Wow,my snowy-day discourse has really taken a NEW course, huh? I hope no one thought I was complaining about my career modification. I am still, and always will be, a MUSICIAN. I have always shared my tricks of the trade with others, so now they pay me to share it everyday! Same job - different stage !

My school is very unique, and the woman that runs it has a vision for child care and teaching that I have never seen before. It's a step between the mainstream and the alternative schools. Most of our kids have ADD, OCD, or some other learning challange. Some of it's behavioral, but most of these teens are just a little "left out" in the masses. These are the kids that get bullied, or picked last for backetball teams. We have a chess team and a drama department, but no football or soccer.
On average, our kids are very artistic, and extremely bright. We have honors classes in all areas, advanced level language and math classes, and true scholars in all areas.
We have 7-12 grades, but most of the kids are high school age. The simplest way to explain our mission is this:

We engage the heart and the head BEFORE we teach the brain......and it works.

We have a 90% college rate, and VERY few dropouts during the year.
Many of the kids feel very privledged to be here (as they should), and they realize that going back into the mainstream presents many challenges that do not exist in our school. The biggest advantage is the class size - we have a 2 to 1 student to teacher ratio. Yup, you read it right. 2 to 1. Most of my classes are one on one, and the largest is 3 or 4 kids. It's relaxed, it's concentrated and very productive.
(heart and head BEFORE the brain ... try it at home !)

I'd love to go into it more, but we're moving this week, into a bigger building, so I have to get over there and pitch in....even though the kids are off - it's still a work day !

It's a great feeling that what I do is making a difference in a kid's future, instead of fueling the ruination of the home life of a bunch of drunks. That's an axagerated scenario, but after so many years in bars and clubs ... they begin to look more and more like a soap opera everyday.