New Elementary School Opening near the National Cathedral

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Their guru, Clark Aldrich, who wrote Unschooling Rules and is the book that the entire Acton philosophy is based on, sent his kid to boarding school. His wife writes this insufferable blog called "The Daily Prep" about the New England WASP lifestyle.

http://www.muffyaldrich.com/

This is their Jesus. Good god.

How do you know this is their guru? I know several unschoolers and none of them have heard of this couple, so he clearly doesn't speak for all.

[Anonymous]

Another suggested reading is Thomas Jefferson Ed, which is a highly controversial quasi-Mormon-related philosophy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Their guru, Clark Aldrich, who wrote Unschooling Rules and is the book that the entire Acton philosophy is based on, sent his kid to boarding school. His wife writes this insufferable blog called "The Daily Prep" about the New England WASP lifestyle.

http://www.muffyaldrich.com/

This is their Jesus. Good god.

How do you know this is their guru? I know several unschoolers and none of them have heard of this couple, so he clearly doesn't speak for all.

This isn't actual "unschooling". Actual "unschooling" doesn't involve a school, for one thing. That's pretty much a central tenet of unschooling.

This is a particular educational philosophy made up by Clark Aldrich, which may bear some similarity to unschooling, and also to Montessori, and also to sitting at a computer doing things like Khan Academy and Aleks which are essentially lectures, worksheets and tests delivered on a computer, but isn't any of those things.

Muffy Aldrich is his wife.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Their guru, Clark Aldrich, who wrote Unschooling Rules and is the book that the entire Acton philosophy is based on, sent his kid to boarding school. His wife writes this insufferable blog called "The Daily Prep" about the New England WASP lifestyle.

http://www.muffyaldrich.com/

This is their Jesus. Good god.

How do you know this is their guru? I know several unschoolers and none of them have heard of this couple, so he clearly doesn't speak for all.

"We suggest checking out Unschooling Rules, by Clark Aldrich (foreword by Jeff Sandefer, founder of Acton Academy Austin). This compelling read outlines many of the key principles of an Acton education in small, digestible bites. In just two hours, you can finish it cover-to-cover and will have a better understanding of whether or not an Acton education is a good fit for your child."

[Anonymous]

Hey, lay off these guys. Another option that lets families stay in the district especially past ES is a good thing. I hate seeing my friends fleeing to Arlington and MoCo once they hit 5 (or 9.) And at $20k that's still half of the other options.

[Anonymous]

There was a previous thread regarding the Aldrich couple: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/382253.page

I would love a libertarian-type Sudburry (sp?) school, but I would be concerned with the over-use of computers. Kids need to be outside and hands-on until at least 3rd/4th grade, IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hey, lay off these guys. Another option that lets families stay in the district especially past ES is a good thing. I hate seeing my friends fleeing to Arlington and MoCo once they hit 5 (or 9.) And at $20k that's still half of the other options.

If they get past ES. If I lived anywhere near that site I would rather send my kid to DCPS.

[Anonymous]

I am sorry that I am an outsider to the DC area, and do not understand the sensibilities. Is this suppose to be a serious, intellectually grounded and enlightened conversation, or is this just a fun snark-fest?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am sorry that I am an outsider to the DC area, and do not understand the sensibilities. Is this suppose to be a serious, intellectually grounded and enlightened conversation, or is this just a fun snark-fest?

Yes.

Seriously though. DCUM is supposed to be a set of forums for discussions on a wide range of topics generally of interest to moms and dads in the DC area. It can sometimes be "serious, intellectually grounded, and enlightened conversation", but just as often it is a fun snark-fest. The latter is particularly prevalent for posts like the one from the OP - merely posting a press release will usually get a post skewered. That the new school in question appears to offer an educational philosophy that has many detractors and appears to be grounded in a certain political philosophy, not to mention the grandiose claims about student performance (oh wait, I just did), then you have the perfect storm for attracting epic levels of snark.

Perhaps a more thoughtful approach would have been to start a discussion about unschooling by offering some basics about this educational philosophy, add in some empirical evidence that unschooling results in good outcomes for certain types of learners, and then stick around to talk with other posters about their concerns.

I doubt that this type of dichotomy between serious discussion and snark is endemic to the DC area; perhaps you are just new to the internet. Welcome!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am sorry that I am an outsider to the DC area, and do not understand the sensibilities. Is this suppose to be a serious, intellectually grounded and enlightened conversation, or is this just a fun snark-fest?

It is a serious, intellectually-grounded and enlightened conversation about a school where you pay a lot of money so that your first-grade through third-grade child can start their hero's journey and learn about religious, economic, and political freedom (but not math; that's done via Khan Academy), but only if your child has no special needs.

[Anonymous]

OP's press release and the website are extremely vague on a lot of points which naturally caused some curious minds to dig deeper. I don't know if it's vague because they haven't thought everything through, or because they aren't educators and don't know what they are doing or if they are trying to obscure something but I think we are doing OP a service by pointing out the problems. They aren't ready for prime time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sorry that I am an outsider to the DC area, and do not understand the sensibilities. Is this suppose to be a serious, intellectually grounded and enlightened conversation, or is this just a fun snark-fest?

Yes.

Seriously though. DCUM is supposed to be a set of forums for discussions on a wide range of topics generally of interest to moms and dads in the DC area. It can sometimes be "serious, intellectually grounded, and enlightened conversation", but just as often it is a fun snark-fest. The latter is particularly prevalent for posts like the one from the OP - merely posting a press release will usually get a post skewered. That the new school in question appears to offer an educational philosophy that has many detractors and appears to be grounded in a certain political philosophy, not to mention the grandiose claims about student performance (oh wait, I just did), then you have the perfect storm for attracting epic levels of snark.

Perhaps a more thoughtful approach would have been to start a discussion about unschooling by offering some basics about this educational philosophy, add in some empirical evidence that unschooling results in good outcomes for certain types of learners, and then stick around to talk with other posters about their concerns.

I doubt that this type of dichotomy between serious discussion and snark is endemic to the DC area; perhaps you are just new to the internet. Welcome!

This school isn't offering unschooling, though. In unschooling, by definition, all "learning activities" are chosen by the child.

An unschooling school is an oxymoron. In theory, any school student could be technically "unschooling"-- if said student chose the school themselves, and attends and participates daily of their own volition (not because their parents, the school, or the government requires it).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sorry that I am an outsider to the DC area, and do not understand the sensibilities. Is this suppose to be a serious, intellectually grounded and enlightened conversation, or is this just a fun snark-fest?

Yes.

Seriously though. DCUM is supposed to be a set of forums for discussions on a wide range of topics generally of interest to moms and dads in the DC area. It can sometimes be "serious, intellectually grounded, and enlightened conversation", but just as often it is a fun snark-fest. The latter is particularly prevalent for posts like the one from the OP - merely posting a press release will usually get a post skewered. That the new school in question appears to offer an educational philosophy that has many detractors and appears to be grounded in a certain political philosophy, not to mention the grandiose claims about student performance (oh wait, I just did), then you have the perfect storm for attracting epic levels of snark.

Perhaps a more thoughtful approach would have been to start a discussion about unschooling by offering some basics about this educational philosophy, add in some empirical evidence that unschooling results in good outcomes for certain types of learners, and then stick around to talk with other posters about their concerns.

I doubt that this type of dichotomy between serious discussion and snark is endemic to the DC area; perhaps you are just new to the internet. Welcome!

This school isn't offering unschooling, though. In unschooling, by definition, all "learning activities" are chosen by the child.

An unschooling school is an oxymoron. In theory, any school student could be technically "unschooling"-- if said student chose the school themselves, and attends and participates daily of their own volition (not because their parents, the school, or the government requires it).

Sorry - my use of unschooling above was a shorthand for the particular educational philosophy being espoused by this school and those whose educational ideas it appears underpin the curriculum.

[Anonymous]

I would totally pay 20,000 for a school to "homeschool/unschool" my child (which, to me means child led learning with some guidance from teachers, who better be very very qualified, and maybe a pared down list of objectives or benchmarks the student needs to meet each year though the student and the teacher can together decide how to meet these standards). BUT, go no to the computer and the conservative ideology. Here's the thing - in texas, homeschool and conservative ideology go together. In the DC area, homeschooling and progressive ideology go together. Progressive are much more suspicious of computer delivered content wanting their children to have an old fashioned, hands-on childhood but not an old fashioned eduction (no rote memorization). Conservatives are going to be much more comfortable with the old fashioned education - worksheets, lectures - that a computer provides.

So the demographics of this are just slightly off. I can see how it would be perfect for Texas though and some parts of Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would totally pay 20,000 for a school to "homeschool/unschool" my child (which, to me means child led learning with some guidance from teachers, who better be very very qualified, and maybe a pared down list of objectives or benchmarks the student needs to meet each year though the student and the teacher can together decide how to meet these standards). BUT, go no to the computer and the conservative ideology. Here's the thing - in texas, homeschool and conservative ideology go together. In the DC area, homeschooling and progressive ideology go together. Progressive are much more suspicious of computer delivered content wanting their children to have an old fashioned, hands-on childhood but not an old fashioned eduction (no rote memorization). Conservatives are going to be much more comfortable with the old fashioned education - worksheets, lectures - that a computer provides.

So the demographics of this are just slightly off. I can see how it would be perfect for Texas though and some parts of Virginia.

These things would translate into something other than unschooling. the whole point is no teachers (the Acton website refers to "guides" not teachers), no benchmarks, no standards.

I think the lectures are a total straw man. What elementary school has lectures? Its an exaggeration.