A CALIFORNIA
PUBLIC CHARTER
SCHOOL K-8

What Parents Say About Our School:

"It's a real village." - K.L.

"My son is flourishing in a classroom where he can simply be himself."   -D.S.

"My daughter doesn't dread going to school anymore. She even wants to go when she is sick. She is now coming home able to recognize her strengths. All of a sudden she is being seen and she's never been seen before. Her learning style didn't fit into the public school; she was like a fish out of water. She's so happy here. She's seeing and talking about her strengths." -M.M.

"A number of times, my son has brought things to school that at another place would be made fun of. Here these things were very well received, even honored. For instance around Passover, he brought in matzoh. Everybody loved the matzoh, and said it was really cool. Differences are honored here. A child can bring in all sides of himself without being teased." -D.S.

"When Jack broke his arm, so many of the children "pledged peace" to Jack's arm! The children seem to know me, and ask about our family. We know about their families, too." - D.P.

"The way I know this school's had an impact on my daughter, was when we went to Panama for three weeks. She was 'school sick.' She talked about her friends and school and was happy to do her homework every day. That says a lot." -J.R.

"I love how each child gets recognized for their strengths, and is accepted too, whatever their challenges are." -T.A.

"It's so earthy. There's a tree in the classroom!"
-10 year old visiting cousin

"It's irreplaceable. There's not another place like it." -D.G.

What Parents Like About VCS:

In the process of rechartering our school, we took many opportunities to reflect on what we like about VCS. Here are many of our responses, those at the top being expressed repeatedly:

• Multi-age and multi-cultural curriculum
• Festivals
• Community
• Non-stressful approaches to academics / Not academics all the time
• Children gain the ability to solve problems without hurting each other
• Field trips/camping trips create community
• Children gain deeper understanding of the world and many subjects
• Heart-based communication. Kindness to each other. No tolerance for teasing or bullying.
• Teachers' ability to bring out children's best qualities and social skills
• Love of nature / Going deep into nature
• Children learn to be comfortable with who they are as people
• Curriculum follows children's lead/interests
• Positive impact on families
• Focus on peace / Foundation of peace and heart
• At meetings I feel like I am heard and respected, that I have something worthwhile to say
• Kids are going to turn out well because they're being given lessons in humanity (not non-stop academics)
• The support of the whole school community to help with family needs
• Smallness of the school
• Nurturing of self-confidence and self-esteem
• The respect/acceptance/nurturing we have for stories
• Children get support for the way they are. They are accepted for who they are (learning challenges, etc.) and have the freedom to be who they are.
• Positive skills drawn out - children are honored for their good skills (even if they don't have some other skills)
• Non-testable skills are developed, and benefit the testable skills
• Music (which benefits math skills)
• Producing people who will go out and lead in the world
• Encouraging each other to follow our passions
• Teaching children to have a sense of who they are, to listen to their body, the earth, and all the natural things that lead us
• My child loves math
• Everything can be math, like art and music, quilting, drumming and knitting (Child says: "I love knitting because it's like math.")
• Our children leave here with a sense of self
• Powerful and fantastic community that is growing all the time