Blog

Thanksgiving is the time when we all pause to count our blessings, to give thanks, be with family and friends, and be grateful. While it is always good to stop and focus on gratitude at this time, it is even better to continue this attitude of gratitude all year long if we are to experience the benefits.

Progressive Schools, traditional schools, boarding schools, day schools, college-prep schools, parochial schools, public schools, private schools, magnet schools and home schools…the choices are many! Making the right choice for your child can be a bit daunting for parents. As a Head of an independent school, I get to answer the question, “What’s so special about your school?” and “What does it mean that Virginia Chance School is a progressive school?”

Visit any classroom at Virginia Chance School, and you will see two highly qualified teachers - not one teacher, not one teacher and an assistant teacher or aide, and not a teacher and a special education teacher and not two part-time teachers job sharing. In every preschool and elementary classroom, from twos through fifth grade, there are two equal lead classroom teachers.

Dear Families and Friends of Virginia Chance School,

As a school, we are dedicated to providing a culture of mutual respect. We invite each other to understand and value multiple perspectives, identify and reject stereotypes and biases, and work for equity and peace within the school and beyond. We all have a role to play, as educators, parents, and community members. Here are some resources that were sent out to faculty and staff that we've found helpful:

The Zones of Regulation curriculum is a platform we use all throughout Chance to strengthen our social-emotional learning. The learning activities we will explore this year are designed to help the students recognize when they are in different states called "zones," identify others' feelings, and use strategies to process challenging emotions to return to a calm, peaceful state. This ability to consciously regulate their actions, in turn, leads to increased control and problem-solving skills.

The good news is that while standardized tests do play a role in our world, much of our concern, particularly around ERBs, is an overreaction. One of the benefits of a school like Virginia Chance School is that our children are protected from high-stakes testing (definition: testing with a direct consequence attached to the result). We are truly able to use these tests as they were designed—to inform our teaching practice and your child(ren)’s learning.

Choosing grace over guilt. How do you stop the guilt, turn off the “You should have (or shouldn’t have)” and “You aren’t a good parent, worker, teacher, spouse, partner, etc.”? How can you give yourself grace and put that guilt out of your mind and out of your heart? Here are six suggestions:

Don’t get me wrong...COVID-19 is not a good thing; it is not a positive thing. It is serious and can be a deadly virus for those at risk. What I mean by this question is, are there already some positive things that are an outcome or by-product of this coronavirus pandemic. Having and developing a growth mindset and positive attitude is a positive outcome of this COVID-19 outbreak, we'll show you how to reframe it in this blog:

These five Social/Emotional tenets - self awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, social awareness and relationship skills - are the most critical social and emotional learning competencies for effective learning to take place in a classroom and for an individual to reach his or her full potential.

Talking with young children about race and identity issues can feel daunting for parents and even educators. We want to provide you with a few resources that address why we should start or continue these conversations and some suggestions to help you along the journey, especially as we celebrate Martin Luther King’s life and legacy on Monday.