A Letter from our Founder
In Fall 2002, I trusted
the advice of well-meaning friends and neighbors over my own gut
instincts. There have certainly been times in my life that a "gut
instinct" turned out to be no more than an irrational fear (or a
bout with the stomach flu! :) This was not one of those
times.
According to everyone around me, our neighborhood school was (and
is) "outstanding." After all, it was rated "exceptional" with
regards to standardized test scores. Against my better judgment, I
sent my precious baby off to public kindergarten. I was teaching
preschool at the time, just two days a week, but on 2 of the other
3 days, I ate lunch with my son and volunteered for a little while
in his classroom.
Despite the fact that I had been a teacher for years, I was seeing
"elementary school" for the first time as a PARENT, and I didn't
like what I saw. There were strict rules, misguided kids, and
worksheets out the wazoo. Even in this "exceptional" school - the
administrators were calling the shots, the teachers seemed
frustrated and overwhelmed, and the lunch monitors were as friendly
as pit bulls. No…really!
Every time I walked in the door, the kids in my son's class would
clamor to get a word in - "Georgie - I lost a tooth!", "Georgie - I
got a new puppy!" "Georgie - that boy called me a dork!" These poor
kids were starved for attention and conversation because they spent
their entire day being told to keep their mouths closed and their
hands in their lap. Even at LUNCH, these kids were not allowed to
talk! In fact, I was regularly told by the lunch monitors that I
was not allowed to grab a fork for the kid who forgot his or to
chat with the kids around me as I ate lunch with my son. And
despite numerous conversations with the monitors, the classroom
teacher, and the principal - my concerns were brushed off and swept
under the table. I'll never forget when the principal replied, "
Can you IMAGINE how loud it would get in there (the lunchroom) if
we allowed talking?"
The final straw came when I received a letter in the mail sent to
all kindergarten parents. I can't recall the exact wording, but the
gist of it was that the honeymoon was over (I believe it was
mid-October) & that kindergarten parents would no longer be
allowed to walk their children inside the school building. WHAT???
This, to me, seemed like complete insanity and a clear message
about the lack of importance placed on "family" at this school. My
hubby and I pulled our son out the next day.
At the beginning, I had no intention of home-schooling. I visited
10 different private schools in town, certain that I would find the
perfect setting for my precious son. Unfortunately, I found what
felt like two extremes. On the one hand, there were the snotty
private schools with the same long hours, same types of boring
curriculum, and same high student: teacher ratios that I saw in the
public schools. The only difference seemed to be that they had
entrance exams, uniforms, and a lot nicer cars in the parking
lot.
On the other extreme were schools that aimed to nurture the "whole
child" - a concept that I LOVE. I visited many of those schools,
hoping to find the right fit. I was floored to see that Jack &
Jill could garden organically and build a shack from underbrush,
but equally floored to realize that neither Jack nor Jill could
write a cohesive sentence or multiply single digits! : Seriously,
though - the academics in many of these schools seemed lacking to
me. I was in a quandary.
For the rest of my son's kindergarten year (November through May)
- I homeschooled. I had a BLAST! Austin has an outstanding
homeschool community & I'm an outgoing sort, so I thoroughly
enjoyed bouncing from one activity to another, meeting lots of
people, & learning from different sources. I also enjoyed
planning little lessons for him and coming up with a host of games,
field trips, experiments, and activities. My son, however, was
miserable. He was a painfully shy kid so the myriad of homeschool
activities/classes that we attended meant one new group/teacher
after another. And as for having ME as his main teacher - well,
let's just say that he wasn't NEARLY as interested in the exploding
volcano when it was his MOTHER adding the vinegar and he didn't
really have anyone to ENJOY it with, except his 2 year old brother,
who was too busy trying to DRINK the vinegar to notice its effect
on baking powder. :
When I realized that full homeschooling wasn't the right fit for
my son, I started thinking and talking and talking and thinking
some more. I couldn't sleep nights because there were so many ideas
swirling around in my head. I started meeting with a few friends
and just brainstorming with them about what would make an "ideal
educational setting" for young kids. What we came up with was the
basic framework of what today is AHB Community School!
It started out (in Fall 2003) as the "Home Base" program - which
we simply "latched on" to another private school here in Austin.
That school already went from 6th through 12th grade, so I just
attached an alternative Kindergarten through 5th grade program. And
guess who I hired first? Amy Duncan - who is now our Assistant
Director & Director of Admissions!
After a year, a new headmaster, with whom I did not share an
educational outlook or style, was hired. Though I was told that his
presence would not affect the "Home Base" program, I could tell
right away that we had different goals and expectations. With many
dedicated families and teachers behind us, Amy & I took this
opportunity to take our program and "set up shop" ourselves. The
new school was called "Austin Home Base" and was located in the
education building of a Jewish temple on Shoal Creek and 38th
Street.
In Spring 2007, the AHB board of directors made a big decision.
Since the name "Austin Home Base" left many outsiders with the
impression that we were a foundation company or daycare, the board
voted to add more definition to our name. By adding "community
school" and shortening "Austin Home Base" to AHB (the name that
parents & friends already called the school) - we officially
became AHB Community School.
And in addition to a new NAME, we lucked upon a NEW LOCATION! In
Summer 2007, we began renting from Trinity United Methodist Church
in Hyde Park. TUMC has been such a win-win for us! We worked
closely with them to come up with a design for each classroom that
would work as well for them as it does for us. TUMC allowed us to
paint the walls, install laminate flooring, and put new furniture
in almost all of the rooms. It may not be the most modern building
in town, but it's a fabulous location, and it feels like home to
the families and staff at AHB. We're proud to have a sign out front
and a strong heartbeat inside!
And that, my friends, is the history of AHB in a nutshell!
Georgie Georgákis