If there was a guiding principle for the Claymont Children’s School, it might have been to teach children that learning was fun.
As my son was reaching school-age, I became concerned how his vivaciousness would be received in public school. I had visions of him sitting in the corner of a classroom with an old-fashioned dunce cap on his head. Or, in the more modern times of the early eighties, being put on drugs. I also wondered if attending West Virginia public schools would lower his academic aspirations.
Admission
Instead, he was admitted into the Claymont Children’s School when the teacher opened a door and he fell in. While I did laundry in another part of the Great Barn, Chris had his ear glued to the kindergarten door. The teacher came to me describing this and said it broke her heart and would it be ok with me if he started Kindergarten a half year early?
Thus began my son’s education.
On the first day of first grade, the teacher informed me that Chris had entered the classroom and run around until he found the biggest, heaviest book there. He came up to her desk and slammed it down exclaiming, “I want to learn to read, NOW!”
Claymont Children’s School had no principal or administration outside of a Head Teacher. The teachers were autonomous in their classroom but were essentially a work group. They met periodically with Pierre Elliot, the spiritual director at Claymont. The school grew with the first kindergarten class until it reached sixth grade.
Continuous Education
Since the teachers were all part of the community at Claymont, both adults and children knew each other on a first name basis. The informality was part of an open “continuous education” culture that stemmed from having been on JG Bennett’s Basic Courses. We were all there to practice living the Work.
Rather than teaching work ideas or practices to our children, they were surrounded by adults who were working on themselves and with each other.
At school, the teachers used the children’s play as avenues for learning. When we thinned the bamboo grove for instance, the boys started making teepees and forts all over the front lawn of the Barn. Rather than making them clean up the mess, it became a lesson in geometry and architecture that went on for weeks.
A tradition evolved as part of the kindergarten curriculum to teach the story of Sidhartha. Younger siblings would look forward to when it would be their turn to hear the story.
Discipline took the turn of sending the older children out to run around the football-length Barn. By the time they came back exhilarated and winded, they were ready to settle down.
Observations
One day, Chirs’s 5th grade teacher stopped me to ask, “is something going on at home?” Chirs was acting out in class and he was concerned. What a difference to have a teacher be able to approach me as a friend rather than in a formal meeting. After some reflection I saw that Chris was not getting the attention he needed. The situation was addressed and soon he was back to his normal self.
Our daughter was quite different from Chirs. Where he was noisy and active, she was quiet and introspective. In second grade, she told me that she was shy. I flatly refused to believe it exclaiming, “You aren’t shy, you’re my daughter! How can you be shy?”
Not long after that I went to observe her classroom, a habit I had developed visiting Chris’s. I had several impressions that day.
There was a new boy who was not part of the community, but his family had heard about the school and enrolled him. What I noticed, was that this child seemed chained to his desk, as if he needed permission to get up. All the other kids treated their desks as resource centers. They’d retrieve something, then trot off somewhere else in the room to explore or work. The energy of flow and industry created a relaxed atmosphere of engagement.
Some Insights
The other thing I had noticed that day, was that my daughter was shy. By being able to show up without fanfare I learned something important both for myself and for my daughter.
Later in life, wondering if his high school had prepared him for college, my son told me everything he needed to know to be successful in college he had learned at the Claymont Children’s School.
I believe it. What were the name of the teachers? Is there a reason for not giving their names?