Preserving the Magic of Childhood...One Child at a Time

Our daughter, Naomi, just graduated from the sixth grade at The Miquon School (www.miquon.org) in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. #themiquonschool is a #progressive #education #elementary #school nestled in a 10 acre woodland campus in Whitemarsh Township and might just be one of the best kept secrets in the Philadelphia region.

My husband, Dr. Gregory Dean (Urology for Children) remembered our real estate attorney telling us about The Miquon School when we were buying a home in the area. We didn't have Naomi at the time, but she encouraged us to look at it if we ever had children. Her two adult daughters had attended and she informed us that her commute back and forth from the Main Line was well worth the trip.

Greg and Naomi visited campus on the day before the first day of school (Pre-K) when Naomi was three years old and both fell in love with the campus and submitted an application on the same day. Naomi had not been very consistent with potty training at the time, but when we told her she would not be able to attend school unless she was out of pull-ups, she somehow trained herself overnight!

Nine years later, we are all incredibly sad to be leaving the day-to-day magic that is Miquon, but are also excited to join the Germantown Friends School #gfs community where Naomi will enter seventh grade next year.

During our tenure at The Miquon School, I served on The Miquon School Board for four years and also served on its Executive Committee. I was proud of the work that our team accomplished, along with our school principals (Julia Finney and then Susannah Wolf) and alongside the entire Miquon Community. We developed a strategic plan and also began subcommittee work to develop a master facility campus plan and a comprehensive philosophical framework regarding the school's position on Diversity, Equity and Action. The school has also embarked on a comprehensive capital campaign to raise funds for the school and 100% of the board has already contributed to the campaign to kick it off.

One of our recurring board discussions revolved around the lack of name recognition of the school despite the passion that its students, alumni and parent/grandparent community expressed about the school. We discussed the lack of quantitative, standardized test score results as being a positive for the internal community since these are (happily) not emphasized in the curricula as in other schools. That being said, we also struggled to identify salient outcomes that might be meaningful for prospective families and easy for us to articulate or convey to those considering enrolling their child into the school.

Miquon students are the beneficiaries of Miquon's adherence to Progressive philosophies, which are as follows (transcribed from the Miquon web site): 1) Children learn by doing. 2) Helping children learn to think is as important as teaching any specific subject matter. 3) Learning occurs in ways unique to each child. 4) Children's curiosity and initiative are integral to their education. 5) Independence is a vital part of every child's development. 6) Working with others enhances children's growth in every domain. 7) Every person is a thinker, creator and contributor. 8) The natural world is a place to learn. 9) Childhood should be fun, and children should find joy in learning.

I have had occasion to speak to some prospective Miquon parents about the benefits of a Miquon education from a parent's perspective and my response is to encourage them to see Miquon students and teachers in action and experience Miquon for themselves. A big part of the curricula is something called, "choice time" in which students are completely free to choose what to do - whether that is to play outdoors in the woods, in the playground, explore in the creek or read a book quietly in the treehouse - whatever they want! This is in stark contrast to life, today, where every minute of every day of our little one's lives are scheduled to the gills. This time to choose what to do, allows each child to explore or play as he/she wishes and even the act of making decisions at choice time is a life skill on its own.

The other thing I tell parents is to attend a Miquon School graduation. Having just experienced a Miquon graduation for our own child, I can tell you that it is an absolutely gut-wrenching experience watching your child and the children of your friends share speeches that they write on their own, from their hearts, and share these words with the entire community with the clarity of a voice that is uniquely their own.

The diversity of the school community is visible and palpable through every aspect of each student - from the clothes they select for their special day to how they choose to wear their hair. But the real killer for us parents are the graduates' speeches. Each child was asked to select a quotation they liked to frame their speech and every speech was unique in its content and in the manner in which these various Miquon stories were told. The richness of the diversity of the students was also conveyed in the delivery of these speeches: many had a fun bit of humor and irony injected, pearls of wisdom were dispensed from these sage 11 and 12 year olds and a consistent theme throughout every speech was a tangible wistfulness (often accompanied by tears) at leaving a place and community that each child simply adored.

Since many of the graduates essentially grew up at Miquon, each teacher and staff member made an effort to truly know our children - in the classroom and out and through conversations with them, playing with them, singing with them, doing activities with them, taking trips with them, dispensing band-aids and advice in working through inevitable conflicts that can arise. These teachers and staff become a second family to the students and families of Miquon and in the months leading up to graduation, they sequester themselves in a room to discuss each graduate and craft the language and the telling of the story of the graduate in what will become a customized diploma for presentation at the graduation ceremony. These words are composed with love and care by individuals that made the effort to truly know our children as the unique individuals that they are.

These words are then combined with exquisite paintings by Leila Sawyer. The concepts for the graphic images are conveyed by the faculty and staff to the artist who renders them in artful yet personal ways that are known to the graduates, but may not be easily understood by anyone else. And as these works of art are "revealed" to each graduate during the ceremony, it is sheer delight to see the expressions of joy and genuine surprise in each shiny face! These customized diplomas are cherished by the graduates and are a highly anticipated and unique aspect of becoming a graduate of The Miquon School.

Our daughter, Naomi quoted Horace in her graduation speech in her reflections about Miquon as "The corner of the world that smiles for me more than anywhere else." Our daughter entered Miquon as a shy and timid three year old and she graduated as a confident and poised eleven year old - ready to take on life's challenges and adventures. Naomi closed her speech expressing her dismay at leaving Miquon but assuring everyone (her parents, most of all!) that Miquon had prepared her to "...go into any scary situation and treat it like an opportunity - an opportunity to learn something new and to grow."

We love you Miquon, and we will always have a little bit of You in our Hearts.

https://miquon.org/