I may end up going the private school route because I don't want the school to have any obligations to the state of Illinois, which is falling apart as we speak. The school system here is atrocious.
Just ate supper after a great group chat with Illinois Senator (running for governor) Darren Bailey and his wife. He was kind enough to talk with my Speakeasy Facebook group about what is going on in the schools, current legislation, and where we go from here.
As it turns out, I think I know how to start the school. At first it will be a once a week co-op for local parents out of my Studio once I get situated in my new commercial space. Then I will grow it from there. It will most likely be a private school. Once it gets going, I will likely have to incorporate it as a 5013c so parents can get a tax credit for tuition.
Already planning to have the library in the space as well. My next step is finding the right space.
I was wondering whether you were considering a gradual option of after-school lessons and programs and such, eventually scaling up to a full-blown school. That might give you the chance to start conservative and test things.
Just having professional tutors sitting with kids and helping them with their homework would be really huge for those kids' lives. I grew up with school being a respite from a stressful and unhappy home, but my school was crowded and over-centralized, so something in between might help.
Also, maybe check the rules on your parking lot, so if you need to expand, you can do so with "T-buildings". My school used those. They're basically drive up and plop down mobile homes, little wooden houses on temporary platforms. We heated and air conditioned ours with window units and that worked well enough.
That sounds like an amazing project! We were tangentially involved in a similar venture, starting up a daycare after Hurricane Katrina when there were no child care centers open in the entire city (it's named after the goddess Abeona). It's still going strong 15 years later and I have very fond memories of my kids' years in that place.
Thank you! I am going to do a post about the Appleseed School and I do hope you'll both chime in. I need all the help I can get. I don't have children (I chose not to have them many years ago and had myself sterilized to ensure my own wishes at age 31) but I adore children and obviously want the best for the ones in my area of the world.
I'm thinking I'll start by offering a free after-school course in discursive meditation for kids, mask-free of course. Would any of you be able to help me design the curriculum?
I don't know as much about curriculum as homeschoolers likely do, but I'm happy to help think through and review things. The school we were involved in was early childcare (12 weeks through 5 years) and was based on the Reggio Emilia approach: https://www.education.com/magazine/article/Reggio_Emilia/. My kids have also gone to a French immersion/French curriculum public charter school (also a startup and we were there in the first few years of its operation) and regular, urban public schools. Both are centralized, top-down approaches--set by the French government in the first instance and our state government in the second--so I have some sense of what can work well and what can be pretty horrible.
In addition to curriculum, I think it will be VERY important to consider governing structure, who gets a voice, teacher's rights, etc.. JMG has mentioned pitfalls like entryism, and schools seem to bring out the crazy in people...
Let's talk about this! I was in the early planning stages for a program where I'd be teaching basic meditation and ecological thinking (somewhat inspired by the blend of theory+technique in JMG's Mystery Teachings from the Living Earth) to 10-14 year-olds this summer. The larger program, that this was to be part of, got cancelled due to *the food service operator* having Covid panic four months in advance (!), but it's still a project that's dear to my heart.
More when I can. Be well. And feel free to direct message me via Dreamwidth about this if you'd like.
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Re: About the school
Re: About the school
As it turns out, I think I know how to start the school. At first it will be a once a week co-op for local parents out of my Studio once I get situated in my new commercial space. Then I will grow it from there. It will most likely be a private school. Once it gets going, I will likely have to incorporate it as a 5013c so parents can get a tax credit for tuition.
Already planning to have the library in the space as well. My next step is finding the right space.
Re: About the school
Just having professional tutors sitting with kids and helping them with their homework would be really huge for those kids' lives. I grew up with school being a respite from a stressful and unhappy home, but my school was crowded and over-centralized, so something in between might help.
Also, maybe check the rules on your parking lot, so if you need to expand, you can do so with "T-buildings". My school used those. They're basically drive up and plop down mobile homes, little wooden houses on temporary platforms. We heated and air conditioned ours with window units and that worked well enough.
Re: About the school
(Anonymous) 2021-04-30 01:52 pm (UTC)(link)Re: About the school
Re: About the school
I'm thinking I'll start by offering a free after-school course in discursive meditation for kids, mask-free of course. Would any of you be able to help me design the curriculum?
Re: About the school
(Anonymous) 2021-05-01 12:47 pm (UTC)(link)In addition to curriculum, I think it will be VERY important to consider governing structure, who gets a voice, teacher's rights, etc.. JMG has mentioned pitfalls like entryism, and schools seem to bring out the crazy in people...
Re: About the school
Re: About the school
Let's talk about this! I was in the early planning stages for a program where I'd be teaching basic meditation and ecological thinking (somewhat inspired by the blend of theory+technique in JMG's Mystery Teachings from the Living Earth) to 10-14 year-olds this summer. The larger program, that this was to be part of, got cancelled due to *the food service operator* having Covid panic four months in advance (!), but it's still a project that's dear to my heart.
More when I can. Be well. And feel free to direct message me via Dreamwidth about this if you'd like.
Re: About the school