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The tales my daughter tells about school everyday. “Mama! I was almost eaten by a sheep but saved by a buffalo in Mandarin class today!” A skit. She was talking about being in a skit. And when a friend struggled to hold up the sack in a potato sack race, “Treat it like it’s your underwear,” my daughter suggested, “if you make it a must, you won’t drop it!” That. Was PE.
Learning is play and problem-solving is fun for my daughter and, with her PA family, she’s at home. It’s not just the kids, it’s the grown-ups, too, as in staff and parents, everyone at PA just seems genuinely happy to be around each other. I’m talking let’s-coordinate-Halloween-costumes happy! Let’s-have-school-wide-weekend-playdates happy! It’s a whole different level of engagement. It’s infectious. It’s PA PRIDE. It’s modeling at its best, led by
superhuman principal Ms. Teresa. Preach and it likely goes out the other ear; model it and it imprints on my child forever.
If you’ve seen the PA curriculum, it’s academically intense. Yet, my daughter thinks it’s mostly fun and games, and is thriving on a healthy dosage of PA’s positive reinforcements, an audience of adoring teachers and supportive peers cheering for her. Of homework, she‘s generally nonchalant, “It’s like chores for you. I just do them.” And she does. Of testing, she actually looks forward to them, in the same way I imagine an athlete does competitions or a performer does showtimes. She shrugs off bad performances and beams with pride on good ones. I’ve yet to detect her feeling overwhelmed or pressured.
For anyone unfamiliar with the benefits of multilingual learning, PBL or individualized learning, I can’t recommend them enough. Those — integrated with SEL, arts and music — are curriculum ideals for me and
PA delivers them expertly.
Communication with school is near instantaneous. Feedback from teachers is with breadth and depth and, most impressively, with coordinated and targeted strategies on how they, as a teaching team, plan to continue supporting and challenging my child.
My daughter also loves the cooking and gardening classes offered in aftercare. That I no longer feel a need to supplement her learnings or chauffeur her around for enrichment classes is a huge relief. Would be nice
if she were to plow me a garden at home. Plenty of free dirt here. But, you know, I’ll keep finding the budget for her to plow that nurturing PA soil because the tales she tells of school are priceless.
~T. Nguyen (Parent)
I love how much attention the teachers and staff give to each student at PA. It creates a friendly and inviting environment where my daughter looks forward to going to school everyday. The teachers are not only teaching the kids reading, writing, math, and history but to also have confidence, desire knowledge, and to always be curious.
We're in the Chinese immersion program, but there is also Spanish enrichment. I was so surprised when only after a few days, my 5yo daughter came home and started happily singing a Spanish song and using Spanish words around the house like it was normal.
Ms. Teresa, the Principal, is the highlight of our whole PA experience. If you speak to her about the school, the students, and the teachers, you can see how much she cares about all of them. It gives me a lot of confidence to drop my children off at school everyday.
~Don H. (Parent)
Each teacher shows a passion and attention to detail for teaching my son. The administration and staff assure that my son has the best learning experience. The level of communication among the faculty, staff and administration are top notch.
~Kent H. (Parent)