School
SCHOOL:
Another
of Miranda's friends, and our new neighbor, has a beautiful little
Montessori school in a permaculture garden where she was happy to accept
the boys for the summer. This gives us some time to get work done and
the boys a chance to learn some French. Fisher and Oliver's school is
like a dream. There's this giant permaculture garden with several ponds,
each of which has frogs and fish in it. The ponds create a sort of
"island" in the middle, where trees are planted in a circle. There's a
little bench in this grove of trees. When I took the boys for their
first day, I just sat on the island as they would venture out further
and further before coming back in for a check in. Oliver spent most of
the day trying to catch a frog with a net (he was totally unphased by
failure).
The boys started school- a Montessori program based in a permaculture education center. I’m proud of them for braving the language barrier (none of the students speak English and only a couple of teachers know a few words). But a happy consequence is that they’ve bonded like never before. Drop off’s are understandably rough - but when I come to get them, they don’t want to leave. And I don’t blame them- it might be most beautiful garden I’ve ever seen. The aquaponics are thriving with noisy frogs and blooming lily pads. The pollinator meadows lining the perimeter are always buzzing with dozens of varieties of butterflies and bees. And they’ve grown woven willow shade structures throughout to serve as outdoor classrooms. At 3, Ollie is a pro at using a compost toilet.
I’d never seen an artichoke in full bloom! Inside, their classroom
management styles are way different. No teacher raises their voice-
they have a classroom bell which they ring for attention instead. Any
student can ring this bell at any time if they feel like the volume of
the room is getting too loud for them to concentrate. While they’re at
school I get as much work done as I can (or sometimes I just nap!).
Allen is deep into releasing his first book- more on that soon…Here's a video that someone made of the school. Fisher and Oliver and I appear in it multiple times! check it out!
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