Middle School Switch:

Our son was in the “Talented and gifted” program since 2nd grade in Public school. The teacher who recognized that in him and recommend he tested was also the one who knew he needed to move his body before focusing and would send him on an “errand” and have him walk the longest way up and down stairs to deliver a note or drop something off. She also allowed him to do his work laying on the floor under his desk with his shoes off. After 2nd grade though other teachers were not as understanding or creative and by middle school it was like his spark for curiosity and learning was going out. He struggled to be engaged in what was expected at school, his teachers would say that he wasn’t disruptive but he would be building something out of whatever was on hand, instead of doing the worksheet in front of him.

I wanted my child to be successful and was trying everything I could. We went through the process of confirming he has learning differences, he’s dyslexic and has executive functioning and working memory challenges. Around the same time we got his results of the educational testing, I got an email about an open house at the Forest School that was offering middle school. I went and it didn’t take much to know it was what he needed.

We switched him to the Portland Forest School and he thrived. He reconnected with his love of learning and with himself. Instead of fighting with him in the mornings to get ready for school, he would be standing outside waiting for me to come to the car. I watched my son become the kid I used to know, the one who liked to figure things out and was interested in knowing why things worked and could get behind doing something that was challenging (like writing an essay) because he was interested in the subject and had more sovereignty over his own education, with a small class size the teacher could navigate different interests of the kids while having the same educational outcome.

I credit the Portland Forest School for saving my son, and my heart. It hurt to see him shrinking in the public school setting. It hurt to have him come home after a day of sitting in a desk to want to only sit at a computer to play video games. It hurt my heart to see him miserable and not enjoying life when that is what childhood should be. At Forest School he came home dirty and tired and happy and that is what being a kid is. - Mom of a now high school Senior (all pics below are of him at Forest School)