Villa Days

I remember when I was a kid . . . Well these two blog post ideas are getting fused in my mind: the I remember when I was a kid idea and the Sir Ken Robinson talking about schools. Also my daughter is four and a half years old and next year we are going to have to figure out what we are going to do about kindergarten. So lately, I've been thinking a lot about my little private Catholic school in Pennsylvania. Instead of what would Jesus do, I find myself thinking, "What Sister Regina Noel say?" She was my high school English teacher two years out of the four. Some nuns were mean, but she was of the warm and fuzzy persuasion. It was a benefit to me to have the same teachers year after year. I had the same math teacher three years out of four, Mrs. Jean Treisbach. She was familiar with my strengths and weaknesses as a math student, to say the least! I'd probably still be back there flunking geometry if it wasn't for her. She let me take the tests over and over again. She knew I was smart in other areas. so she didn't get down on me too mush for being bad at math. She must have been quite young when I had her. She was probably in her mid-twenties. I get the alumni newsletter from Villa and she is still there. Quite a lot of my teachers are still there. Most of the younger ones anyway. It was a really good school. we complained about it alot when we were there. We were the only ones for miles around who had to wear uniforms, at least it felt that way. They were strict without being Nazi-esque. We complained about the lack of boys! It's gets to be a drag asking boys to dances. But from the mature (ancient) perspective of forty, I can see that the uniforms and the lack of boys, allowed us to learn in a secure, quiet environment without distractions. I wish there was a place around here like that for my daughter, a place that didn't cost 10,000 a year.