I’ve learned through some pretty tough lessons that sometimes the best path for each of us is one we hadn’t ever thought of, and probably because we hadn’t seen it done before.  However, once the mind is awakened to new possibilities, things begin to fall into place, somewhat effortlessly. The challenge remains in getting others to see what you can see. Sharing a vision requires that others are ready to accept a new path, and they must have trust in the process of discovery (and in the person or people who can see the road ahead with clarity).

A parent from One Spark Academy, one who is new to homeschooling this year and whose family has found incredible joy in our inclusive community, shared this quote by German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer:

All truth passes through three stages:  First it is ridiculed.  Second, it is violently opposed.  Third, it is accepted as being self evident.

We both agreed that OSA seeps in over time. We are offering something that is out of the box, that which is calling into question the regulatory behemoth that has been public education for too many families. Her family was able to make the leap much more easily than some because she knew us, and trusted us. For families who don’t know us, the proposition that it can be so easy to get what you pay for and what you are promised in education is just daunting. They think, “What’s the catch?” And here’s the catch: there is none. We as OSA educators have empowered ourselves to say: “Here’s what we are providing. Here’s what we can do.” And then parents can make empowered choices.

As the founder of One Spark Academy, it is my goal to ensure we deliver on what we promise. If we can’t, then we will change what we are promising, and will communicate that change to families. We surely can’t do everything, but it’s abundantly clear that what parents and students appreciate so much about what we do is that in every step, in every day, we have clear goals in mind: to do good things, to be kind, to provide a safe haven for students, to educate our students well, to look forward, and to speak the truth.

I’ve learned that this openness can throw people off. Our simplicity threatens the tightly-bound regulation of educational institutions. As someone who lived with the paperwork overflow for years, constantly racing to find a place to slow down, and who questioned many things I was doing and whether or not they were good for kids, the clouds have lifted. Certainly One Spark Academy is not the only way. I’m a firm believer that there are still many wonderful paths and pockets in the educational system: public, private, and at home.

But, you’ve probably experienced the dilemma of knowing something doesn’t feel right, but not knowing a way not to do it. A couple of weeks ago, the Conejo Schools Foundation and the Open Classroom Leadership Magnet hosted a talk by Alfie Kohn. Alfie Kohn, an author of many well-known books about progressive education, basically told the audience that we (as a nation of educators and the parents who support the system) are doing it all wrong. Testing, homework, competition, a focus on achievement, busy work to the hilt… all are systems that adults seem to value but which push children to forget their childhoods and forget what it means to find their passions. When fifth graders are worrying about college, he sees a problem. And, so do I. What stood out about the night was that it was evident that many of the teachers and parents in the room agreed with what Mr. Kohn was saying, or at least some of it. But, I’ll have to bet that every one of those people walked out of that room thinking, “Bold ideas. But how can I do that? I can’t stop testing. I can’t stop doing x, y, z, a,b,c…” And unless you want to leave the system like I did, a move that is not feasible for most people, they are right.

At One Spark Academy, we’ve had the chance to start small, and keep it simple. By eliminating many of the obstacles that educational  regulation and policy have created, we instead have simplicity and personal attention. Just good teachers who love kids, who do an outstanding job to educate them in a safe and healthy environment, who operate with complete honesty with families, and who (and this is the crazy part) are rested enough to come to work each day with a smile and our creative spirits intact.

-Lori Peters

So, about lunch at One Spark… I bet you’ve never seen middle school age children eat lunch like this.

When we talked about having “Healthy Lunch”, we weren’t kidding. Each week, Laura carefully plans the menu for the next week, often including fresh, donated vegetables and eggs from our families’ gardens. Our mornings start with students having the opportunity to help prep the day’s meal, from the chopping of vegetables (for salads, sauces, and sautés), to the cracking of hardboiled eggs, to the breading of eggplant, to the gutting of pumpkins (to make a pie we enjoyed the same day). Our students are learning to not only eat well, but to be a part of the process of enjoying the preparation of real food that feeds their growing bodies and their souls. Some of our students break away from a game of pool before class starts to get a spot at the cutting board.

Beyond just freshly prepared food, we make very little waste. Anything left on our plates or at the end of the week is composted… Kay’s chickens are very thankful. Our meals are also served on all reusable plates with real silverware! And, napkins are real cloth, laundered regularly. Beverages may include  freshly squeezed lemonade, home brewed iced tea, mint water, water with cantaloupe (yes, delicious!), or just plain wonderful water. You will never see a Snapple or a juice box as an option.

When lunch is over, students are asked to volunteer to help wash and dry the dishes, and each week it gets easier to find willing participants. Our One Spark students are learning to be a team. In fact, today after I finished my lunch, I walked into the kitchen to find 5 students who had (on their own) started the washing, and were having a blast doing so.

I was prompted to write another post about healthy food after hearing more about what students are eating at local schools. I challenge anyone reading this post to send it on, and ask their school what is being done to inspire students to eat better.

While it is true it is much easier to do what we do on a small scale, and as a private organization, I do know this: if the choices are healthy and there is no pressure to eat unhealthy foods, students WILL eat better. Schools have to stop taking the easy route…using junk food to fundraise, or putting out carts of junk food, alongside a token orange, and expecting kids to have a healthy attitude about healthy food. Providing those temptations on a daily basis is just not wise. Junk food may be quick and easy now, but the costs down the line are not worth it.

Teaching children healthy habits is one of the most important things we can do- and in order to get kids to buy in, we really have to believe it, for ourselves and the students. Our students have tried more new foods in 8 weeks than some have in their lives. And guess what? We have heard from parents that, when not with us, our students are (more often than not) making a healthier choice. We are so proud of them!

Come by for lunch sometime! Better yet, get involved, because lunch in our community is a special time, for everyone.

Top photo: Spaghetti squash, tomato sauce with kale, and fresh parmesan. Mixed baby greens and vegetables with freshly made olive oil-balsamic dressing.

Above: fruit salad with grapes, kiwi, apples, oranges and pomegranate seeds. Mixed salad with feta, almonds, and more.

Below: Prepping eggplant parmesan in the kitchen before class.

Last year, I published an essay for my former school called “A Case for Healthy Lunch”. Its message is certainly one that bears revisiting, in support of the current push in our community by some incredibly proactive parents to change the menus at local schools and provide students with better nutrition. Another celebration! Yet, this movement still needs help. Therefore, with some minor updates, I’d like to make this case (from an educator’s standpoint) once again.

We as an educational community can’t afford to ignore the quality of food we are asking children to put into their bodies, and we need everyone’s help and understanding to create a system where healthy lunches are not only valued, but looked forward to. If you read our Philosophy page, I mentioned our commitment to whole child education. Any school or program, or “non school” academy, that promotes whole child education cannot and should not be doing so unless there is an authentic and dedicated effort to ensure that wholesome nutrition is valued by all members of the community. After all, there are few things more instrumental in determining the health, wellness, and stamina of students (or anyone for that matter!) than the food they put into their bodies. And, we at One Spark take this commitment very seriously; it is our intent to try and “walk the walk” when it comes to nutrition. After all, how can we espouse whole child education without looking at the foods we promote in our daily lives? How can we expect children to develop healthy habits, or understand the importance of moderation in snacks and treats, if there is no peer group with whom to practice?

Few can argue that by creating a culture and environment that supports good health, we have a chance to change the patterns and habits that children are developing. Unfortunately, we must first look at some uncomfortable statistics to understand the urgency of the healthy food movement in schools that is gaining momentum. For one, it is believed that 1 in 3 children will develop diabetes either as children or adults. Type 2 diabetes is most often caused by a lack of physical activity and poor diet, which includes the over consumption of sugar and foods that raise sugar levels in the body. In fact, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is expected that 366 million people will have diabetes by 2030, just about double today’s figures. Once diabetes kicks in, it is noted that fewer than 5% of type 2 diabetics can make the lifestyle changes required for treatment. After all, sugar is an addictive substance. The best way to control type 2 diabetes is to prevent it in the first place, and the number one way to prevent it is to change one’s environment. The saying “Out of sight, out of mind” is helpful to remember, which is why I’ve asked that certain foods not show up at One Spark Academy, and that students not use the vending machines on site at the Teen Center during instructional time (see Student Agreement). Secondly, the increased portion sizes that children are getting used to, the prevalence of fast food, and the empty calories in many processed foods which children regularly eat, combined with a reduction in physical activity, is making obesity rates in children go through the roof. Most children who are obese spend their lifetime being obese, since habits developed in childhood are hard to break.  I’m sure there are many more facts and figures that we can all drum up, but the point is clear: education about health has to happen at home AND in the learning environment, since the environment amongst peers is a huge factor in determining what children think and how they behave.

Just to clarify things a bit, I’m not a dietitian, or even someone who claims to know a lot about food science. I could certainly eat healthier food more often, and less food altogether (the latter problem being that I’m a product of an Italian mother). However, what I can do is recognize what food is and what food is not. I don’t kid myself when eating non-nutritive food, by thinking that because it says “High in Calcium” that I shouldn’t be eating my spinach and yogurt (although some varieties of yogurt have as much refined sugar as a can of Coke). Additionally, like many healthy adults, I recognize that the more our factories have taken whole ingredients out of foods and replaced them with chemicals, preservatives, and processing in order to make them “less caloric and more nutritious”, and then combined this with unrealistic portion sizes, the fatter and more unhealthy as a society we have become. As consumers and shoppers, we can make informed choices. Unfortunately, most children can’t make these choices because they just don’t know what real food is and what it is not, and they are not doing the shopping. They don’t know where their food comes from either. As one case in point, you may have seen the video of chef Jamie Oliver where he interviewed a classroom of children, and the students couldn’t recognize a tomato from a zucchini. (If you have not seen it, the link is imbedded below.) Furthermore, there is very little ability to determine how many treats are too much, when processed foods and treats can be a 3-meal a day occurrence. During one school week in the 2009-2010 school year, while in the public system, I had four afternoons where well-meaning parents brought in unexpected birthday treats (after all, birthdays only come once a year, right?), and on that Friday we had a rewarded ice cream party (a school decision, not mine). Thankfully, a few of my students recognized that what was being served was not really ice cream, but a totally processed alternative, and passed. Generally speaking though, when this overall lack of knowledge is combined with an addiction to sugar, salt and certain chemicals, we’re in big trouble.

During the last seven years of my teaching in the local district of the public school system, I experimented with “Healthy Lunch” in my own classroom, and the results of this “experiment” were fundamental to my educational philosophy: if I am to promote whole child education, I will have an unwavering approach to helping children establish healthier habits. During my years of hosting Healthy Lunch, which was only once a week since I had to do this in the sanctity of my own classroom, I developed a few important conclusions. Firstly, the more people there are who eat healthy food, the more fun it is. When it’s “cool at school” to eat well, more students will bring in real food to snack on and enjoy for lunch. They’ll talk about their foods, they’ll outdo each other in how many veggies they’ll pack into a salad, and they’ll share a delicious homemade concoction. On the other hand, when there is an absence of community support regarding healthy eating, as there is in most schools, even the best of intentions get sabotaged. While in the public education system, I often found wholesome sandwiches, whole fruits, and entire salads thrown into the trash outside my door, or lunchboxes left for days with homemade tuna salad in them. On one occasion, I found two Hershey bar wrappers right next to a beautiful untouched sandwich, in the trash. Why? Because a peer had a roll up, cookies, or chips, or that child simply needed to rush off to play.  The second conclusion is that most kids have no idea what healthy food is, and this requires real instruction and a commitment to change. For example, students used to tell me that a granola bar should be one of their three wholesome, real food items at Healthy Lunch because “This is from Whole Foods” (which is a great place where I love to shop, no doubt, but even Whole Foods sells some processed food. How about some locally grown fruits from Whole Foods?). Or perhaps, “It’s healthy because it’s a salad.” Well, when that salad consists of iceberg lettuce, croutons, and two heaps of fat-filled dressing, it’s not better than a donut. Thirdly, teachers and parents are roles models and need to lead the way. That is why our One Spark staff will not be bringing fast food, soda or junk food onto the premises either, and we ask that all adults visiting do the same. Finally, I believe that if we spend time making a healthy lunch, we need time to enjoy it. During our days of Healthy Lunch at my former school, we’d have a rule of spending at least 15 minutes actually eating, although many kids took longer than this. For some kids, this weekly pocket of time was the most time they’d take eating lunch all week. We’d eat, talk, laugh, and feel good about the food being put into our bodies. At One Spark, we value our time eating lunch every day, for almost 30 minutes. During this time, lunch is to be enjoyed, not wasted.

If you have had the pleasure of experiencing any of our One Spark lunches (see samples below), you know we take this time very seriously! Students not only get involved in the prep and set up of lunch (yes, they chop vegetables, peel onions, squeeze lemons, and much more), but we ALL sit down together and enjoy menu items that Laura (our master food planner) has organized: sautéed vegetables over whole grain pasta, quinoa salad, butternut squash tacos, tofu stir fry, Chinese chicken salad, fresh guacamole, chopped fruit kabobs… the amazing list goes on.

Therefore, my case for Healthy Lunch is really a request that everyone try something different. Please join me in making One Spark Academy a model for the “New School Lunch”, a place where kids love to eat well, where we all enjoy and understand the benefits of real food, and where we all commit to being a little healthier every day. If we ALL have a shared vision together, our philosophy at One Spark will succeed in its promise of promoting better health. The best part is that, by embracing this mindset outside of the instructional day, your whole family will reap benefits that will last a lifetime- and perhaps even a much longer one!

What better way to signal the start of a new journey than with an 8 mile hike through a canyon?

Last week, One Spark Academy opened its doors to a handful of bright, creative and motivated students…and equally motivated and excited teachers! Four days of lessons and, in a sense, what seemed like private tutoring, was combined with downtime in the game room playing pool and in the gym playing dodgeball. For lunch, we sat down together and enjoyed a healthy meal each day courtesy of Laura’s amazing menu planning and culinary prepping skills. The productivity was so high, the concentration so apparent, that very little independent work (if any!) was needed to be done at home.

On Friday, our “off day”, 16 of us gathered to walk to Sycamore Beach from Newbury Park, including six of our One Spark students. What a perfect ending to our week of health, new friends, and learning! We would find a new spark in the beauty of the outdoors.

As we came to the start of the canyon, the marine layer broke and Boney Mountain blessed us with her majestic visage. Down into the canyon we journeyed, along the way seeing splendid examples of mother nature: a coyote searching for its morning meal, deer casually eating from trees, nests and homes for critters, a snake’s path across a trail, and many black hooded parakeets that have made Sycamore Canyon their home. A recent graduate from Westlake High joined us en route (good timing for him!), as well as extended family members and friends. For one family member, it would be her last memory of California for a while, as she was boarding a plane bound for home- Australia- that night.

After 3 hours, we arrived at Sycamore Cove, its marine layer thick again and the surf pounding. Our journey was rewarded by a chance to relax and enjoy lunch on the beach, while basking in the refreshing sea air and watching the waves of high tide crash amazingly close to the tables. After a while, we loaded up into our caravan (thanks drivers!) and drove back home, feeling wonderfully alive and rested! 

Real relationships are the result of authentic connections. Without people we can truly connect to, the stuff around us means little-it’s just empty packaging. We often recognize when we’re not our true selves around others, right? It’s important to nurture and be nurtured by the relationships we have with those we work with, our families, the friends we choose, even ourselves. If we are healthy, safe, happy and authentic around others, we find inspiration and light. We accomplish much.

As a teacher, I’m connected to the families whose lives become inextricably bound with mine though the process of (in essence) co-parenting their child. And that student I have been entrusted with may forge a relationship with me that is delicate, critical, challenging, and rewarding…it is a remarkable thing. I don’t take lightly the responsibility that has been handed to me, to nurture souls and open minds, and fan a flame of curiosity, creativity, and innovation. Every effective teacher I know understands this, knows it is our job to model for students what healthy relationships are and demonstrate the values that can so easily be lost amongst peers, with the media personalities they admire, and sometimes even by the trusted adults in their lives. Some weeks, teachers are with students more than their parents, so it is critical that, in us, a child sees someone they can trust, someone who shows them authenticity, truth, honor and integrity.

One of my greatest joys has been connecting to my students. The shot above was taken in 2003, a few years after these two precious sisters left my class. They were both enduring the loss of their father, but we found a moment in time to connect over a new iPod and a sense of trust and light. A teacher’s connection with his or her student must be authentic. Without authentic connection, there is no real relationship, no trust. Without trust, there will be suffering, disconnection and fear. Productivity will lapse, and the completion of assignments or projects will be driven by coercion, not by desire, motivation, or even the trust that simply trying something challenging may lead to greater joy.

When I mention the word joy in the same context as school, especially middle school, it may seem surreal. After all, most students in grades 6th-8th are a bit off their rocker and rightly so; this state of mind combined with disconnection, distraction, and a need to define one’s identity creates chaos in the relationships that matter. Ideally, school should be a happy place, where there is connection and a majority of healthy relationships; when students are at a precarious age, those relationships are critical. I know for too many kids it’s not that way, but there’s no reason for it not to be. Life is hard enough, with unexpected challenges often created in the adult world. The classroom should be a safe place, a kind place, even when challenges arise (and they will).

Last year, I had a beautifully painted classroom door. At my request, my door was covered with peace signs, as it was a symbol of what I wanted to feel inside that room. After the first few days of school, however, it wasn’t up to that door to create a sense of peace. Only my connection to my students and the connection amongst them did. When my students had a bad day, I didn’t walk them to the door and say, “Here. This is how you should feel.” No, I connected to them. Sometimes those connections took longer than others; real relationships rarely are instantaneous.

I know these connections are hard for many teachers to make, but this difficulty is rarely due to lack of desire. Education in most schools and classrooms is just too layered by time-consuming tasks, combined with too many students, too little planning time, too many distractions, and too often a reliance on “stuff” that some think makes up for a lack of connection. I know how much time I used to spend working- sometimes 16 hours a day and most weekends-while in public education, just so I would have the time to connect with my students. But, that kind of schedule is not feasible for most people, and it’s not sustainable for anyone.

Fortunately, I am now surrounded by colleagues, families, students, and friends whom I trust, value, and admire, and my own creativity has flourished. They have taken a leap of faith with me because they know how much relationships and trust matter, and how, in the presence of authentic connection, we will all thrive.

This is one of the reasons I am grateful to not have to focus on standardized tests this year, because I can’t support the labeling, dissection, and “targeted improvement” which (often) negatively impacts kids and families, and creates more stress for teachers. I know that these are not the tests that matter, and so do most of you. These tests have come at a premium: art class, creativity, teacher innovation, time to explore, learning in context and through projects, you name it. Is it any surprise that stress-related issues in school have only increased with the rise of standardized testing?

Okay, I do understand there is some value there. How else can we determine some benchmark, or some agreed-upon course of study? How else can the state provide funding to schools, when they are so removed from the actual school, unless there is some measure that the school is providing the state’s mandated standards? But, to assess a child’s worth, a teacher’s worth, or a school’s worth on the outcomes of one week of tests is missing the point, and reducing an education to isolated, sometimes even trivial, skills.

When your child was born, did you hold him or her in your arms and dream about how he or she might one day excel at standardized tests? Doubtful. What you probably dreamt about was your child excelling at the tests that matter. You imagined him hitting the ball out of the park and scoring a home run, after years of practicing on the team. You imagined her finding her passion as an artist, then continuing until she opened up her first exhibit. You imagined him garnering respect for standing up for what he believed in, and orating to an audience from a podium. You imagined her on that stage, singing and dancing, with utter confidence, after countless early morning rehearsals. That a child can think, discuss, debate, analyze, create, imagine, stand for their values, be herself, meet a deadline, connect with others, choose wisely, apply math facts to complex problems, use common sense, read a map, be aware of dangers yet take risks…

Those are the tests that matter.

This is a story that one of my mentors used to share with her students. I then shared it with mine. It reminds me how each child is unique, and how important it is to create environments where each child can thrive.

It might not be possible to make that place for every child, but I can at least help make a difference for some. It is my hope that each child I make a difference for, in turn, will make a difference for others.

*************************************************************************

One day a man was walking on a beach when he saw another man coming the other way who appeared to be dancing.  As he drew nearer he could see the man was not dancing, but was gently picking up starfish from the beach and throwing them back into the sea.

“Why are you throwing starfish into the sea?” he asked.

“Because they have been washed ashore, the day is getting hot and if I do not throw them back they will die,”  replied the dancer.

The man looked around him and saw that the beach went on for miles and that there were many thousands of starfish along its length.

“But there are too many,” he protested to the dancer. “You can’t possibly make a difference.”

The dancer smiled, picked up another starfish and gently tossed it beyond the waves, back into the sea.

“I made a difference to that one!” he said.