Would people be interested in an integrated healthy eating/wellness-oriented charter school?

[Anonymous]

The school you are desribing is Stokes ....with a language component added to it.

[Anonymous]

I think it actually is a bit like what MV is working to achieve too. BUT as a previous post said...shouldn't all schools do that? Health is very important to a successful life!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's a pretty neat idea. Cooking classes are a great way to teach young children math (fractions, division, multiplication, etc.... although they won't help much with derivatives, integration, binomial equations, and other topics found in the upper level mathematics courses of algebra, calculus, trigonometry, and others, lol).

Gardening and physical education classes/activities are a great medium towards teaching children science in a fun manner (biological, anatomical, physiological, etc). It simply depends on how you frame it.

You can also use gardening/nutrition/etc. as a means to explore social studies and geography (e.g. this plant is common to South America. It grows in X region under Y conditions and has X benefits. The people of X country have been using it since 1600 for X,Y, and Z. Animals use this plant as well for food, nesting, etc).

In short, I'd be open to an idea such as your own, and I think it can be great for early childhood learning!

Now I get it: "Home-school Private Charter School"

[Anonymous]

Of course all schools should be doing this. But how much do you know about the foods available to your kid in school? DC actually does reasonably well on this front, at least at the elementary level, but when is the last time you ate a school lunch?

And to the point of the target audience question, while you may be teaching your kids about healthy eating (or at least thinking you are), can you reasonably say that about all the families DCPS serves? What about the at-risk population, many of whom may not have the same access to fruits and vegetables, whole grains or other healthy options you provide?

Our nation has an exploding rate of childhood obesity, not least because kids are not learning about the role of healthy eating and physical activity in a way that is relevant to their lives. And let's face it, kids spend more of their time in school than they do anywhere else, so where better to either teach or reinforce the importance of the issue?

For those of you who read the WaPo article on school lunches in Japan, the administrator's opinion there summed it up. “Japan’s standpoint is that school lunches are a part of education,” Oji said, “not a break from it.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course all schools should be doing this. But how much do you know about the foods available to your kid in school? DC actually does reasonably well on this front, at least at the elementary level, but when is the last time you ate a school lunch?

And to the point of the target audience question, while you may be teaching your kids about healthy eating (or at least thinking you are), can you reasonably say that about all the families DCPS serves? What about the at-risk population, many of whom may not have the same access to fruits and vegetables, whole grains or other healthy options you provide?

Our nation has an exploding rate of childhood obesity, not least because kids are not learning about the role of healthy eating and physical activity in a way that is relevant to their lives. And let's face it, kids spend more of their time in school than they do anywhere else, so where better to either teach or reinforce the importance of the issue?

For those of you who read the WaPo article on school lunches in Japan, the administrator's opinion there summed it up. “Japan’s standpoint is that school lunches are a part of education,” Oji said, “not a break from it.”

Great. Add Japanese immersion and you've probably got a winner of an idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hold the phone!!!
Creative Minds most certainly DOES NOT implement the IB (International Baccalaureate) Program! Instead, it purports to implement the International Early Years and Primary Curriculum which has NOTHING to do with the IB....

Correct. The Creative Minds website says, "Our multifaceted program includes the International Primary Curriculum (IPC), based on Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory," which might be quite lovely but is definitely not the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme http://www.ibo.org/pyp/. In addition to WIS, which has one of the best IB programs in the world (and the IB Diploma Programme for high school students) but of course is also very expensive, there are only 3 other IB PYP programs in DC, and they are all DCPS schools fairly new to the PYP (Cooke, Shepherd, Thompson).

In response to the original question, no, I agree with an earlier poster that wellness/fitness/healthy eating are things I easily tackle with my children at home. I am more interested in high-quality schools with a deeper focus--language immersion, arts, STEM, classics, or a combination of these--or just a fantastic all-around school with no overarching theme.

[Anonymous]

Yu Ying offers the IB PYP and the DCI will offer the MYP and DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hold the phone!!!
Creative Minds most certainly DOES NOT implement the IB (International Baccalaureate) Program! Instead, it purports to implement the International Early Years and Primary Curriculum which has NOTHING to do with the IB....

Correct. The Creative Minds website says, "Our multifaceted program includes the International Primary Curriculum (IPC), based on Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory," which might be quite lovely but is definitely not the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme http://www.ibo.org/pyp/. In addition to WIS, which has one of the best IB programs in the world (and the IB Diploma Programme for high school students) but of course is also very expensive, there are only 3 other IB PYP programs in DC, and they are all DCPS schools fairly new to the PYP (Cooke, Shepherd, Thompson).

In response to the original question, no, I agree with an earlier poster that wellness/fitness/healthy eating are things I easily tackle with my children at home. I am more interested in high-quality schools with a deeper focus--language immersion, arts, STEM, classics, or a combination of these--or just a fantastic all-around school with no overarching theme.

First of all, what is the justification for the assertion that WIS has one of the best IB programs in the world? The notification of that sort of qualitative judgement didn't leap out from the IBO website.

Secondly, Washington Yu Ying is also an IB PYP program, which unlike the DCPS dreck offers a language opportunity as well.

[Anonymous]

Associating with the "my child eats more organic than yours" - raw foods - juicing - Waldorf - homeschooling crowd. Not interested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Associating with the "my child eats more organic than yours" - raw foods - juicing - Waldorf - homeschooling crowd. Not interested.

How would a Waldorf child pass the DC-CAS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Associating with the "my child eats more organic than yours" - raw foods - juicing - Waldorf - homeschooling crowd. Not interested.

How would a Waldorf child pass the DC-CAS?

PP here. Not that passing the DC-CAS is the be-all/end-all, but if a public school doesn't post the numbers, how does it continue to get the funding?

[Anonymous]

It doesn't. The Waldorf charter effort failed a couple of years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hold the phone!!!
Creative Minds most certainly DOES NOT implement the IB (International Baccalaureate) Program! Instead, it purports to implement the International Early Years and Primary Curriculum which has NOTHING to do with the IB....

Correct. The Creative Minds website says, "Our multifaceted program includes the International Primary Curriculum (IPC), based on Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory," which might be quite lovely but is definitely not the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme http://www.ibo.org/pyp/. In addition to WIS, which has one of the best IB programs in the world (and the IB Diploma Programme for high school students) but of course is also very expensive, there are only 3 other IB PYP programs in DC, and they are all DCPS schools fairly new to the PYP (Cooke, Shepherd, Thompson).

In response to the original question, no, I agree with an earlier poster that wellness/fitness/healthy eating are things I easily tackle with my children at home. I am more interested in high-quality schools with a deeper focus--language immersion, arts, STEM, classics, or a combination of these--or just a fantastic all-around school with no overarching theme.

First of all, what is the justification for the assertion that WIS has one of the best IB programs in the world? The notification of that sort of qualitative judgement didn't leap out from the IBO website.

Secondly, Washington Yu Ying is also an IB PYP program, which unlike the DCPS dreck offers a language opportunity as well.

Yu Ying is in the process of applying to be an IB school. It says on its website that it not an IB school yet, but is "in the earliest stages of this process." Accordingly, it is not listed on the IB website as a PYP school.

I have no opinion on whether the 3 IB DCPS schools are "dreck," although it's certainly an uncharitable and unsupported opinion (speaking of unsupported opinions), but they are IB schools, so the OP might want to visit them.

WIS: IB test results for their students (most of whom get not just the IB diploma but a bilingual IB diploma) are excellent, as is their international reputation. Among my colleagues, whose children have attended at least 2-3 dozen international and UN schools around the world, the reputation of WIS places it in the top tier anywhere, not just in the US. But that is neither here not there; I was simply providing information for the OP, who--if he/she really wants to pursue an IB PYP school--might want to start there with her research even though it is a private school.

[Anonymous]

With the exception of the farm-to-school cooperative, Mundo Verde is already doing most of what you describe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With the exception of the farm-to-school cooperative, Mundo Verde is already doing most of what you describe.

Demand > supply.