As teachers return to school this week, we will be starting our sixth year in operation as a contemplative progressive school. We have learned a lot about putting this model--which sounds great to many in theory--into practice in real life in the last five years. When we first began, teaching mindfulness to young children was not a focus in education, mainstream or otherwise. Now, mindfulness practice is widely recognized as a powerful tool that helps children not only emotionally and socially, but academically, too (one study found mindfulness practice to be more effective at increasing students' test scores than even one-on-one tutoring in the subject area). Progressive education has been around in this country for over a century, but in the field of education the popularity and practice of progressive ideas ebbs and flows depending on the politics and culture of the time.

Over the past five years, we have gained confidence in the value of teaching contemplative practices to kids, as well as engaging with them in the learning process. Even though we know that mainstream education will not always reflect the ideals that we have here, we see, feel, and know the value of what we are offering our students and families, ourselves. Together with our students and families, we will continue to celebrate being part of an educational movement that recognizes the importance of tending to the whole child. Welcome to the 2014-2015 school year!