may have unconcerned parents. All the more reason to care about what happens to them. The rest have parents who carw, worry, and work just as hard as you to provide quality education for their children.

[mtiger]

I've heard "dumping ground" used by most every group to describe some type of schooling option that they don't agree with. Public schools are "dumping grounds" for kids whose parents don't care. Charter schools are "dumping grounds" for kids who couldn't cut it. Magnet schools are "dumping grounds" for kids who are socially too geeky to make it. Home schooling is a "dumping ground" for kids who are special flowers. EVERY option can be describrd as a "dumping ground". None of those labels benefit the kids at all.

As parents, I think we all have our thoughts on what will work best for our kid(s), and what our preferences are when it comes to the type of schooling suits our own beliefs, values, kids, lifestyles. What worked for my kids (2 different options) may not work for someone else's. Doesn't make it better or worse. Just... different.

[serenbat]

Can someone explain to me the different types of schooling listed in this forum? 

my understand is ALL in a school are listed here (with sub-forms in - Waldorf, Montessori, etc)- not in a school is under the other (learning at home, unschooling)

meaning of "school" and the type varies greatly- be it a public, charter, private, cyber etc

"Dumping ground" just makes it sound worse.

These are human beings, not trash. 

dumbing ground is going to be used as long as we continue to treat them as trash- we do in my state and the term fits

if you run a school exactly as you run your municipal trash collecting-it is the same 

lowest bid contract for hauling is the same as expecting the school should function with the lowest paid teachers and cheapest supports-IMO

several years ago at a teacher contract dispute it was mentioned that we were paying the trash haulers more per hour and they did not need any degrees to pick the trash

[thefragile7393]

Originally Posted by Linda on the move 

May be people who have kids attending the various types of schools could explain their schools.

My kids attend a progressive school. I usually refer to it as an alternative school because the word "progressive" seems to confuse a lot of folks. It would fit in the 3rd folder on mothering -- after Waldorf and Montessori.

Hands on experienced are highly valued, learning in ones' own ways at one's own schedule is a priority, and the kids have tremendous freedom over over their schedules. It's a k-12 school with mixed age homerooms, so a 5 year old and a senior can be in the same homeroom. The art center is always open. There is an animal center with goats and chicken, a shop where kids weld and work with wood, a dark room, pottery kiln etc. There are no grades, and instead, every teacher who works with a child writes a paper about them (3 times a year) -- about what they are doing and learning, strengths weaknesses, etc.

It's awesome.

(they do academics too!)

There is a school here in town exactly like that........too expensive and too far but i would love to send my son there
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by gmvh 

 I am terribly sorry if I offended, but you are right, I do not understand how I offended.

I was speaking specifically towards the idea of charter schools and that, at least in our broader community, people who don't know much about them have the impression, incorrectly, that they are a "dumping ground" of sorts for children who just weren't making it elsewhere

I think I made it really clear in my post that I did find you offensive, so I'm not getting why you put "if."

Your response assumes that schools for children who don't do well else where are "dumping grounds". That's really offensive. The parents of those children don't see their children as trash or their schools as dumping grounds. They see their children as precious and their schools as havens.

It's one thing to be rude and offensive when you don't know better, but when you know better, you really ought to DO better. I can't make this any more clear to you -- at this point if you continue saying the same type of things, it's because you are making a conscious choice to not care how you sound to parents of children who have to work at things harder than your child does.

and that says a lot more about you than it does about other children or the schools they attend.

[CatsCradle]

Sorry, deleted.

Edited by CatsCradle - 5/29/12 at 8:09pm

[lauren]

OP I assume you are asking about the subforum titles-- Waldorf, Montessori, Sudbury, Enki, etc. I am not aware of one site that describes them all in a comprehensive fashion. You might want to google each one individually and learn a little bit about each type of style.

Reminder to be gentle with one another.
 

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by thefragile7393 


There is a school here in town exactly like that........too expensive and too far but i would love to send my son there
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

I see you are in Tucson. Could it be this school?

http://www.kinoschool.org/

There is a slide show on the front page that shows what progressive education can look like. (Joni Mitchell "forever young" is the background music)

[thefragile7393]

Originally Posted by Linda on the move 

I see you are in Tucson. Could it be this school?

http://www.kinoschool.org/

There is a slide show on the front page that shows what progressive education can look like. (Joni Mitchell "forever young" is the background music)

Yes that is it!  I would love to send my kids there....but oh man the tuition and the distance.  My parents pick up my kids from their childcare on the days I work since I get off at 7pm and I know they would NOT go that far to pick them up from school.  It is a great idea, though.  For a kid that learns differently, this would be a great place.