School Visit

Today Vic and I visited Christa McAuliffe School for a tour. Gina has been saying that she want to attend Blue Hills School which is just down the street, but mainly because she is familiar with their play structure. She is now more open to attending either and left me with questions about whether the Kindergarten class has desks (they don't until 1st grade) and if they have a play structure (they do, but not in the kindergarten area).

We ran into Yuka whose daughter Emily will also be starting kindergarten in the fall. It would be cool if Emily and Gina both ended up at the same school but who knows what will happen.

We visited a number of classrooms and had a very knowledgeable tour guide. Jean has four kids, all have attended McAuliffe with the fourth now in seventh grade. So she has been a part of the school for 14 years. She had a lot of good things to say about the school though she was not hesitant to say that the system is not perfect either.

It was very interesting to see the kids at work. In the Kindergarten class, the kids were presenting their stories. Some were short but other were very elaborate. At this age, some kids dictate their stories while the ones that are more advanced do the writing themselves. All the kids were paying close attention. In the third grade class, the kids were giving presentations about the Ohlone Indians. One girl taked about their clothing while the next one talked about their sweat lodges. One thing that we noticed was that the kids didn't seem at all bothered by all the adults standing in the back of the classroom.

One concern Vic and I have is the level of parent participation that is required, especially with the two other kids, though by being in the classroom a lot, we may also have a better feel for how Gina is doing in school. I like their philosophy on homework, they don't give homework just for the sake of having lots of busy work but rather as a way to finish up what wasn't completed during the day or to do things that can't be done during the school day. I also like the fact that it is K through 8th grades. So we will definitely have to think about whether we want to send Gina there.