Circus School

There are quite a few children that travel with the show (though most are in trailers and not on the train) so there is a teacher that also travels with us. It must be a really challenging job for a teacher, not just because there varies between 10 and 14 students, ranging from Kindergarten through to 9th grade but also the different languages and the main hurdle, a class room in a different location every week. If they are lucky class will be in a fair sized room with desks and chairs and far enough away from the arena floor that the children are not distracted by the music. Oh and Internet connection is always a bonus. Some times the buildings have very limited space and rooms and on the odd occasion the school will be situated in a private box with just a curtain separating them from the show taking place beside them. Those weeks it is a struggle.

The lucky thing about the school at the moment though is Miss Sara Greenback who is an amazing teacher and Mrs Darcy Ford who helps her. I really am in awe of them and how they manages to get so much accomplished. They have some how managed to make a school that the children seem to enjoy going to (in fact some times it seems they can't get rid of them), but also have been learning as well. The lower grades are taught using The Calvert School which is really good and the higher grades use The American School, both via distant learning systems.

Willow seems to really embrace this type of learning though I'm sure it wouldn't and isn't for everyone. She loves working at her own pace and putting in extra work which has helped her get ahead a grade. Academically she has become quite competitive, we wonder sometimes where she has got this from. Her favourite subject is mathematics and again we wonder where she has got this from. On both counts though we are not complaining.

http://homeschool.calvertschool.org/