What sort of school?

[avocado]

Hi, I have a three year old so am planning ahead here. I wondered what schools you send you children to, how good they are generally and specifically how supportive they are of your childs veganism.

I have been looking at different education systems since my childs birth and am wanting to start a parent run learning co-operative (sort of like home-schooling but with a big group of people) and wonder if anyone has any experience with this kind of thing. I am also interested in what works for people or fails them in the schools they have chosen for their children or went to themselves.

The school I am interested in setting up wouldn't be strictly vegan but the communal meals would have to suit everyone which makes those meals vegan by default - and possibly onion and garlic free and wheat free! Vegan freindly is what I require and for him to not be the ONLY vegan at school. Also a whole lot of other stuff about enjoying learning but that would take a while to go into!

[ConsciousCuisine]

You sound like a great Mommy

My daughter has been through it all and I am happy to say that she is at a Cooperative Charter School that is very vegan-friendly and supportive of her (our) lifestyle.

I initially became a preschool teacher because I wanted her to have a learning environment and social interaction with me nearby to guide and protect It worked out well.

Best of luck to you and your lucky child! I am off to teach yoga so I have to go...

[Peas'nHominy]

Hi avocado!
I homeschooled my children for many years, but I've had to place them in a school this year due to some circumstances which have left me without the necessary time to continue homeschooling. (bummer )

Living where I do, there is NO WAY I'd put my children in a public school. Some school districts are good...but not this one! So, I had to turn to a private school. The one my kids are attending this year is very good. I checked out such things as IOWA test scores, the manners of the employees and the children, the school's philosophy, the appearance of the building and the grounds, the textbooks and materials being utilized, and the approachability, availability and cooperativness of the school office employees. I also took into consideration what extras where being offered, like piano lessons.

While my children are attending there this year, I make it a point to ask them how their day was, not only as one of several ways to keep closely connected to my kids, but also to know if any problems or issues develop. I have been pleased to experience that the teachers contact me even before my children do with any kinds of concerns at all, whether it be academics or social issues.

It is a relatively small school, so the teacher to child ratio is amazing! Several of the teachers are vegetarian, and a couple are lacto-intolerant. Dietary requirements for my children have not been a problem. They have a "regular lunch program" but there are enough students and teachers with special requirements so my kids do not feel at all awkward or different.

The school is also very on-line. At any time I can go on-line and know exactly what grades my children are making, what homework assignments there are for the week, and I can e-mail discussions with each teacher regularly.

I make sure that I attend the weekly parent-teacher meetings as well as just the school-wide meetings. There are ways for parents to help and be more involved, too (I just can't do that one yet, otherwise I could probably just continue to homeschool anyway).

Well, that is what I am doing this year. I think your co-op idea would be wonderful. You could homeschool, have a support team of other parents, social events for the children, etc etc. It is wonderful and so important that you are putting so much thought into this issue for you little sweetie.

[avocado]

To CC. I am in Australia and have not heard of a Co-operative charter school (although I can probably guess that it is the kind of thing I am interested in). Could you possibly post some links with more info? thankyou it sounds great. To Peas and Hominy, Although I like the idea of homeschooling what I really want is something that really is a group thing, leaving some time for parents to go off to earn an income etc, but also keeping them heavily involved, hopefully best of both worlds? Thanks for your responses.

[Peas'nHominy]

One thing you might want to look into - there are different ways to "homeschool". There are groups that get together. One parent might teach one subject to all the kids, for example. There are some homeschool organizations that provide teachers for certain subjects, so it's more of a combination of private school/homeschool.

Have fun looking around.

[psychocandy]

We are planning to home educate our child. Some websites i have found useful so far are

http://www.education-otherwise.org/


http://www.muddlepuddle.co.uk/

[Tigerlily]

Most likely public school for any of my future kids. My boyfriend doesn't want to them to go private schools because they'll be "spoiled snobs".

[Mr Flibble]

i can tell you don't live in the UK tigerlily

[Cherry]

Hhmm. Can we tell you went to a posh public school Mr F? I get in a muddle with public, private, independent etc... but I think that could be cos a few miles away in Scotland a public school is called a private school and a state school is a public school

[psychocandy]

Yeah I get a tad mixed up with the titles of schools these days. I went to a state school though.

[Sheila]

Most likely public school for any of my future kids. My boyfriend doesn't want to them to go private schools because they'll be "spoiled snobs".

Tigerlily,

I went to private schools my whole life and I was never a spoiled snob. Tell your BF it's possible! (Though I have known some real b*tches in school)

Sheila