A Home and School Community

I put my first child in the OC because I wanted to be part of her school life. When my husband and I chose to adopt her, it was because we wanted the experience of raising her. We didn’t want to shuttle her off to a day care or school for someone else to raise. When Alysha was old enough to attend preschool, I found a parent co-op, and when she was old enough to attend elementary school, I heard about the OC and was glad to be able to continue participating in her education. The OC community became important not only as a support in educating our children but also as a community of families with similar goals—helping our children to get the best education we can provide. Other committed parents provide activities for our kids that the teacher and my husband and I cannot. David and I are both artists and can provide techniques and insights for their creative efforts, but we also want them to be able to work with adults who are dedicated to and enthusiastic about math, science, history, ecology, and other aspects of today’s world. The community extends beyond educating our children at school. For 10 years, our family has gone on OC class camping trips sponsored and planned by parents, exploring places we might have never seen on our own. With our children’s classmates and their families we have hiked, shared food, and shared good experiences and bad, warm and cold, the joy of discovery and of watching our children grow. We have learned about children and how they learn and about how to work with other adults. We have developed deep friendships with other families in our children’s classes and have memories and photo albums full of good family experiences that include our OC community. The children’s learning is enhanced by the caring evident in the OC community. For example, the community supports its members in times of family crisis by providing emotional support and practical support—bringing meals, providing child care, and helping with carpools and other responsibilities.