PSCS hired a new teacher for the fall named Tanya Lasswell. Here's the introduction to a story that will help you get to know her. The read the entire story, visit www.facebook.com/PSCSfans.
One of Tanya Lasswell’s earliest memories as a small child is poking through her mother’s herbarium, a mothball-filled box filled with preserved plant species. Her mother collected and pressed plants, then labeled them with their Latin name as part of her master’s degree program in pharmacology.
Tanya picked up one specimen and read it: Digitalis purpurea, more commonly known as foxglove, a flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae. Tanya grew up on five acres of land between Redmond and Fall City, and spent her childhood roaming, falling in love with plants. “It’s always been a part of who I am,” she says.
Tanya’s mother was browsing through used books at Bellevue Community College and secured a college workbook on basic chemistry. “I would read that on the school bus in sixth grade,” says Tanya, who admits she didn’t like school very much when she was younger.
“I didn’t feel like I had the ability to delve deeply into a subject. I couldn’t articulate it like that at the time, but things didn’t make sense to me unless I was able to get a fuller, richer understanding of it.”
In seventh grade Tanya took the SAT as part of a program through the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. She scored high enough to get into the Early Entrance Transition School at the University of Washington. That’s how she ended up skipping high school and heading straight to the UW campus. Her first quarter course load consisted of . . .
PSCS is hosting a volunteer orientation on Wednesday, August 18 at 8 p.m. at the school's International District location: 660 S. Dearborn St. / Seattle / 98134. At this get together, interim director Steve Miranda, volunteer coordinator Judy Blair, and teaching staff member Scobie Puchtler will host a conversation about the unique philosophy of the school and then field questions on ways in which interested folks can get involved.
In short, we're inviting people of high character to share something they love with a group of awesome teenagers. It can be something academic like science or literature, or it can be your favorite hobby like hula-hooping or playing Magic: The Gathering. The important thing is that you love doing it, and you get a profound sense joy from sharing it.
Classes typically meet once a week for about an hour. If you have something you'd like to share that would require only one or two class sessions, that's great too. Basically, we can accommodate just about whatever your availability is within reason. Class sizes typically range from one student to about five or six.
PSCS is a small school with 33 students in grades 6-12. There are no grades and no required academic classes. Our first focus is on maintaining a safe, loving, nurturing environment and surrounding kids with interesting people and experiences. With that in place, we don't have to force kids to challenge themselves, academically or otherwise. They do it naturally.
Please RSVP or send questions to pscs@pscs.org. Visit our website at www.pscs.org, and feel free to check out this 6-minute video about volunteering at PSCS:
PSCS founders Andy Smallman and Melinda Shaw are enjoying a year-long sabbatical in France with their two daughters, Chloe and Ella. Andy is posting tales of their adventures daily to a blog. Here's a recent post, to give you an idea of what the first family of PSCS is up to.
One of the great images of France is romance. And there really does seem to be something to it, although I’d say it often comes across in subtle ways. Just look at this fire hydrant, for instance. I mean if it’s possible to make something as utilitarian as a fire hydrant sexy, you’d expect the French to figure it out, don’t you think? Look at it, really. It has curvy hips, for crying out loud. And this one is not just an isolated example. I found it while on a casual walk around our apartment complex in Pornichet, but I’ve seen others just like it elsewhere.
On the subject of French romance, it is fun to see couples refer to their partners as “ma chérie” or “mon chéri” (my darling), something Melinda and I have both found endearing, especially among elderly couples. Melinda is trying to make the expression part of our marital practice. It always seems to accompany a twinkle in the eye, one that implies a friendly kiss is not too far away.
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR NEW STUDENTS
Monday, 8/30, 9:00 a.m.
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR RETURNING STUDENTS
Tuesday, 8/31, 9:00 a.m.
Monthly Quote "Learning, real learning—trying to make more sense of what’s happening—is as natural and satisfying as breathing. If your big reform idea requires laws, mandates, penalties, bribes, or other kinds of external pressure to make it work, it won’t work. You can lead the horse to water, and you can force it to look like it’s drinking, but you can’t make it drink."
– Marion Brady, educator
Testimonial "PSCS dissolves the veil of “accepted” society. It allows learners to pursue their unique interests and to learn through their own experience. This is natural, unbleached learning."
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possible to make something as utilitarian as a fire hydrant sexy, you’d expect the French to figure it out, don’t you think? Look at it, really. It has curvy hips, for crying out loud. And this one is not just an isolated example. I found it while on a casual walk around our apartment complex in Pornichet, but I’ve seen others just like it elsewhere.