I recently came across an article about a school in Baltimore that uses meditation and yoga instead of detention for kids who were struggling. The results were incredible and it spurred me to think about my own kids' school.
My kids go to a public K-8 language immersion school with about 1.000 kids. The school provides an incredible opportunity for kids to become bi-lingual in either French or Spanish and has many other positive points including being very culturally/ethnically/economically diverse. Just like any other public school, it has it's challenges too. It has struggled without strong leadership and we've had a string of principals who were not invested at all.
Last year we got a new Principal and Vice Principal who are young and energetic and open to suggestions! He allowed me to bring yoga in as an After-School Program, but only a handful of kids signed up. When I heard about this program in Baltimore, I approached the Principal about doing a yoga/meditation program in our school for middle schoolers who are struggling. (There is a current detention type program that takes privileges away from kids who are failing or struggling behaviorally). He is open to the idea and is encouraging me to bring the program to the school!
I am currently researching and developing a curriculum program primarily for the struggling students, and we hope eventually to bring yoga/meditation to the school on a much larger scale.
I'm very excited! To read more about the program in Baltimore & why meditation should be taught in school, please see the resources below.
http://www.upworthy.com/this-school-replaced-detention-with-meditation-the-results-are-stunning
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-ivanovs/5-reasons-we-need-to-intr_b_11031202.html
