Looking for alternative elementary schools in Minneapolis (Bloomington, Eden Prairie: renting, house)

[johnnyjava]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this forum. There is a high probability that our family will be moving to Minneapolis within the next month.

Where we live will largely be determined by the location of the school for our 8 yr old daughter and 4 yr old son. They are both curious children, who will thrive in an education environment where they will be allowed to use their curiosity to direct their learning. Similar to Montessori but a step even further along the "liberal" path.

Does anyone know of such a place? We were going to send our kids to Sudbury Valley school in Mass., before I was told that we would probably have to move.

Many thanks.

[golfgal]

Are you moving to Minneapolis specifically or just the area?

[johnnyjava]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Are you moving to Minneapolis specifically or just the area?

I will be working in Richfield, so would prefer a school around the Bloomington area. However, the most important thing is the quality of education for our children so I don't mind driving for 45 mins each way.

A bit of background: We have been living in Uruguay for the last two years and Malaysia for 18 months before that. In both locations, the emphasis was on education where the children sat on a mat and were talked to or they had to do set exercises and achieve the same result. eg. In Malaysia, the cut out shapes even had to be coloured all exactly the same way.

Our children become bored, if they are not engaged, so we want to find a school (with reasonable fees of around $15000 a year for both if private) where they can experience education.

[golfgal]

I wouldn't want this commute but Stillwater has an open concept school, Stonebridge Elementary, where it is student directed learning. It sounds like what you are looking for and best thing is that it is a public school and free. It may be possible to live closer to work and open enroll your kids at Stonebridge but it is a fairly popular school and they don't always have openings (MN has state wide open enrollment so you can live in one district and go to school in another if there are openings). It would be worth checking out anyway.

[Kebinminn]

Two come to mind. The Waldorf School and Metroplitan Open School. City of Lakes Waldorf School

Metropolitan Open School,Minnesota Private School Quality alternative school,Private School St. Louis Park Minneapolis Minnesota

I'm not sure but a review of their webpages should give you an idea on whether this is what you want.

[audadvnc]

My daughter attended Lake Country Montessori School at 38th and Pleasant in Minneapolis from 6th through 8th grade. It's the best school ever! My daughter grew in so many ways, and learned her studies well enough to get into the honors program at Saint Paul Academy this year. Two thumbs up!!

[johnnyjava]

All, thanks for your replies and thoughts. We relocated to MPLS last week and started a renting a house in Eden Prairie on Wednesday this week.

The local elementary school is Prairie View Elementary which seems good, but I will be looking at all the alternatives.

Cheers,

David