Alfie Kohn inspired school

[californiajenn]

Is there a school(s) that Alfie Kohn approves of overall. In fact, where does his daughter go?

[californiajenn]

Bump...

[annethcz]

Does he send his kids to school?

If I had to venture a guess, he'd probably be more in favor of democratic schools.

[TortelliniMama]

Originally Posted by annethcz

Does he send his kids to school?

Pat Farenga (from John Holt Associates) did a homeschooling talk in our area and mentioned that he's met/knows Alfie Kohn, and Kohn isn't big on homeschooling at all, so I'd guess his kids go to school of some sort.

[Bleu]

This is way indirect, but on Kohn's website, there's the text of a speech he gave to some kind of association of independent schools. If you could look that up there might be some listing of schools that participated in that conference (which I believe was national - U.S.). HTH.

Also: recently when I was investigating independent schools in my area I found one where the head of school's letter to the parents included quotes from Alfie Kohn. Naturally, my interest went from casual to very very serious immediately. So that'd be a good clue, too, if there are local schools you already know you want to check out. Likewise, if they include quotes from some so-called expert that is the anti-Alfie Kohn, you'll know something then, too. We should start a thread of those, eh?

[alison_in_oh]

His book The Schools Our Children Deserve describes "progressive education" as an ideal. There's a list of such schools on Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_progressivism

[Bleu]

Yeah - Progressive Education is what the unifying idea of the conf was. Thanks for the lnaguage on that, because I sure wasn't remembering that when I posted!

I can't overstate this, though: many, many, MANY schools embrace "progressive ideas". Arguably, most schools. How the progressive ideas are implemented varies widely and - not that they're lying, but - schools just don't articulate this well about themselves. You gotta go there, observe the classroom many times, breathe the air, listen to the kids, listen to the teachers, talk to the parents, etc.

I mean if you asked a school, "Do you believe in [the following bullet list from that Wiki entry]?" What school would say "No"?

• Emphasis on learning by doing – hands-on projects, experiential learning
• Integrated curriculum focused on thematic units
• Strong emphasis on problem solving and critical thinking
• Group work and development of social skills
• Understanding and action as the goals of learning as opposed to rote knowledge
• Collaborative and cooperative learning projects
• Education for social responsibility and democracy
• Integration of community service and service learning projects into the daily curriculum
• Selection of subject content by looking forward to ask what skills will be needed in future society
• De-emphasis on textbooks in favor of varied learning resources
• Emphasis on life-long learning and social skills
• Assessment by evaluation of child’s projects and productions

But if you actually go to the school, tere's the school that features lots of worksheets punctuated by "cooking" where the students watch the teachers make the goody and then get to eat some, versus the school with the roomful of child-sized real tool. And I'm talking about two real well-regarded schools that I have observed.

That's just one bullet-point. I could fill in with irl examples of all the other ones, too. Schools love to think they support critical thinking, but in reality, it's a pain in the ass for teachers to tolerate. It is the rare classroom that has the resources and willingness to let a kid really think critically.

[momatheart23]

Honestly I think my kids school fully incorporates everything that Alfie Kohn talks about. My boys go to a school in Roseville, CA which is a suburb of Sacramento, and it was started by Bev Bos who is also a nationally known leader in the early childhood education world. They truly do everything on that list, the kids learn hands on in everything, math is always related to real world concepts, art materials are presented in a free open way, children write and illustrate their own books, based on whatever they want to write about. Conflicts are worked out by empowering the children to speak out and use their voice. They have over 2 hours of choice time a day, it is a
co-op school so the children all have lots of great adults they are connected to. They go on family camping trips twice a year, have an end of the year ropes course, parent led workshops, so many great things it is hard to mention them all.

The website is

http://yourrcs.org/cms/

Sorry for the long post, but I found this school last year and pulled my son out of his old school right away, because he was so miserable, and now he is thriving, and I finally feel like I have a school who supports and goes beyond my parenting, instead of undermining it.

[Bleu]

Fabulous! Thanks for posting about that! If there are any associations your kids' school belongs to (so that we could find similar schools) you should mention them if you have a chance. I'm glad for you that it was such a great match for your kid.

[Momily]

Bleu,

My kid's school is Expeditionary Learning and I'd say that their core principles are very much in line with the list posted.

[dancingmama]

Bleu,

This is a description of our school... it's a public magnet, and an Open School. We adore it. You might find some benefit for looking for "open school" or "open classroom" or "open education" in your area...

http://aaopen.a2schools.org/aaopen.h...ann_arbor_open

[Bleu]

Hey, thanks, mamas, I'd never heard of either of those types of schools. It's amazing how much is out there that you don't know about until you talk to the right people.

[muse]

ooh, a school we are considering for ds (but which we can't really afford) is on that wiki list. we are in waldorf right now and not having a positive experience. i turn to alfie kohn for support and for reminders of what kids needs and i wonder, what were we thinking...

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by TortelliniMama

Pat Farenga (from John Holt Associates) did a homeschooling talk in our area and mentioned that he's met/knows Alfie Kohn, and Kohn isn't big on homeschooling at all, so I'd guess his kids go to school of some sort.

His position has somewhat relaxed on that over the years. He was one of the keynote speakers at a conference put on by the HomeSchool Association of California a few years back. Here's an interesting interview a family therapist who homeschools did with him on how to apply his Unconditiional Parenting ideas within a homeschooling situation. But yes, he's definitely not a homeschooler himself. - Lillian

[jeteaa]

Originally Posted by momatheart23

Honestly I think my kids school fully incorporates everything that Alfie Kohn talks about. My boys go to a school in Roseville, CA which is a suburb of Sacramento, and it was started by Bev Bos who is also a nationally known leader in the early childhood education world. They truly do everything on that list, the kids learn hands on in everything, math is always related to real world concepts, art materials are presented in a free open way, children write and illustrate their own books, based on whatever they want to write about. Conflicts are worked out by empowering the children to speak out and use their voice. They have over 2 hours of choice time a day, it is a
co-op school so the children all have lots of great adults they are connected to. They go on family camping trips twice a year, have an end of the year ropes course, parent led workshops, so many great things it is hard to mention them all.

The website is

http://yourrcs.org/cms/

Sorry for the long post, but I found this school last year and pulled my son out of his old school right away, because he was so miserable, and now he is thriving, and I finally feel like I have a school who supports and goes beyond my parenting, instead of undermining it.

What is the tuition? I checked out the web site.... looks like a wonderful school.