Los Angeles area Kindergarten - Page 4

[luv2write]

difference b/t school districts

we are also considering public schools, but are not sure how good each district is. any info concerning los angeles, santa monica, and culver city school districts? there is a language school in culver city that looked great online, but ALL schools look great online. we will not be on campus for a year, so we are relatively open to where we will live. public school is an option, and then we will be able to apply to charter/private schools in the fall.

[Melaniee]

I just wanted to thank everyone for the wealth of information in this thread!! We're looking at preschools for the Fall...though most you mention are way out of our geographical area, it's fascinating to hear of all this research.

We're leaning towards Waldorf and praying for Financial Aid and giving Thanks for Tax Returns.


What I know of Chime Charter is that it was started (or maybe initiated) by parents who's child with development disabiilities was not admitted to a Waldorf School. I don't know that they remotely follow any Waldorf-like philosophies though (anyone?). It's my very basic understanding is that the principle of the school is to integrate children with developmental disabilities with unaffected children. I know little else about it.

[luv2write]

flying to l.a.

we are flying to l.a. mid-february in order to tour a couple of schools who are still having open enrollment. we are also going to talk to a few administrators at several of the elementary schools in santa monica to get a "feel" for the school environments. one of our considerations was finding a school that would have room for our soon-to-be second grader and our emerging kindergarten. whereas here on the east coast, our youngest misses the cut-off for kindergarten, and kindergarten in our particular school district is 1/2-day. we were looking at 1 more year of paying for preschool, and 1/2 year of paying for a program before or after kindergarten. it was exciting for all of us to learn that he not only makes the age cut-off for certain schools, but that kindergarten is full-day. since the disparity in cost of living is dramatic, i will most likely have to work (for at least a year), so having a program that accepts both children, full-time, is well welcomed.
thanks for all of the helpful info, and i will report on my findings by the beginning of march.

[applejuice]

[

[Lisa Ginsburg]

Westside Waldorf

Hi there,
I'm Lisa and I have a 3 year old active and energetic son who doesn't like circle time at the moment.

I'm enjoying everyone's post about kindergarten around LA. I have some time but it's good to know what's available out there.

What do you all know about Westside Waldorf in SM? I am thinking the nursery program there. Is it worth it?

Would appreciate if you have other tips on home preschools (Waldorf, Reggio, or Montessori) around LA that you like.

Also, are there good montessori schools around here? I know there are at least 3 in Culver City.

Thanks very much,
Lisa

p.s: the mama who applied to UES. Did you get in? My La Leche League leader sends her two kids there.

[elyice]

larchmont charter

There's a new charter school in town. It's opening next semester
Near larchmont

Here's the website,
LARCHMONT CHARTER SCHOOL

I really like this :
The mission of Larchmont Charter School is to provide an experience-centered, inquiry-based learning environment that enables each student to meet the academic challenges of secondary school as well as the social, emotional, and physical challenges of life in and beyond the school walls

Our vision is a parent-initiated neighborhood school that is creative, diverse, academically challenging and emotionally nurturing. Ours will be a school that embraces and celebrates the diversity of languages and cultures in our urban environment while retaining the close-knit feel of a neighborhood school. We hope to relieve overcrowding and offer families an alternative choice within LAUSD.

Larchmont Charter's educational program is being designed to:

• serve the whole child and foster a lifelong commitment to intellectual exploration, individual growth, and social responsibility;

• embrace, celebrate and benefit from the diversity of our community and promote family, school, and community partnerships;

• respect, support and empower teachers by providing time for reflection, collaboration and action research focused on student learning.

Larchmont Charter will strive to have the essential combination of a research-based, innovative curriculum, parent involvement in school governance and excellent test scores. It will emphasize constructivism in student learning. This form of pedagogy has been supported by research for more than 60 years and has been used in successful schools across the country:

Open Magnet Charter School

Seeds

Willows

PS One

Wildwood

Calhoun (in NY)

Dalton (in NY)

BB&N - Buckingham, Browne & Nichols (in MA)

Those of us who have seen the learning in action have found it to be incredibly inspiring.

Larchmont Charter's educational philosophy will be progressive, hands-on and experience-based. Children, particularly in the lower grades, will use concrete manipulatives and experiential learning. Our philosophy draws on the work of John Dewey, Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, and Lev Vygotsky. Students will receive differentiated instruction in response to their different interests and strengths. Our main vision involves a process navigated by aligning students' curiosities and questions with academic standards while children learn through the medium of their own experiences.

Community and Family Participation: The participation of families and the surrounding community is critical in meeting the needs of the whole child.

Parent/Child Workshops: Larchmont Charter teachers and parents will hold free, informal meetings in locations throughout the community (i.e., churches, homes, community centers) in order to help educate parents. The meetings will introduce parents to concepts such as �balanced literacy,� and give parents an awareness of the skills that will ease their child's path to literacy.

For parents of school-aged children, we will offer workshops to demonstrate activities that parents and children can do together to improve learning. For example, one workshop series will focus on �dialogic reading,� where the parent does not simply read while the child listens but instead asks the child increasingly complex questions. Another workshop will discuss parents' ideas for games with children that develop phonological awareness (i.e., rhyming games, word games, songs that develop children's sensitivity to the sounds that make up words).

As children move through the school, they too will participate in workshops designed to engage them actively as tutors of their younger peers.

Parent Education: Consistent with our mission to establish a �community of learners,� we will offer parent-taught workshops for other parents in the Larchmont Charter community on such varied topics as financial literacy, mathematics, technology, carpentry, cooking, crafts, and mechanics. Additionally, we intend to form partnerships with organizations such as Even Start and Parents as Teachers in order to support parents in developing their own literacy skills, completing their GED or graduate school work, learning English, and other subjects of interest to parents.

Family Advisory Committee: As a parent-initiated and founded school, we believe strongly in the role of parents in decision-making for our school. All parents of children enrolled in Larchmont Charter will be members of the school's Family Advisory Committee (FAC). At least one elected member of the FAC will represent the group on the Board of Directors, in addition to the Founding Parents who initially will serve on the Board. Parent representatives will be involved in school decisions ranging from budgeting, to staff recruitment and hiring, to curriculum.

[FeministFatale]

elyice -- Did you apply to ****? We applied, we are number 15 on the wait list for Kindergarten.

[elyice]

no, i applied for seeds and am waiting until sunday for a answer.
But really My dd goes to Kinder in the next year- seeds starts with prek.
I live in the valley so Larchmont is waaay far.

[Amoreena]

Free To Learn Charter School, Thousand Oaks CA

Originally Posted by Melaniee

We're looking at preschools for the Fall...though most you mention are way out of our geographical area, it's fascinating to hear of all this research.

Hi Melanieeeeeee :-) ... fancy meeting you here!

Do you know about the new charter being put together in TO? The first organizational meeting is this Thursday evening. 6:30pm to 8:30pm in Westlake Village. Law office of Diedre Wachbrit. 4035 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Ste. 235. "If you are interested in creating the best possible learning environment for your elementary-aged son or daughter, Free to Learn, Inc. needs your valuable input. We encourage you to take advantage of this unique opportunity to create an alternative to the current public and private school options. Bring your questions and your ideas with you, and we will team up together to address them for the good of our children."

To R.S.V.P. call Linda at The Law Office of Diedre Wachbrit, APC
805-778-0600 by April 5, 2005.

Another southern Californian checking out the options,

[Melaniee]

Thank you. I do know about it.

In the last 3 months since I've posted we've made our decision. Though I sent Dh the email about the meeting this week asking if he minded if I go and his response, "Why? I thought we'd already committed to another school?" LOL. I guess men shop for schools like they do pants. I, on the other hand, like to try on everything before deciding. Anyway, I am still interested in knowing about it, but can't go to the meeting this week. I'm keeping my ear to the ground though. It sounds exciting to me. We are also excited about the school we chose, but you never know...

Thanks again!

ETA: with a Sept. Due date, we're actually starting Ds in school in a few weeks! To get him used to the idea without baby here. It hasn't hit me yet as I'm still going through enrollment hoops & stress, but I'll be the mom bawling down the freeway on the way I'm sure.

[Amoreena]

The charter school info meeting got pushed to May 12. So maybe you'll be able to go, Melaniee.

[FeministFatale]

I just wanted to come back here and thank whomever it was that suggested *****. We got an email a week ago telling us that my dd got off the waiting list and has been accepted into kindergarten for the fall. I'm so excited, it sounds like it's going to be great!

[elyice]

wooohoo I am thrilled for you.
Please keep us updated on what it's like etc!
I hope it works out great

[FeministFatale]

Hi everyone, I just wanted to give an update about the school that my daughter is now going to. She is going to Kindergarten at Larchmont Charter School and we are SOOOOO happy with it. This school is so incredibly amazing and my daughter loves it so much more than I ever could have imagined. They have enrichment classes afterschool and my daughter loves the school so much that she wants to take one for everyday of the week. This is the same girl who always had trouble at any preschools and classes she used to take. She didn't ever want me to leave her there. But yeah, Larchmont Charter School is so amazing. It's actually in Hollywood, not Larchmont at the moment, on Fairfax and Fountain. I think it has a relatively long wait-list right now, that is getting longer by the minute, now that the word is getting out about how great this school is. The teachers are all amazing. Everyday during school they have an enrichment activity, on Mondays it's physical education, Tues. it's Art, Wed. is Music, Thurs. is Drama, and there is another one that I'm forgetting. Afterschool they have these great classes like my daughter is taking a Create Your Own Superhero class, as well as a Fun with Trinkets class, and this week she is starting a Radio Club class where the students write and produce their own radio play. Amazing people teach the classes, there are just amazing people abound at this school. The school has a perfect balance of structured and unstructured learning. So anyway, there is my raving review of Larchmont. I didn't know that we could have possibly found such a great school, and that it would be free.