Not All Schools Have Struggled Amid Pandemic. Mine Reopened Last Fall and Students Are Thriving.

It’s been more than a year since Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam ordered all schools in the state closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Ambleside School, a small, private K-8 school in McLean, Virginia, began instructing students at home.

When last fall arrived and public schools remained closed, Ambleside—like other independent schools in the area—began teaching in person, and parents who had never considered private education went searching for an alternative to their school’s online offerings.

Months later, with the 2021-22 school year approaching, parents are still searching, but this time they are more desperate. Watching Zoom classes over their child’s shoulder has awakened their longing for something more for their children’s school days—greater connection, engagement, and inspiration.

While the public discourse about schools continues to spin, the transactional nature of our educational system has been painfully exposed. America’s classrooms have prioritized content over connection for years, but it has taken a pandemic to make parents aware that their children have fallen through the cracks.

Ambleside School in McLean—along with 23 other Ambleside schools around the world—is based on the educational philosophy of Charlotte Mason (1842-1923), a British educator who pioneered an approach that invited young learners into a relationship with knowledge.

Hundreds of primary and secondary schools worldwide applied her methods during the early 1900s. Now, over a century later, Ambleside schools in the United States, South Africa, India, and Switzerland are educating children similarly with the same remarkable results—learners who are engaged, self-directed, and resilient.

These schools were able to respond to COVID-19 and reopen because they operate on a few simple and guiding principles about how children learn best. It took two days after Virginia closed schools last spring for Ambleside in McLean to launch an at-home learning program for students.

The students—already trained to give attention to good books, complete independent work with care, and take initiative in feeding their own curiosity (all of which are foundations of Mason’s educational philosophy)—were resilient in the transition.

Within days, students and parents found a peaceful normalcy amid the educational upheaval around them.