The School Day: part one

Some readers are wondering, surely, what our school day is like. When we started the school ten years ago we took for granted several things: that teenagers don't eat well, they don't spend enough meaningful time with adults, and they don't sleep enough.

We committed ourselves to an expensive, but thorough approach to food. The kids would be offered a variety of quality, vegetarian food and would help with the cooking and the cleaning. They would be given some sort of breakfast and allowed to snack at will. We would try to shape their eating habits by exposure and example, and try to encourage self-awareness. We would not get into conflicts about food.

For the most part it works. Most of our graduates develop good eating habits and have a creative, enjoyable relationship to food. Sometimes I think this is the most important contribution we make.

We have between 25 and 30 full and part time students. At any given time, we have 5-7 adults on board. Classes range between individual instruction (in music, living skills, reading, math) and our largest classes of 10 to 12 students. We have one staff person who provides all-around support to the teachers, and a three day a week therapist. Lunches, free periods, and class time all almost always time spent between teachers and students. In addition, several students require quite a bit of support outside of school and throughout the summer.

Sleep. We start at 9:00. This extra hour or two of sleep is crucial. Many of our students don't get up until 7:30 or 8:00. Most seem to go to bed around 11 or 12. The emotional and intellectual tasks of high school are simply out of reach of many students if they are only getting 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night.

We begin each day with a meditation. Some students choose zazen, some a walking meditation. This period lasts about 20 minutes. Generally, we discourage the younger students from doing zazen. We have six acres of grounds, and a little movement in the fresh air does them well.

This is an area to discuss more: what benefits, if any, do the students believe they derive from meditation? We should explore this. We offer some simple instruction, and offer classes in it most of the year.

Lunch is at 12:30. It last an hour. It begins with a moment of silence.

The day ends at 4:00. It ends with a brief period of meditation.