We don't need no edukashun

This week has been a 6-year flashback all over again! That hoary old education problem has reared its gnarled head and is chewing us unmercifully.

Steiner schools could learn a good deal from state education and vice versa. After 3 years of Steiner experience, we feel that the ideal situation would be a Steiner teacher who had state experience, or even vice versa. For IS, and HS before her, their 2 teachers have come to Steiner without any prior (non-Steiner) educational training. As the Steiner system invariably involves ONE child having ONE teacher for their entire Steiner school education the biggest drawback is a poor child-teacher relationship - then you're lumbered.

Yesterday was the second consecutive day that IS was kept back from Steiner school. We are in the pits of uncertainty over a number of issues about IS progressing in school and what we perceive as poor teaching: here, the two are inextricably intertwined. IS's situation has worsened since last summer when HS was removed from the school after being bullied and poor teaching. Coincidentally, HS's teacher is the husband of IS's teacher and SC feels that this teacher is (wittingly or not) taking it out on IS. Who am I to disagree?

Though IS is dealing with all this with a positive stoicism, she is losing her natural spark for learning through this neglect.

All work was abandoned yesterday and we talked around the subject with IS and looked at our options....stay put, move on or home-educate. It's a lottery.