Emma picked me some flowers today in the yard. Then she wanted me to take a picture of her with them. :) Jorge jumped up next to her, and it looks like he's posing, doesn't it? So, the idea for this charter school was born out of a couple of things. When Emma was in my tummy, I was looking for private schools in the area. There were none at the time. Now there are a couple of private schools run by churches and one charter elementary school in St. George that has a long waiting list. I looked at all of those, and they don't have enough "different" stuff from the regular school district to make it worth the effort of taking Emma there.
There is a charter High School called Tuacahn that is exactly what I imagined I wanted for Emma. Too bad it's only a high school. :) Check out thier website. http://www.tuacahnhs.org Tuacahn also does all of the Broadway in the Desert plays that we see every year. They have an incredible program there! http://www.tuacahn.org/
Then I started having dreams about having an elementary school just like that here in Hurricane. :) It's going to be a southwest looking building in our little Hurricane desert. We'll have school for kids Kindergarten age through 8th grade. I have imagined classrooms for the regular school topics with additional rooms for the school's emphasis on the arts. :) We'll have an auditorium for performances, a dance room, a choir room and a instrumental music room, an art room, library and gym. I've imagined individual practice rooms so the kids can practice or have music lessons before or after school. I can also imagine a courtyard where the kids can plant and care for their own garden. If you are interested in why we are making this a charter school, check out the website for Utah Charter Schools http://www.schools.utah.gov/charterschools/directory.htm
Emma loves music, dancing, singing and creating artwork so much, and it's so much a part of her life- I just think she would love to have a learning environment where every day topics could involve all of those things. I know Emma is not the only kid who loves to sing and dance. I would bet that every kid I know loves those things. I think that kids sometimes stop thinking the arts are cool because there are definitely not enough opportunities in public schools....and it becomes more cool to be in sports. I imagine a school where it's "cool" to be a "band geek" or "drama nerd"!! Maybe this comes from being called those things when I was in school. :) I would just love to see kids have the opportunity to excell in the arts if they choose to do so. That is one big reason why we want to make this a charter school. We can't/don't want to exclude anyone who wants to attend. However, if kids/parents don't like our program, they don't have to attend either. Our school will be a school for the arts. We hope to attract people who want to attend THAT kind of school. :)
One of the girls from our group introduced us all to Expeditionary Learning. You can find out more about them http://www.elschools.org/ I loved thier concept, and I can't envision our school without it now.
Through the process of this year, I have learned that making a school is a bigger project than I originally thought. :) However, it is totally possible, and it's going to happen. The biggest reason.....for Emma.....for all the kids like her. :) This is one of my passions, and I can imagine it will be for many years to come. :) I welcome thoughts and comments, names of people who would like to help with such a project, and anything else. :) Yay!
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