School Struggle

I struggle with schooling for my older child. He is alot like me. Okay, a ton like me. But not on the expressive side. I am fine in this area. He is really, really, really reserved. Unless you get him going on something he is really interested in. Then you can't get him to stop.

It makes me wonder if I can find somewhere else for his schooling that is a better fit. He does go to a school that is somewhat based on Howard Gardiner's Multiple Intelligence theories. But it seems to have gotten away from that due to red tape and obligatory testing (if they want state funding). But he is not happy, and not blossoming as well as he could. And he is miserable in many ways and so often sad. It breaks my heart. I know he is really bright and his teachers are aware too, but unable to really facilitate his learning because they have their 'curriculum' to follow.
I came across the following, which pretty much sums up some things about how I feel traditional schools work for many kids, as children need to learn many things that don't come from a book....

The Animal School

Once upon a time, the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of a "new world". They adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals took all the subjects.

The duck was excellent in swimming, in fact better than his instructor, but he made only passing grades in flying and was very poor in running. Since he was slow in running, he had to stay after school and also drop swimming in order to practice running. This was kept up until his webbed feet were badly worn and he was only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school so nobody worried about that except the duck.

The rabbit started at the top of the class in running, but had a nervous breakdown because of so much make-up work in swimming.

The squirrel was excellent in climbing until he developed frustration in the flying class where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of from the treetop down. He also developed a "Charlie horse" from overexertion and then got a C in climbing and a D in running.

The eagle was a problem child and was disciplined severely. In the climbing class he beat all the others to the top of the tree, but insisted on using his own way to get there.

At the end of the year, an abnormal eel that could swim exceedingly well, and also run, climb and fly a little, had the highest average and was valedictorian.

The prairie dog stayed out of school and fought the tax levy because the administration would not add digging and burrowing to the curriculum. They apprenticed their children to a badger and later joined the groundhogs and gophers to start a successful private school.

Author unknown

Things I think one should learn in school: not everyone can or should do everything. It is good to have some excel at some things and not others... this is not bad! It is reality. Sudbury Valley School has things right I think. I wish he could go there.

Reading this recent article in Psychology Today was really helpful for convincing Adam that SVS is great.