Today is one of those days where it just hits me: how lucky I am to have found the school I have for my kids.  The amazing things they get to do make me wish I was in elementary school again.

On a walking field trip last week, Zoë’s class picked up pumpkins and other gourds to observe and study in class.  Yesterday, the kids decided they wanted to bake one of the pumpkins.  Then today, the class decided to use the cooked pumpkin to make a pumpkin pie.  So, one of the teachers made a quick trip to the store for supplies and they make a fresh pumpkin pie.

This all happened while Noah’s first grade class was on a field trip to the schools 28 (or so) acre extended class to help plot out the future orchard and find the sugar maple trees the class will be tapping for fresh maple syrup later this winter.

All of this is led by the interest of the students.  All of their learning is ground in experience.  I could not be happier that my kids get to learn in this type of environment.  That they not only learn but they do.  They don’t only learn how maple syrup comes from trees, they get to tap trees and collect it.

I think about this amazing education (that we are able to pay for) and I think why aren’t more schools like this?  Why don’t more schools valuing doing and experience?  Why aren’t more schools harnessing the interest of kids to deliver curriculum?

I am thankful that I can afford this type of education.  But I think everyone should get an education this good–it doesn’t have to be exactly like the one my kids get–but the quality should be the same.   Every kids should have not just access to–but should have a quality education experience.  Every kid should be taught to think and to create and to experience learning.  So, while my kids are lucky, I will continue to work to ensure all kids have access to a quality education.  Because education is a fundamental right. I can’t be happy just because my kids are getting a first class education.  My kids and their school as a whole are a small piece of the population.  Just because I know my kids are being served well doesn’t mean I can just sit back and not worry about the 10s of thousands in my own city not being served.

We are all in this together.  We have to ensure that every kids is being educated.  We have to pull together and not stand for a system that doesn’t education a huge % of the future work force.

I don’t exactly know how we do this, but I do know that I am lucky to work in education and get to see the potential in the new options that are being created for kids who are being served the least.

It’s easy to turn our back when we are fine.  But until everyone is “fine,” we have a lot of work to do.