The Whole Child

Choosing the Right School for Your Elementary-Age Child

by Michelle Sutton, December 29, 2011

Michelle Wolin and her husband Phil believe in the public school system and always assumed their child would attend public school. As their son Zack was about to enter first grade, the family moved to a town with highly regarded public schools—but fate played a little trick.

Zack had gone to full-day kindergarten and was reading above his grade level, but as a result of recent budget cuts, his new classmates had only attended half-day kindergarten, which meant that many of them were reading below grade level. “For the first time in his life, Zack was bored and unchallenged,” says Michelle Wolin. “He was miserable, and at that time, the school actually frowned upon accelerated learning programs for individuals.” Perhaps this sounds familiar?

Wolin, who has an MA in elementary education and runs a preschool in her home, went to an open house at Poughkeepsie Day School (PDS). “I cried when I saw the PDS classrooms and met the teachers and felt the learning and the creativity just pouring through the walls,” Wolin says. “I said to my husband, ‘Can we try to make this work for now?’” They qualified for some financial aid, and Zack is now in fifth grade (PDS goes through high school).

The strengths of PDS—the smaller class size, hands-on approach to learning, ability to work with kids with different learning abilities and styles, and freedom from oppressive standardized testing—are the strengths of many independent schools. Wolin says, “At PDS, they look at the whole child, and work with the child and the family. When kids have learning challenges, they aren’t looking for a quick neurological fix.”

Where Leaders Shape Themselves
Perhaps the most unconventional private school in the region is the Hudson Valley Sudbury School (HVSS) in Woodstock. There are more than 30 Sudbury schools around the world, in which students from age four to 19 democratically determine their own curriculum and objectives. A small staff of adults serves not as principal or teacher but rather as facilitator for the curriculum as set by the students.