schooling

Ed's Note: Article from Cristina's site, re a school in Bali, Indonesia.

There are plenty of schools out there with green practices among their goals, but a new school opening this fall in Bali will be entrepreneurially green from top to bottom.

The Green School, which will offer preschool through year eight, aims to provide a place where students can become more curious and more passionate about their education and the planet. The school's eight-hectare campus in Sibang Kaja is divided by the Ayung River, on whose western bank are the school's classrooms, libraries, laboratories and kitchens. Aquaculture ponds, organic vegetable gardens, edible mazes and

permacultural gardens are interspersed throughout the vast campus, which is built entirely of low-impact and environmentally conscious materials such as bamboo, alang-alang grass and traditional Balinese mud walls. For energy supplies, the school is experimenting with micro-hydro power generation as well as producing methane from cow manure to fuel stoves and developing a gasification unit that will use rice husks and other organic materials to produce electricity. A working organic chocolate factory, large sports fields, gymnasium, high ropes course and a network of bicycle paths are also part of the campus.

The Green School's curriculum, meanwhile, combines demanding academic content taught through a holistic approach that aims to inspire and enhance all of a child’s capacities. The school's Learning Village, for example, gives students a chance to apply lessons to specific disciplines and real business situations, making abstract ideas come to practical life. Students are involved in everything from manufacturing their own chocolate to helping manage the organic fields, bamboo plantations and rice paddies that are integral to the campus. The Green School is open to children from all over the world, with boarding available starting next year for those in seventh grade and up. Villas are available for international families whose children attend the school. Tuition ranges from roughly USD 4,000 to USD 9,000 per year, depending on grade.

It doesn't get much more eco-iconic than a thoroughly green school, and eco-minded consumers with the means to afford it will surely find the Green School compelling. Of course, the concept seems like one that could also work in other parts of the world. One to watch!

This wonderful concept bears a rigorous curriculum within an entrepreneurial bent using sustainable practices. It opens in September 2008 and will offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma.

Nope, this entry isn't about this post. It's something more concrete than "oh, in progressive schools, they don't do worksheets" kinda thing.

Yesterday, Ella and I were together shopping. Before taking the LRT back to San Juan, we stopped to buy drinks at a buco (coconut) juice stand. The place had real coconuts that they'd pierce a hole in and pour in the juice.

As I was going through my bag to get money to pay the saleslady, Ella started rattling off the benefits of buco juice as there was a sign at the side of the booth. "It says here that buco juice can be used as replacement for blood plasma --- does that mean you can give buco juice intravenously?" she asked me. I look at her like, "whassat?" (I was tired, hey.)

As we walked up the stairs, I said, "Gee, galing no, buco has so many uses---bunot, copra, walis, oil, food..." then I actually had a realization then.

I realized that in school (I went to that "all girls' Filipino Chinese Catholic school" in Greenhills, which obviously is traditional!), I learned many uses of a coconut tree--from a book and the pictures in the book. Also from the charts of the teacher. THEN I realize that learned would have been more fun and easier to grasp if the teacher had brought the actual items to show us in class.

One thing that Stan and I are striving to do for the boys is to make as concrete the things we teach them. This way, they experience the real thing and their understanding of the concept is as clear as the sky on a summer day.

Like number placement. He asked me to teach him how to read big numbers. What did I do? I took out Stan's poker chips set which had different amounts on them (e.g., 1, 10, 50, 100, 1,000, 10,000). It helped that Paul could add too. Then I wrote down a four digit number and explained what the place numbers are (boy, it was difficult. Math is *major* abstract.)

Later on, Stan realized Paul could do division in his head when you asked him word problems (i.e., your grandma baked six cookies, and she asked you to share with Kevin and Julia. How many should each of you get?), at this point, we realized that we're lucky Paul understands quickly. (Crossing my fingers that Kevin will too!)

I guess what I'm saying is that the main reason I've been vocal about wanting Paul in a progressive school is that I wouldn't need to supplement anymore (sana). Obviously, I'm too lazy. Hahahahahaha! But in the school he's in now, if the vision of their director is implemented well, I think I'll finally be truly comfortable that he's there. (plus nga pala, that they reduce the class size.)

Do you have kids who need to take the exam to big school this year? You guys might want to read this first... I attended a talk by Didi Manahan, a professor at the Ateneo and the directress of Explorations Preschool and Keys Gradeschool about traditional and progressive schools. I think it is important to realize that progressive schools are present nowadays because there is more and more proof that people learn differently. And just because one doesn't go to a traditional school, it doesn't mean that he/she is "intellectually challenged". As a quick overview, these are the basic differences between a traditional and a progressive school.