Traditional curriculums are good general yardsticks for the average child in a particular subject or grade, and as such they are a good general starting place. We use New York State's curriculum as our default guide, but our low ratios and customized approach allow us to assess individual needs – strengths as well as weaknesses – and adjust the details accordingly. Some children thrive with lots of structure and paperwork; others flourish with a very unorthodox, more tactile approach. Some soar years ahead in several areas but lag “below level” in one; others struggle with most academic areas but are gifted musicians and mathematicians. Most fall within the “normal” range in most areas.
Our flexible structure also allows us to take advantage of countless opportunities to enrich our lives in ways no traditional program could allow. Our weekly field trips (usually three afternoon trips and one all day trip each month) are an integral part of our curriculum. So is our willingness to postpone a scheduled activity in order to take advantage of an impromptu discussion on trading stock futures. (The particular incident I am recalling was sparked by a parent who dropped by and became engrossed in a good gab with the highschoolers.) We encourage balanced, reflective living, and from this state of mind academic growth, including traditional curriculums, flows as a desirable tool needed to explore the universe, the “means” to a rich, fulfilling life rather than the “end” itself.
We recognize the fact that traditional curriculums have many arbitrary aspects and are generally misused; the rigid schedules, pressure, coercion, and judgment children frequently endure in an effort to meet these otherwise worthy goals inflict immeasurable damage on the vulnerable soul of the developing child. Most schools, for example, present fractions at a certain point in a certain grade. Some students grasped the concept effortlessly. Many others struggle and begin to catch on in a few days, proud of their small victory. A fair number invariably failed to make any connection, and are forced to endure having it pounded in day after day after day, suffering no small amount of frustration along the way.
It is with this latter approach that we are drastically at odds with traditional pedagogy. At Crossroads, an, “It’s too hard – I can’t do it!” attitude is unacceptable. But if a child makes a good effort but grows frustrated, we back off. We try again every few weeks, months, or years until it clicks. We’ve seen a few children take quite a long time, but never one who didn’t eventually readily grasp fractions. It's like waiting until the fruit is ripe on the vine, when it falls easily into your hand, rather than forcing it off prematurely. What difference does it make if it happens in fourth grade or eighth grade? How do you decide when to push a little with firm, patient persistence and when to let it go? We struggle to stay in the moment with each child, humble enough to remember it’s a judgment call every time, one best made with input from the parents. This attitude never fails to earn children’s respect.
Our curriculum also includes manipulative equipment that helps build a solid, concrete foundation for later, more abstract intellectual endeavors in language, math, the sciences, and geography. For example, the children have traced individual "Sandpaper Letters" and learned their sounds long before they put the sounds together to form words to read. When they are old enough to use pencils and paper to work with math, the abstract numerals have tangible, concrete meaning for our children because they have been adding and subtracting with beads in the form of units, ten bars, hundred squares, and thousand cubes for quite some time. They see and feel that the hundred-square has ten “bars” in it, each of which has ten units. When they learn carrying, they don't just "...put down the three and carry the one." They see that with thirteen beads they may exchange ten of them for a ten-bar, and the result is an extra ten with three units left. Ask to view some of our manipulatives (fractions are my favorite!) when you tour our school!