Foundations School Community: Why does your child hate school?

Often it’s because the subject matter is boring and disconnected from their daily lives. We make the subject matter relevant to their developmental level and present it in an interesting, experience-based way. For example, 3rd graders studying Native Americans in a traditional school would read about Native Americans, write about them, watch movies about them, visit a museum to look at Native American artifacts, or draw pictures they see in books of Native American art. But at Foundations School Community, our kids literally “become” Native Americans. They go out where the Native Americans live, make spears, make yucca necklaces, make pump drills, make fire the way the Native Americans made fire, prepare the acorn mush, hike and find the herbs that were used for medicinal purposes, and learn the dances and songs Native Americans sang.
Kids often hate school because they are teased and bullied and there is no support in the school atmosphere to help them deal with that. Attention on social/emotional issues is critical in preventing bullying. If kids feel bad socially and emotionally, they aren’t able to attend cognitively to learn. Emotional safety is critical in school! Kindergarten, elementary school and middle school students at San Fernando’s Foundations School Community experience a high level of safety in their daily school environment.
Kids often hate school because they don't feel connected to their teachers. Foundations School Community teachers genuinely care about every kid. All our teachers go out of their way to develop personal relationships with the students. Teachers often have lunch with kids, make special time for them, and play with the kids. Our philosophy at Foundations School Community is that if you can "REACH” a child, then you can TEACH that child anything!
Kids often hate school because they feel stupid and not as smart as their peers. In competitive learning environments where kids are valued for being smarter and quicker than their peers, children who learn more slowly or learn differently are often left feeling isolated and negative about themselves. Many of these kids begin to feel that they are incapable of learning and they are not smart. So they stop trying and “shut down.” They dislike school and don’t want their peers to find out that they’re “not smart.” They try to hide and not answer questions or share their ideas and their thinking. At Foundations School Community we do not give letter grades or create an atmosphere of competitive learning. Every child’s thoughts are welcome and valued. We place an emphasis on process and sharing your thinking, not on being right or wrong. Taking guesses is important. Kids are not pushed early to learn cognitive skills. Rather, their learning is accomplished developmentally, through rich hands-on learning experiences and age-appropriate activities.
Kids often hate school because it’s not fun! At Foundations School Community, our alternative/progressive educational approach allows us to create a lively, nurturing atmosphere, and we have lots of fun. We work hard, but we also offer many hands-on learning projects that are fun. There’s a great balance between pencil, paper, and hands-on projects. Kids learn a lot more through experience-based projects, and they’re always a lot of fun. We also take many experience-based field trips that are exceptional learning opportunities not always found in traditional schools.