Help? Do we even have Public Schools forum?

[MamaPrincess]

I think I  might be just super dumb because I simply can't find a forum for Public School parents .. or do we have it here? I am pertty sure we do .. right?

could someone please help me to find it? I see only links to learning at home and beyond

and learning at school.. and that is divide dinto montessori, waldorf, reggio etc..

and so where is the public? or is it hidden from the sight for some reason?

good reason? :)

please help.

[moominmamma]

Isn't this it? The main/parent forum called Learning at School?

Miranda

[TCMoulton]

Pretty sure you are posting in it - Learning at School covers both public and private schools.

[MamaPrincess]

I did check your suggestions and came to the same conclussion as before..

The learning at school has actually three clear cut sections:

Waldorf

Montessori

Other (Reggio Emilia, Sudbury, Democratic)

It does not seem very clear to me and logical that Other will cover Public schools by defalut

since there are only four kinds listedi n the brackets as they were the only ones of foucs there.

I am just wondering if the Public Schools parents are so marginal on this forum or do they get trouble to find their own place to talk, I did check the "other" for the post on Public Schools issues and there are hard to find.

Is it because there is no Publc Schools parents or is it because they are such a minority or

is it just because :)

I was curious because I think that long ago this forum has a division of learning into

Homeschooling, learning at school and beyond and unschooling,

and then learning at school was subdivided into

private and

public and

then private

were subdivided further  into Montessori. Waldorf etc..

that seemed very logical and very intuitive and easy to find places to post your concerns. now it is not easy anymore. just that.

to visualize the previous division that I think I remember used to look like that:

Learning At home

homeschooling

unschooling

Learning at school

Private

• Montessori
• Regio..
• Waldorf
• Other

Public schools

Waldorf	Will a Waldorf education provide a strong SCIENCE and MATH foundation for my daughter? Yesterday at 9:51 pm by tpase	3,908	37,752
	Montessori	Having a tough transition to 5-day Montessori primary program Today at 6:40 am by t2009	2,063	16,083
	Other (Reggio Emilia, Sudbury, Democratic)

[TCMoulton]

I believe you are over analyzing something quite simple. "Learning at School" is the forum. The three subforum listed (Waldorf, Montessori, and other) are there because they are a more specialized subset of school with different practices than your average public/private (charter, parochial, etc) school. Much the same as the "Birth and Beyond" forum where there are subforum covering several specific types of birth but not specifically hospital or birth center birth. Since the majority of parents that have children attending either public or private schools it makes sense to have the main "Learning at School" forum be the most appropriate place for their posts.

[Geofizz]

That's not how you read the organization

Under Education is:

Learning at Home

and

Learning at School

Under learning at home, there are a subset of folks who unschool, hence that subcategory.

Under learning at school, there are a subset of discussions focused on Montessori, Waldorf, and other alternative school models

Those subsections don't trump the main forums of LaH and LaS.

Public schooling is learning at school, and therefore belongs right here.  As you'll see, most of the issues discussed on the front page pertain to public school.

MDC promotes thinking about alternatives.  There is a push often for different types of educational models so that families can find the right fit.  When you discuss issues with a given school, you will often have respondents suggesting looking at alternatives.  In some ways it feels as though it's not MDC-kosher to use the local public schools, but it is consistent with the model of the board to point out that there are alternative approaches out there, often requiring a bit of a hunt to locate.  It just so happens that a lot of MDC families find the right fit in their local, public school.  Issues or points of discussion come up.  The discussion goes here.

[TCMoulton]

And "Other" is not intended for traditional public school, it is for schools that follow models of educations similar to those listed (Reggio Emilia, Sudbury, etc).

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Public school mama right here! 

I just post on the general "Learning at School" forum and find it welcoming. Sometimes it feels like there are a lot of posts about what folks don't like in their children's public education. I think that's the nature of the beast -- folks come here to talk when they have an issue and less so when things are going great, yk? Even so,  there are some good threads that are positive about public school.

And I agree that I read the forum structure to be: 

General "Learning at School" topics go here in this main forum ---> Under that are sub-sections for specific school models that are unique and specialized and required their own section for one reason or another  

If you check some of the other forums, there are others that work this way. BUT, I think there may be a couple that don't have a main forum -- only sub-forums so I can see why you could get confused. I know there's one that always stumps me. 

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by Geofizz 

Under Education is:

Learning at Home

and

Learning at School

Under learning at home, there are a subset of folks who unschool, hence that subcategory.

Under learning at school, there are a subset of discussions focused on Montessori, Waldorf, and other alternative school models

Those subsections don't trump the main forums of LaH and LaS.

Public schooling is learning at school, and therefore belongs right here.  As you'll see, most of the issues discussed on the front page pertain to public school.

Yep. This board is where discussions related to public school belong. Most of the same issues are true for many private schools as well. I don't think the board is busy enough to warrant separating private from public schools.  After all, if you want to discuss how much homework is appropriate in Kindergarten, it really doesn't matter if is a catholic school or a public school. If you want to talk about COOL LUNCH BOXES! it doesn't matter if your children is receiving a traditional education or a progressive education.

The Waldorf and Montessori subfolders can be used by parents attending private schools OR attending charter schools that use the same philosophy. Charter schools and magnet schools don't fall neatly into the neighborhood traditional school model, but they are public schools. The Other folder is for alternative schools, such as the progressive school my kids go to, but that folder is so dead I never bother with it.

There are also threads here by moms weighing their options -- trying to decide between several good options and they like the input of people doing different things. It's nice to have one central spot for those.

We've been a traditional, neighborhood public school family, and I didn't feel marginalized here on Mothering. There are a lot of families here have good experiences with public schools. You are in the right spot -- you just didn't recognize it.

[34me]

Well said LOTM.

[Emmeline II]

Public charter school mama right here! 

Maybe the title of the board could be altered to "Learning at School (Public and Private)" to clarify things for board newcomers .

Originally Posted by IdentityCrisisMama 
 Sometimes it feels like there are a lot of posts about what folks don't like in their children's public education. I think that's the nature of the beast -- folks come here to talk when they have an issue and less so when things are going great, yk? Even so,  there are some good threads that are positive about public school.

  So much so that someone started a thread recently to talk about what the public school parents liked about their school.

[JudiAU]

This is it, the general forum for learning at school. There are also special areas for specific schools.