And now, the award for best school in the world goes to
….. THE WILLOW SCHOOL!!
And now, the award for best school in the world goes to….. THE WILLOW SCHOOL!!My name is Alicia and my son Joshua is lucky enough to attend The Willow School, the best school we have ever encountered. My son and I moved here from Colorado over three years ago. We moved in August, therefore school was scheduled to start a couple weeks later. I registered Joshua for 5th grade at the designated public school for our area. That lasted a couple of weeks. In Colorado, Joshua attended a small public school, but had struggled with several subjects, mainly writing and spelling. Because he had fallen behind his grade level, he was given an IEP, an individualized education program. This was meant to give Joshua the extra help he needed for difficult subjects. When he started the public school in Vero Beach, his IEP was basically ignored. The year started off rough with hours of nightly homework. Maybe this homework would not take all children hours, but it was consuming every free minute of my son’s time in the evenings. After the first week, I went in to speak to Joshua’s teachers. I tried to discuss his IEP and explain that the homework was not at his skill level at that time. I got very little response to my concerns. The following week was more of the same amount of homework. I wondered what the children could possibly be doing during school time if they had this much homework. I scheduled a meeting with the principal. When I arrived for the meeting, the principal was busy and I meet with the vice principal. I explained to her that writing and spelling were his weak subjects and the homework was not appropriate for his skill level. She suggested I talk to his teachers. To make a long story short, we went around and around for about a month before I pulled Joshua out of school. He was frustrated, discouraged and disappointed and frankly, so was I.
At this time, I tried to homeschool Joshua with the help of my sister, who homeschooled her children. This was a disaster since I was working full time. Every day was filled with arguments about school work and frustration for both of us. I began looking for another school. I called every charter school and private school in Vero Beach and Sebastian. I picked out several to tour and Joshua visited two of those.
As soon as I called The Willow School, I knew it would be different. I actually got to speak with the directors, Shakti and Govinda, immediately. I noticed that they were both excited and passionate about the school, which made me excited to find out more. When I met with Shakti, Govinda and the rest of The Willow School staff, what impressed me initially was their enthusiasm for their work. Also, everyone seemed so happy to be there, both the staff and all the students! There were children outside running, playing and laughing, and a teacher playing with them! Could this really be a school?
Joshua attended The Willow School for a three day trial, but it only took one day for me to decide this was the school for him. First of all, they have multi-age classrooms which gave Joshua the opportunity to work with kids who were at his level for writing and spelling without feeling awkward. Also, because the school is small the teachers get to know each and every student.
At The Willow School, they utilize experiential learning, which is learning by doing rather than by lectures and workbooks. Because of this, Joshua had “experienced” much of his work in class, therefore did not have mountains of written work to do at home. As a matter of fact, to ease Joshua into the new class setting, Govinda told me, “Don’t correct any of his work. Let him make mistakes and get used to our way of doing assignments before we critique him. That way, he can build confidence.” This is just an example of how individualized and outstanding their teaching is. They can adjust their teaching plans to meet each child where they are. Govinda could see Joshua needed to build confidence in his work, and focused on that first. He gave ample praise and pretty soon Joshua’s confidence and work quality started to shine.
Joshua started at The Willow School in January 2007 and I could see a difference in him right away. After being out of school for a semester, he had some trouble adjusting socially. This was no problem at The Willow School! When Joshua got into an argument with a classmate at school, he and the other student were taken aside and able to talk through their issue. There was no “finger-pointing”, yelling, or hurt feelings. Govinda let each child give their point of view, with guidance, but without condemning either child. I knew Joshua was in the right place.
At The Willow School, everyone who interacts with the students genuinely cares for them as a whole person. You can see it and feel it in every class, P.E., extracurricular activity, fundraiser and every meeting in which I’ve partaken.
In the last 2 ½ years Joshua has attended The Willow School, he has not only caught up to grade level in both spelling and writing, he has excelled. Joshua has learned to love reading thanks to DEAR time! Perhaps more importantly, even most importantly, JOSHUA LOVES SCHOOL! I mean that. Summer just ended and he started his 8th grade year and he couldn’t wait to get back to school. He never dreads going to school. That means a lot coming from a child who used to complain about how much he hated school.
The Willow School has helped Joshua become the excellent student he is today, and the emerging young man he is becoming. It has also inspired me to be a better parent. We love Willow. We thank God every day we are blessed with such a wonderful school.
Joshua plans to graduate from the 8th grade this year, but he already talks about coming back to volunteer to help others at Willow. This, in itself, speaks volumes about this amazing, delightful school we are happy to consider an extended family.