If you could design a school

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I know a lot of us homeschool because there really isn't a proper school for our kids. But I'd like to brainstorm a what if.

Leaving aside what any system is willing or able to do, what would be a proper school for kids with differences that aren't met in traditional schools?

Roughly, I'd think of a school with a small population of kids of varying ages and abilities. The school culture is one of acceptance and understanding of differences. There are places to be alone and places to socialize. There are materials for projects of whatever type. There are supportive adults who are there to answer questions, and watch over development. Sure some kids need extra help with reading and such. Teachers at this school should know how to teach kids with varying learning styles. They should also know how to use a child's special interests to leverage learning. There are no classes as such. A major part of the teachers' job at this school would be to facilitate social skills development while respecting each child's integrity as a person.

There are schools such as Montessori, or the democratic schools that are good, but the problem is that they are expensive.

I think you've struck on a lot of it. Smaller class sizes, less sensory overload, more individual attention, a place to escape unquestioned, and atmosphere of acceptance.

My son's elementary school did have anti-rooms that are used for a variety of purposes, and it was useful for him to escape into there while he was learning to self-regulate in the classroom. While we kept that accomodation in his IEP all through the school, he stopped using it after a year.

The Middle School doesn't have such rooms, so we have asked for permission to go into Resource unquestioned, when (if) he feels he needs it. Again, even though he hasn't used the option for years, it feels important to us, that he knows he has that available.

We do have a diverse district that emphasizes tolerance of all kinds, and actively teaches it, so that has been a plus.

I like that autism school near Chicago that doesn't have loud vents, bells ringing all the time, and the windows are up high enough you don't see things going on outside. To me the sensory distraction was always the worst (and still is at work).

I'm an advocate of child-led learning, and like the idea of democratic schools (for all kids, not just those on the spectrum).

Just today I ran across a free-learning school in Canada that is funded by the government (so not expensive).

I'm starting to look into how to start a charter school. There's only one elementary charter school in my area. I don't know if that's the answer yet. Not to mention the whole idea scares me.

We are moving my EvilBoy into a charter school this week.
I'll let ya all know how it goes.

The class sizes are smaller,
and all of the teachers are educated in autie/aspie.

There is a lot of self paced computer education available.

I have high hopes.

I went to an LD school that was way outside the box and I thrived there.
Unfortunately it had to shut down because it couldn't comply with new
arbitrary laws passed for the benefit of the Teacher's Union.
It may have had something to do with few teachers teaching multiple subjects,
maybe that phys ed was not taught by a "coach", but in any case it was such
a different kind of environment that it could easily fail to meet arbitrary standards.
It may have been because the teachers there weren't members of the union,
they actually cared about the school and students, and almost nothing of politics.
Most of them lived on the grounds.

To me it was like a magic garden. Before it became a school it was a farm.
Elective intracurricular activities included skiing, horseback riding, swimming,
hiking (there was a maze of trails covering about 300 acres), music,
arts and crafts, wood shop (where we actually helped build the place),
computers, yoga, and even almost any topic of interest to us.
There were no bell-clocks so there was no strict schedule. Very informal.
Formality would have only been relevant to a typical strictly formal function.
There were many field trips.
There were very interesting educational movies, and movies of our field trips also.
There were couches instead of desks, but there was a blackboard, and
the rest of the walls were bookshelves full of books like a library.
There were the standardized tests, but "teaching for them" only happened
shortly before it was time to take them.
There were only intramural sports, no official teams playing against other schools.

One thing I remember doing is exploring every single trail and making a huge map.
I did too many things to remember with the computer, including programming a
virtual reality game about the whole place, based on my map.
Another is, some of us would write happy stories,
and read them to the class, if we could and would.

I knew it was "the best school in the world" as soon as I went with my parents
to see it and walked into the classroom and everyone was singing THE CAT CAME BACK.

What a wonderful difference! Instead of being harassed in halls by classmates between
classes and being very shy, there was joyful singing together.

That school was nothing like a prison. Public school was all like a prison.

After that school closed, it's large estate became a wildlife sanctuary or nature preserve.

If you still cannot imagine what it was like, try to imagine a Not-Summer camp.
I think it would be very hard to make schools like that here again now.

That sounds like heaven. I'm sorry it closed. Was this a private school?

It would have 8-20 children classes or would have 30 with one aide who serves the needs of the class and can help as needed. I would rather setup the class for success than to see that there may be problems.

Yes. I think my school district paid my tuition. They couldn't do much else for me , I guess.

ValMikeSmith, There is a school like that here in Austin, TX. It is private, but basically fits the description.

I'm happy to hear that, and hope not only that there are more schools out there like this,
but also that people are aware of them as a possible choice,
and most important, that they are as good for those who go to them as it was for me.

One thing our local high school did was to put tennis balls on each leg of all the chairs. That way, you don't hear the awful sound of the chair scraping against the hard floor.

I'm really happy with my son's school, the support they offer and the acceptance of him as he is. He has a full time aid in the classroom and who hovers about in break time.
They work hard to meet his needs , but do not exclude him from anything. e.g with Physical education ( which is really hard for him, since he has Cerebral Palsy as well as ASD ) they recently had a jump rope day, that all the students were taking part in ( to raise money for the heart foundation ) There is no WAY my son could skip with a rope, but they had him jumping in and out of a hoop on the ground and over a rope on the ground with another child counting how many times he could jump. He was set up with everyone else ( not put to one side ) and loved to take part with the other kids.
They could have just said " he can't jump " and sent him off to the library or something .. but they ALWAYS look for a way to include him so he can have a sense of taking part and achieving as well.
He loves his school and I have to say I have been very impressed at how the staff work with him and allow for him, while still having an expectation of him that is realistic and gives him something to work towards. The kids at the school are terrific with him too and he has many friends. I wish there were more schools out there like this that shared this attitude.