May 10
Math at RMCS, by Joanna Laney
We love to play with numbers and we are finding that math is actually an enjoyable endeavor. We love to watch the children enter into the struggle of a difficult problem rather than shy away to that part of the brain that says “I can’t do math!” But while we Continue Reading
April 23
We keep discovering other voices that help us encapsulate the ideas that shape our school. John O’Donohue speaks to the habit of attention, not only in the study of ideas, but also in relationships with other people. What a vital thought to not separate ideas from affection. In his book “Anam Cara” Continue Reading
September 18
A Most Interesting Story
A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of Continue Reading
March 29
The idea of time and the way it shapes my teaching and learning has been rolling around in my head for quite a while now. Aware of an internal rushing that I was always managing, I have longed to silence it. This sinister voice, ‘get going, seize the moment, multi-task’ seemed cloaked Continue Reading
October 5
The woods and pastures are joyous
in their abundance now
in a season of warmth and much rain.
We walk amidst foliage, amidst
song. The sheep and cattle graze
like souls in bliss (except for flies)
and lie down satisfied.
Who now
can believe in winter? In winter
who could have hoped for this?
— Wendell Berry
Just this fall my eighteen-year old daughter Madeleine Continue Reading
October 5
It is natural, given our current academic atmosphere to ask, is my child passing? How is my child faring compared to the others in his class? How is he faring compared to national or regional norms? When you look at our assessment folder you will notice that answering these questions is not our driving influence. Continue Reading
October 5
Postures and Habits
“Parents and teachers should make sensible use of a child’s circumstances (atmosphere), should train him in habits of good living (discipline), and should nourish his mind with ideas, the food of the intellectual life. Habits, circumstances and ideas are external, and (teachers) may help each other to get the best that is to Continue Reading
June 5
Why do I tell you this little boy’s story of medusas, rays and sea monsters, nearly sixty years after the fact? Because it illustrates, I think, how a naturalist is created. A child comes to the edge of deep water with a mind prepared for wonder. He is like a primitive adult Continue Reading
June 5
The best thing you can do for your fellow, next to rousing his conscience, is–not to give him things to think about, but to wake things up that are in him; or say to make him think things for himself.
June 5
“Next to God’s work and His blessing, I believe that Birmingham has taught me that friendship is one of the greatest things in life. It is the sweetest, holiest, and most far-reaching agency on earth. Friendship is based upon unselfishness and a desire to help someone – a trust in others more than Continue Reading
