They get up with excitement and come home with fun tales. Braeden makes a new friend every day. Over the weekend a Mom called to invite him to go ice skating with her daughter, Genevieve. He accepted even though he had never been on ice skates before. She has a twin sister who also invited a friend and the four of them had a blast. Genevieve has two Moms. Casual way for the parents to get to know each other.
This coming Saturday is their Fall Festival with a fun run (for pledges for new outdoor play equipment). Braeden had to ask each person himself ... and first of all, he wanted to FaceTime Aunt Janet. His goal for pledges was $100 and I think he raised $190. The process was a big confidence builder. He normally speaks too quietly so he had to remember to overcome that. He knows his Great Aunt is a sucker for him, so he started off on the right foot ... success!
As important as all of this new social confidence building is for the kids, the Parents are being drawn into the Montessori Family as well. Both of them have anxiety (way up on the ladder of extreme) and never socialize outside of the family. They have to invest 15 hours of time and energy each year so Saturday Kate is painting faces and Jesse is supervising the bouncy house. They can sign up for their time online, with millions of choices ... from providing healthy snacks and flowers, to working in the garden to planning fundraisers. They are fitting in very well.
Sunstone has an adult "mixer" of some sort every month! And they provide child care at the school. We get a weekly email newsletter and a three page, double sided photo recap of the week. Such great communication.
The parents take turns getting them up, fed, dressed and healthy lunches packed. When the boys get home, they empty the many containers from their lunch boxes, empty any leftovers and put the containers in a big bowl of soapy water. Put their lunch boxes in the spot on the kitchen counter, hang up their backpacks and make their own snack. With joy! They rarely ask for screen time. They usually play outside for a good while (sunny and COLD here). Then come in to make things out of cardboard boxes and play GI Joe's. Yesterday they played grocery store. Today they asked for the play dough box (haven't done that for MONTHS).
I just sit back and smile at my investment.
That sounds like a great, caring school. If public schools were allowed to require parents to volunteer time what a difference that could make.
ReplyDeleteI was lucky enough to volunteer weekly at Kate's school. It did make a big difference! My group for spelling looked forward to doing their homework because we had fun reviewing it. One child consistently didn't do homework and told me her Mom said she was too busy watching " " (can't remember which weekly evening soap type show). I called the Mom (our girls hung out together) to verify ... and said you surely do NOT choose TV over education? She started taping her show to watch after the kids went to bed.
DeleteI think Kids want to learn and do a good job. It takes a FAMILY to back up the teachers.
Seems like a wonderful fit for all with the school. I loved volunteering at my kids' schools during their elementary years. Seems like when junior high came along the teachers weren't as willing to have parents in the classroom. I always think it is neat when a child prefers to play outside and creatively rather than wanting screen time. I know when my kids were growing up I kept them busy with this and that toy and tried to limit how much they watched TV or movies on DVD. My objective, LOL, was to get them tired enough that they would nap (when they were napping age) so I had those couple hours to myself :)
ReplyDeletebetty
Of course Kate didn't want me at Jr High but I worked in the office, or chaperoned the lunch room or monitored the computer lab. I was pretty involved at high school as well ... in the background.
DeleteI really do love kids!