SYDNEY RAMSDELL: “I’m a single mother and I’ve relied on these Opportunity Scholarships for my son to be in school.”
I have two kids in school and they attend Montessori Visions Academy. I have an eight-year-old son, Jude, in 3rd grade and a five-year-old, Indigo, who is in Kindergarten. Jude loves learning and because of his education thus far, he is reading at almost a high school level.
I chose Montessori because I believe that conventional education is not designed to build upon our natural talents and ability to learn. Most children don’t learn that well sitting in a box for six hours a day, writing on paper and being forced to listen to somebody speak. Sometimes we want to draw or read or do math and just because that’s not what is being taught at that time, sometimes it stifles children’s natural love for learning.
The Montessori method is very much involved in taking what the child wants to do and guiding them to brighter horizons. If a child wants to do math all day, they can do that, they just have to finish their other work by the end of the week. They need to do all these things, but at their own pace. Studies have shown they learn a lot faster this way. The Montessori curriculum is world-renowned and Montessori Visions Academy is the only accredited Montessori school in Nevada. They actually train Montessori teachers at that school. I feel like I hit the jackpot with this school.
I went to public school here in Las Vegas and I hated it. Most of the kids that I grew up didn’t graduate. A lot of them dropped out because they weren’t being challenged in school and didn’t have the support from home. I think the choice for a better school is a better place to start, while we are working on the education system in this state.
“I’m a single mother and I’ve relied on these Opportunity Scholarships for my son to be in school.”
The Opportunity Scholarship program is what made it possible for my son to get a better education. This year, I was able to apply for my daughter but we weren’t able to receive one for her due to the legislation that was just passed. My son only received a partial scholarship this year so we’re caught in the middle right now of not knowing what to do. The school he’s going to is smaller and they don’t have the means to offer in-house scholarships, so they can only do so much. I’m a single mother and I’ve relied on these Opportunity Scholarships for my son to be in school. It is vital that we have the scholarships to attend the school.
It is important for families in Nevada and in the country to have school choice because what is conventionally available to us is not always the best choice and it’s important in a free country, in a free world, that we have choice no matter where we go. It is proven that what people learn when they’re children dictates what kind of people they grow up to be. If we are not teaching our children the right things and if we can’t choose what we think is best for our children, then what kind of society are we building?
https://www.federationforchildren.org/voices-archive/sydney-ramsdell/