Dan: Sandy Bay Alternative School- Here are some pictures of
Marino, Lucia, and “Mr. Dan’s” school. Two months ago it was a mostly
un-occupied hotel. The move from the old school location to here started about
two weeks before school started. Things were very temporary when we started.
Slowly we (mostly the teachers and kids), are turning it into a school.
The type of school or educational “philosophy” ranges
somewhere between an extension of a home school (which is it’s origins 8-9
years ago), to a international school where the high school kids are trying to
get into U.S. or European colleges. I would say the “philosophy” depends on
which classroom you walk into at what time of day- after lunch recess when the
kids come it hot and sweaty there is not learning philosophy! 3 out of the 5
core teachers are new and come from different regions of the world. I am trying
to find a balance between a “formal/Santa Fe Prep” education and a homeschool/
hands-on/lot’s of games/winging it education. At this point I have no idea how
I am doing.
Lucia has a wonderful British teacher, Miss. Laura. She
teaches all their classes including P.E. and Yoga. Lucia has two other teachers
for Spanish and Estudios. Estudios is about Honduran culture.
Marino has two fantastic teachers. Miss. Joan is from
Alberta, Canada and she teaches Math and Science. Mr. Dan teaches Social
Studies and Language Arts and is from his very own home. Sometimes that is a
good thing and he loves Mr. Dan’s class (usually when we play a geography game),
other times it is “boring”, like when we do spelling or vocabulary.
Ask any of us questions about our school and we promise to
respond!
that was a great description, Dan. And I loved the pictures. What an experience the kids are getting!!
ReplyDeleteAre you adapting to the heat and the bugs????
Kim, what are you up to these days?
We love you,
Erica
Hi Dan, Kim, Marino and Lucia! School look great. I love the yoga picture with all the different "tree" poses. So do all the children that attend this school speak English? Is this a free school or is a tuition paid? Dan, I can't wait to hear of the formula you come up with that mixes prep school with a home school formula. Good to hear from you once again.
ReplyDeleteYes all of the people there speak at least a little English and a lot of them know Spanish to. Some even know French!
DeleteFrom,
Lucia
Does a school bus fetch you in the morning and returning you later? How many grades are there at the school. How many kids altogether?
ReplyDeleteYes a school bus comes and picks us up in the morning and after school to. There are 13 grades and about 58 kids. I miss you a lot.
DeleteThat is from Lucia ......
DeleteSounds like a grand educational "mashup"! I mostly hope it's fun for all involved! Thanks for sharing with us!
ReplyDeleteAnd what is Kim doing when y'all are at school?
Hey Dan,
ReplyDeleteWe miss you at Prep, buddy. We are having our first division meeting this week. I'll probably put up a little shrine of you with candles and stuff. . . . Just to give me someone to yell at.
Chakeres is doing an OK job with Global, but he can't answer the simplest of my questions like "What do they do in Transylvania for Halloween when everyone already talks like Dracula year round?" Or "When was the Dakotan Civil War?"
Since you left, it has rained quite a bit. I think we got over four inches of rain in both August and September. It rained yesterday and last night again. There is a weird bird that is migrating through right now, and they keep trying to get into the house smacking themselves against the window over and over again until they conk themselves out. They remind me of you.
So, I hope you are having fun. Keep that sunscreen flowing, Gingerbread Man. And if you get homesick, just put on your Stray Cats albums and remember the good times.
~nucci