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

[Anonymous]

After many years in the non-profit/foundation sector, with a special focus on early childhood education and nutrition, I'm intrigued by the process of starting a charter school. My ideal would be an IB curriculum, combined with a particular focus on health, physical activity, and wellness, including teaching kids about cooking, sustainability and healthy foods (including an intensive school gardening program and farm-to-school cooperative).

I know the founder of Yu-Ying (this is not about her or the school, so please refrain from side-tracking), and I know how all-consuming and difficult it can be to be a school founder. But given the massive appetite for high quality charters, as well as what I think would be an interest in this particular concept, I'd be intrigued to talk with others who might want to be involved.

Do you think there would be an interest? How does one get started? Advice and feedback welcomed!

[Anonymous]

You might look at Walker Jones, they have a very sizable garden and do a lot of integrated curriculum with the garden as well as public/private partnerships

[Anonymous]

So a charter school devoted to Home Ec? I'll pass.

[Anonymous]

OP, this sounds like a great idea. STEM-obsessed parents (and grantors!) could buy it as a plant biology/ecology focus. It seems very "whole child"-focused as well.

[Anonymous]

Academia Alergia! Where all the hypochondriacs can send their diet-challenged children! No nuts? No grains? No GMOs? NO PROBLEM!

[Anonymous]

This would not interest me. I want my children to learn how to read, write, and do math. These other things are important, but I wouldn't want them to be the focus. Wellness, activity, healthy eating, and environmental stewardship are all values that I will instill at home.

[Anonymous]

OP here. You all seem to have missed that the curriculum would be International Baccalaureate focused (same as in use by Creative Minds). Per 09:46 comment, the idea would be to integrate wellness, health and physical activity in with a rigorous curriculum, especially with an eye toward math, science and social science.

[Anonymous]

Isn't MV doing a "green" thing?

[Anonymous]

Why can't there be a good overall school without any gimmicks or hooks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't MV doing a "green" thing?

Yes, MV has a sustainability focus, along with an emphasis on healthy foods, cooking and a gardening program. The curriculum is expeditionary learning and Spanish immersion.

That doesn't mean a new school could open with an IB curriculum and similar focus.

[Anonymous]

I feel that you're asking the wrong question. You should not ask what the school should be (whatever the new "it" may be) but who it should serve. DCPS and Charters confounded, don't we all focus on health, nutrition, sustainability these days? It's something of a mainstreamed aspect that belongs into every school. Some do better at it, some less well. But there are a great many schools that have wonderful school gardens, wetlands, partnerships with the Youth Garden at the Aboretum etc. It sounds to me a bit like you don't know your "market" very well here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. You all seem to have missed that the curriculum would be International Baccalaureate focused (same as in use by Creative Minds). Per 09:46 comment, the idea would be to integrate wellness, health and physical activity in with a rigorous curriculum, especially with an eye toward math, science and social science.

Go for it, it's not like we don't need more good schools!

Just be aware that "green" and "IB" don't necessarily have the same cachet, when you don't have the big money backing of a corporation (or foundation or whatever Stanley Greenspan's estate is funding). To lure enough higher SES Washington parents, you probably have to throw in a language. There seems to be no end to the desire for Spanish.

[Anonymous]

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 (and which, in my opinion, is a disingenuous attempt to fool people into thinking they're getting the IB) Please remember to be an educated consumer when researching curricular options.

[Anonymous]

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!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. You all seem to have missed that the curriculum would be International Baccalaureate focused (same as in use by Creative Minds). Per 09:46 comment, the idea would be to integrate wellness, health and physical activity in with a rigorous curriculum, especially with an eye toward math, science and social science.

Go for it, it's not like we don't need more good schools!

Just be aware that "green" and "IB" don't necessarily have the same cachet, when you don't have the big money backing of a corporation (or foundation or whatever Stanley Greenspan's estate is funding). To lure enough higher SES Washington parents, you probably have to throw in a language. There seems to be no end to the desire for Spanish.

They are only intersted in learning spanish around other high SES kids.