September 2018 NEWSLETTER

The Tutorial School
      400 Brunn School Road, Santa Fe, NM 87505      (505) 988-1859      www.tutorialschool.org


NEWSLETTER
September 2018                                                                                                Volume 27 Number 1

The Autumnal Equinox has passed. The days are getting shorter and the aspens are starting to turn. The grove of quaking aspen, populus tremuloides, is actually one huge organism connected through its root system. Likewise the students of The Tutorial School are a community connected through the school. Aspens are also the first tree to grow after a fire, thus starting the healing of the forest.

Slowly but surely classes are being organized: Chess, Culinary Arts, Chinese, Japanese, Current Events, Percussion, Math, History, and various art classes. Auto Mechanics, Jewelry, and French are in the works. More importantly, lots of play and informal discussions are happening all the time.

Frida, a teacher from Holistic Education School in Taiwan, along with her husband and their really cute toddler are currently visiting us until mid November. Frida is a poet, and an artist in residence at the Santa Fe Art Institute. We are fortunate that they will be volunteering for us each week teaching Chinese with a creative twist.
The First Parent Potluck of the year is October 18th from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. This is a time when we get together, share food, share stories, and connect. By being a part of this, you show support for your child and the work they are doing here. In this way you contribute to creating a culture of kindness, and the students greatly benefit. In addition, we will be holding a Parent Council meeting so you can see a little bit of what the students do here. If you have questions for other parents or for us, please do not hesitate to bring them up as agenda items. Let’s celebrate the start of a bountiful year together with your favorite foods and beverages!

2018 – 2019 School Year Calendar:
October 8th – no school – Indigenous Peoples’ Day
October 15th – open house (for students from other schools)
October 18 – Parent Potluck 6:00pm to 9:00pm
November 1st – no school – day after Halloween
November 19th to 22nd – Thanksgiving Vacation
December 21st to January 6th – Winter Solstice Vacation
February 4th – no school – Midwinter/Brigids Day/Candlemas
March 8th to 24th – Spring Equinox Vacation
May 30th – last day of school

What Does It Mean To Be Educated?
“Whatever an education is, it must empower you to lead your own life. It must minimize your chances of being manipulated, of being made a pawn, of being an actor in someone else’s play. Any place that claims to “educate” must give young people actual autonomy, help them develop actual competencies, and facilitate actual social connections. It must produce self-aware and self-motivated humans, not anxiety-ridden worker bees awaiting their next orders. An education is the capacity to author your own life instead of merely accepting the one handed to you.”       Blake Boles – author of The Art of Self-Directed Learning

The Natural Environment for Children’s Self-Education

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/200809/the-natural-environment-children-s-self-education

 

A major theme of this blog is that we come into the world with instincts that are well designed to promote our education. We have instincts to observe, explore, play, and converse with others in ways that endow us with the skills, knowledge, and values needed to live and thrive in the physical and social world into which we are born. We do this with great intensity and joy. These educational instincts were shaped by natural selection during the hundreds of thousands of years in which our ancestors survived as hunter-gatherers (see August 2 posting). We might expect, therefore, that these instincts would operate best in the social environment of a hunter-gatherer band, or in a modern environment that replicates certain aspects of a hunter-gatherer band.

https://sudburyvalley.org/blog/sudbury-valley-school-celebrating-half-century-radical-approach-educating-children

May 2018 Newsletter

       NEWSLETTER            May  2018                       Volume 26  Number 4

Summer is upon us!  The rains will mon-SOON be here!  Water is life.  We are lucky to have our own deep well at the school.  This year was a lot of fun and you can see it in the yearbooks, which should be done by the 24th, we are asking for $8 per copy. (The total cost is $15.)

Due to lack of interest the camping trip has been cancelled.  We will still have a picnic on the last day and a parent potluck that evening – Thursday, May 24th at 6pm.

We still need to know who is coming back next year so we can do our planning.  Please return the Letter of Intent even if you do not know what you are doing next year.  There is a box to check for that.  We also need the Video Release forms.

Next year’s tuition will be the same as this year, but our financial aid and trade policies have changed.  Parents will need to bring in proof of income to calculate financial aid amounts, also any extenuating circumstances that might affect that amount.  Trade hours will be valued at $40 an hour, except for cleaning, which will be valued at $80 an hour.  Parents will be responsible to making sure they fulfill their trade hours.

Next year’s Community Work Days will be Sunday, August 26th to Saturday, September 1st.  Moe will be cooking up his usual storm, so there will be lots of food to eat.  Let’s work together to make the school beautiful for our children.  Your contribution is needed and appreciated.  We look forward to seeing you and catching up.

The first day of our regular program will be the day after labor Day, Tuesday, September 4th.  Please make sure you have signed the newly designed Enrollment Contract and Parent Agreements forms by then.  Many thanks to Michael Gushard for his beautiful work and if anyone needs any online or physical graphic design work his email address is michael@organicdigitalart.com

This year we welcomed a large contingent of new students.  We spent much effort learning to get along with each other and creating a culture of kindness.  A good learning community has been forming and we look forward to next year when we will reap the benefits of this year’s work.  It is an exciting time.  We look forward to seeing all the children next year.  They always grow so much.

The world we are experiencing today is the result of our collective consciousness, and if we want a new world, each of us must start taking responsibility for helping create it.  — Rosemary Fillmore Rhea