Week 11 Community

Welcome back to our blog. The response to last week's blog has been phenomenal. Thanks so much to those of you who wrote to us. One responder is a former superintendent of schools. He forwarded our entry on to some folks involved in public education in North Carolina and beyond. Their discussion was really interesting and the feedback very affirming. How fun for our little blog to travel so far.

This week we want to talk a little about the importance of being a member of a community- our Little School community as well as the larger Hillsborough community that we are so much a part of. We would like to talk about both pieces. This week we are going to just cover our school community.

The Little School, from its inception, has existed to serve the needs of families living in the Hillsborough community. We thought very carefully about how we would define that service for ourselves. As most of you know, the Little School was created out of our need for high quality child care for our own children. When we considered what constitutes "High quality child care" we were clear that only a holistic approach that addresses the needs of the entire family within the context of the larger community would do . As we have discussed in previous blog entries, we are interested in taking a relational approach that goes beyond the superficial to a deeper level of knowing each other, a not only nutritional perspective with regard to our meal plan but also a local and organic perspective that also serves and respects our physical environment, and an ever evolving curricular perspective. This is not just something we purport on our website, it is how we live and run our business.

One way that our devotion to this principle is displayed in our school is founded in our Reggio-Emilia philosophy. The Reggio approach is a "come as you are" approach that encourages not only an acceptance of the person as they are, but also an honesty in how we translate ourselves into our environment. When we are happy at The Little School we celebrate- and LOUDLY. When we are sad we cry- and LOUDLY. This seems so fundamental, and yet, it is so very often that parents touring the school tell us that our school feels more alive than
other schools they have visited. They tell us about other environments where the children seem quiet, and even subdued. If you know children, than you know that children are not naturally subdued or quiet!

We think that it is too often that artificial emotional parameters are placed on us as people and this, unfortunately includes our children. If you are told to sit quietly in your chair all day long you learn to do so. The fact that your heart may be singing out has no impact on the outward translation. Similarly, even when we are heartbroken we learn to follow the rules and respond emotionally to the imposition of the rule. Sit quietly looks the same no matter how we feel.

We reject this approach entirely! The children at The Little School are encouraged not only to express themselves, but to also LISTEN to others as they express themselves. Go figure! The product is a louder, more emotionally authentic environment which in turn creates a more authentic school-wide community.

What a blessing!

Similarly, when parents arrive at the school we observe a transition in their demeanors as well. Parents who might at first arrive feeling like it is their responsibility to always sound intelligent and look polished and neat soon find themselves volunteering to be a lunch helpers in jeans and t-shirts. They say that they are coming to support their children (which they are, of course) but we suspect that they also volunteer so that they can be in the classroom playing, and singing, and digging in the sandbox. There is nothing better than seeing an adult play like a child.

Is there such attraction to the authenticity because it is rare in our grown-up
worlds?

One dad debated with us for three years about the benefits of a food fight at lunch in our preschool room- especially on spaghetti day. We eventually convinced him to choose a different avenue of his world where he worked as an epidemiologist, that nothing was as much fun as his drop-off time with his kids in the morning.

In fact, another dad told us today that he would wake in the morning excited to get to the school for the fifteen minutes that he got to spend in one of classrooms before going to work. He said that he knew more about the other children in his daughter's class than he did about his co-workers. He said that it was easier to get to know them because they were willing to share who they really are.

Maybe a food fight isn't such a bad idea in the greater scheme of things! We know that we feel much more alive and connected to others when we have played and laughed (or cried) together in a genuine and authentic way.

More on this topic to come...

In lieu of a Glimpse we have an opportunity:
We are inviting all of our families to help us to raise money for
the Hillsborough Police Department and their K-9 Unit. There is a demonstration on Saturday, May 30th from 10-12. There will be snacks for sale as well as opportunities to interact with the dogs. The goal for the event is to raise a total of $1,600 for body armor for two of the dogs. Any additional money will be put aside to purchase a new dog when one of the current dogs retires next year. We think that this is a great way for us to easily respond to the needs of our community. We look forward to many more in the future. Please let us know if you are interested in supporting this event. We will be collecting money at the school. I realize that these are difficult financial times but if we each give $4 we can raise this money for the Hillsborough Police Department.