from the parent of a 13-year-old boy:
“Matt came to TBS at age 11, the equivalent of his Grade 6 year. Prior to that he attended regular public school. Although he was not struggling academically, per se, he found it difficult to cope emotionally in public school. This lead to many hours of homework battles, because he never finished anything in class, which eventually affected his academics. He was also bullied at school. He also suffered stress-induced migraines at school, and during Grade 5, missed many days. We needed something different. This is DIFFERENT!!"
“Once he got the idea that along with the freedom comes personal responsibility, he really started to blossom. The primary benefits we have noticed are: (1) NO homework battles -- after a long day at school, he CHOOSES to study academics at home (this year so far: Japanese language, high school geometry, multiplication review, Canadian history, essay writing and keyboarding), (2) better articulation of his emotional and academic needs, and consequently (3) a calmer, happier, healthier child (both mentally and physically). Friends and family have commented that he seems more "centred" in himself. He chooses to attend school for longer than the minimum number of hours, and sometimes needs to be urged to go home. He also chooses to attend on the optional days.”
from the parent of a 10-year-old girl:
“What brought us to the Beach School was our need to find a place where our very shy daughter could find her voice. Her shyness and sensitivity made her an easy target for more aggressive children and she had experiences of bullying from nursery school onward. Not wanting to incur what she called the other child's 'revenging' on her, by Grade 2 she was quickly losing ground. We always believed her to be a bright child, therefore we're not as concerned about her ability to learn. Academics are important but not as important as the hearts and minds of a young being in the process of becoming. We felt our daughter's education had to put as much emphasis on the social, emotional and psychological as it did the intellectual."
“The biggest draw for us was the democratic model upon which The Beach School is run. We especially liked the idea that each child has the ability to deal with conflicts and complaints through a Judiciary of their peers. The teachers act as facilitators here only, they do not impose their authority. It took our daughter a year to trust this democracy but she is finding her voice and it is getting stronger each day."
“What a school like The Beach School will do is not only allow your child to find who they are and what their passion in life is but also give them the character development to pursue that passion. It's not money that buys happiness, its doing something that you love to do regardless of what that is. Yes, my child has to read, write and do arithmetic and she is fulfilling that part of her education at The Beach School but beyond that what she chooses to put her energy into is of her own choosing. Some days she does very little, probably not a good day for digesting information anyhow, other days she is full of some interest or topic and she is devouring it. When she's full and satisfied, she moves on. Our daughter has truly found her own voice in The Beach School and she's not afraid to use it.”
from the parent of a 7-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy:
When our oldest daughter was 4, we tried the public system. Whenever I brought her over for kindergarten, she cried. After just a few months, she asked if she could go to a different school. I listened. She tried the Beach School and has been there ever since. She gets upset at the mere mention of going anywhere else. Then my son only wanted to go there as well. They are very happy there. They have that life energy and a love of school instead of seeing it as drudgery. They are free to pursue an activity all day if they choose to do so. They aren't ripped away from the art table because time is up."
My daughter loves to write. She taught herself to write by tracing letters from other sources when she was four. Nobody told her to do so. She spent hours doing this. I have the feeling that if it had been forced, it would have been a chore which she would have learned to hate. Also, again, nobody tells her that time's up and she must do something else as required. She is now seven and continues to write at school and at home. My son is now interested in writing as well and spends part of his weekend perfecting certain letters. Nobody assigned him any homework. He is just interested and determined. He also loves "maze" and dot-to-dot books. These are not conventional ways of learning to write but he enjoys them. The maze books teach him to steady his hand to write while solving a puzzle using logic. The dot-to-dot does the same and teaches him counting. The best part is that he's having fun and he's not realizing that he's learning."
“These are just a few examples of the creative thinking my children are developing in order to learn what they want or need to. I don't want them to lose that spark of fun and interest. They constantly ask questions and get answers for them. I don't want them to stop, I don't want them to be forced to conform to our government's idea of forced learning (or memorizing). I want them to enjoy learning.”