Anyone familiar with Silver Oaks Cooperative School?

[Anonymous]

A neighbor just posted on our neighborhood Listserve about this school and it looks intriguing. Does anyone have children there who can weigh in on their experience? I can’t tell from their website if this is a new school or if it’s been in operation for a while.

https://www.silveroakscooperative.org

[Anonymous]

I know one of the women who started it through the grapevine. Its a brand new school starting this year.

[Anonymous]

Ok, thanks. It sounds like it could be really great for the right kid. Also a nice compromise between homeschooling and traditional school. Not sure I’d want to jump into a brand new school with no history though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, thanks. It sounds like it could be really great for the right kid. Also a nice compromise between homeschooling and traditional school. Not sure I’d want to jump into a brand new school with no history though.

That's exactly why they created it as well as a lower cost alternative. I would have considered it but our child is slightly too old. I thought it sounded great and a bit different than anything available now. I'd go look at it. But, it is new this year.

[Anonymous]

Looking at the draft schedule, it seems to suffer from one of the same weaknesses that folks are always complaining about in public school - kids left to their own devices during "small group" work.

Which....is fine if you have a child who works productively on their own, but that kid is probably being served well in public school anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking at the draft schedule, it seems to suffer from one of the same weaknesses that folks are always complaining about in public school - kids left to their own devices during "small group" work.

Which....is fine if you have a child who works productively on their own, but that kid is probably being served well in public school anyway.

I saw that parents are expected to work as an aid in the classroom as part of the coop requirement, so it seems that between the parent aid and a small class, students would get a lot more attention than they would at a public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at the draft schedule, it seems to suffer from one of the same weaknesses that folks are always complaining about in public school - kids left to their own devices during "small group" work.

Which....is fine if you have a child who works productively on their own, but that kid is probably being served well in public school anyway.

I saw that parents are expected to work as an aid in the classroom as part of the coop requirement, so it seems that between the parent aid and a small class, students would get a lot more attention than they would at a public school.

Count me as unconvinced, particularly as it appears they will have K-3 in one classroom for half the day.

[Anonymous]

It will be interesting to see if this takes off.

[Anonymous]

Hi! We launched Silver Oaks on September fourth and are finishing our fifth week! Upcoming open houses are Tuesday October 9 at 9:30 and Saturday October 13 at 2:00 if you would like to hear firsthand from a few of our families.

I am the co-founder, director, and lead 1st-3rd grade teacher. Our structure is untraditional and specifically designed so that parents can play an integral part in their children's education. The school is run by myself and a parent board of directors. We require all members to participate in out-of-classroom coop duties as well as in-classroom coop duties (families may opt-out of in-classroom cooping for a fee). There is a parent co-oper in the classroom every day.

So far this year, we have 14 students and 4 openings. I teach the first through third graders (6 students, plus 2 for math) from 8:45-12:30. Our full-time teacher teachers the Kinders (8 students, minus 2 for math) in the AMs. After lunch, students have specials- creative movement, art, science, and social studies. I also teach 30 minutes of Spanish Tuesday through Thursday to the whole group. We spend as much time as possible outdoors and value nature exploration and getting dirty!

Thank you for your interest!
Alicia Cacace
www.silveroakscooperative.org

[Anonymous]

Hi all-- I just randomly came across this thread, and I see that our director, Alicia Cacace, already responded, but I thought I'd respond anyway, too. My son, a kindergartner goes to Silver Oaks Cooperative. Even though it is a new school, so far we're having a really great experience. I actually just wrote an article for the Route One Fun website, which I'm attaching here. My opinions are mostly in the article, but I'm glad to have anybody contact me who has any further questions. My email is at the bottom of the article.

https://www.routeonefun.com/2018/11/silver-oaks-cooperative-school-maryland.html?fbclid=IwAR1q4oE5yEtzNwv724Ctg2XYkkppIMWvvIgd3pEav5ssXJm1tnyJeCuHodo

[momify]

I'm also really interested in Silver Oaks Cooperative School. How do parents manage the lack of before/after care? Or do most families there have the flexibility not to require it?

[Anonymous]

Hello,
My son went for about 5 months. It was a disaster. He barely learned anything. We transferred to our local public school and by the end of the year was thankfully on target with his peers. That is thanks to our and his hard work. I know a few parents with similar stories. They claimed we were bad parents, he was a special needs child in need of therapy. Multiple doctors and real teachers disagree. The worst part is how they made me and my family feel. It took me over a year to really accept that this wasn't our fault. Now many of the founding families are coming to the same conclusion. I hope they shut down as they are not qualified to be teachers.
I AM JILL! I am not Anonymous!

[Anonymous]

Whoa thats really sad, we are part of an older more established cooperative school - they found over the years that the cooperative works best when the parents are in admin roles rather than teaching roles. We hired very well trained teachers, but the small groups are usually not a good fit for kids with some special needs. If you are interested in something with that idea that actually is working look at river farm cooperative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whoa thats really sad, we are part of an older more established cooperative school - they found over the years that the cooperative works best when the parents are in admin roles rather than teaching roles. We hired very well trained teachers, but the small groups are usually not a good fit for kids with some special needs. If you are interested in something with that idea that actually is working look at river farm cooperative.

By some recent posts, you seem to have some very unhappy families at your coop also. But you’re challenged sound different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello,
My son went for about 5 months. It was a disaster. He barely learned anything. We transferred to our local public school and by the end of the year was thankfully on target with his peers. That is thanks to our and his hard work. I know a few parents with similar stories. They claimed we were bad parents, he was a special needs child in need of therapy. Multiple doctors and real teachers disagree. The worst part is how they made me and my family feel. It took me over a year to really accept that this wasn't our fault. Now many of the founding families are coming to the same conclusion. I hope they shut down as they are not qualified to be teachers.
I AM JILL! I am not Anonymous!

Wow. Don't schools have to be accredited. Sounds horrible.