Oak Meadow School

I will share a letter I wrote this year to the administration: Good Evening everyone: I just wanted to express again how happy we are that we were able to keep W in, and bring P to Oak Meadow, and say Thank You. W is thriving and back to her pre-quarantine self. She is loving her journal, friends, and everything about life. But it is P, in Mrs. Ferreira's class, whom I would like to mention in more detail. P is a bright child (I know everyone says that, but humor me for a moment). When we made the decision to bring P from Montessori to public school, I knew I would have to fight to get P what he needed. Kindergarten was a disaster, even though his class size was only 13 kids with a teacher and an aid. First grade (class size of 14) he was constantly bored, but we were able to supplement school with our own at home program. We felt pushed aside by the school and administration, even the Superintendent who told me that because we have a "high" child he could manage, while IEP kids "needed" the extra time of the "extra" teachers. Communication was poor and there was little follow through. The communication with Mrs. Ferreira has been excellent and her strategy spot-on, with no intervention from us. His (and the class, I presume) learning evaluation was done immediately and I have full faith in its results. Yesterday P was very excited to learn about nouns and pronouns-he is wired to want to diagram sentences. And, today was very special for P. P went to school thrilled to learn that Mrs. Ferreira is trying to get onto Prodigy (a math game/system/curriculum) and he is going to get "special challenges" (assignments) to complete soon. Then, he came home thrilled that he got a lesson in division. He knows how to do division but gets there in a very convoluted way, going about using his knowledge of the theory of numbers rather than "knowing" how to do division. For him, using math and learning new ways to manipulate numbers and puzzles is thrilling. I see the spark in his eye again, not only from being with friends, but from learning something new. After remote learning and having to do busy work well below his level for school, the spark faded. Thank you all for doing what you do and being who you are.

We have four children, one in nearly every program level, at Oak Meadow. We could not love this school, the staff, or the wonderfully diverse families more if we wanted to. Since I cannot keep my children with me forever and always, Oak Meadow is the next best place to home. The education is beyond top notch. I have watched children grow and move through the programs, and it is stunning to see what this style of education can do to create well rounded, incredibly informed, self assured, thoughtful, and caring individuals. I truly cannot say enough about the staff, the atmosphere, the love, and the education at Oak Meadow. I am thankful to have had nine years here already, but also to have eight more years at Oak Meadow before my last graduates. We LOVE this school!