Any feedback on Tilden Prep School WC
Hi fellow parents,
I have a incoming 7th grader with ADHD and we are going to try a mastery learning, 1:1 school and I am undecided between Halstrom Academy vs. Tildon Preperatory School campuses in Walnut Creek. Truthfully, I have found many parents that have great things to say about Tildon Preperatory since their W.C. campus has been there longer but I have learned that Halstrom Academy's qualifications for teacher's are that they are actually CBAS certified, and need actual teaching experience in order to teach at Halstrom where Tildon Preperatory teachers qualifications are that they have to have a BS, tutoring experience preferred and a love for learning. So, for that reason I am favoring Halstrom Academy. The only thing is I don't know anyone who's child has attended that school or knows anyone who has? Do you?
Thank you so very much for your help
Parent Replies
Hi Suzanne, I can answer this for Tilden Prep (Walnut Creek campus). In a nutshell, I have more and fantastically great things to say about Tilden Prep! No experience with Halstrom.
Our story: my daughter is ADHD, dyslexic, and a very outgoing, athletic kid with a temperament somewhere between that of a politician running for office and that of a French poodle. Also very smart. Public elementary school didn't work so very well - the learning difference and ADHD made it so when she came out of 5th grade, she was reading at about a 3rd grade level, and had internalized some pretty unhelpful messages (largely that she could never do anything right in school, and that her path in life was best that of the party girl or dumb jock. Not exactly the value system I wanted.)
I enrolled her at Tilden in Walnut Creek for 6th grade and it was a total life-changing course correction for her and for all of us. The one-on-one tutoring in a relaxed environment helped her see that the ADHD/dyslexia made her a slow reader, which was very different than a non-reader, and by the end of the first year she was back to reading (slowly) at grade level. She could now discuss Harry Potter with her friends, which was a huge boost of self confidence. The study halls there enforced homework, so we as a family got our evenings back - all the homework was done at Tilden, so evenings were now pleasant family time instead of screaming procrastination-fests and battles of willpower. Tilden solved problems I didn't even know I had - she wasn't coming home from school with stomachaches anymore, so I didn't lose so much work time, and she was sleeping better at night, so we were all better rested. She also quit picking at herself and scratching from stress.
She loved, loved, loved each one of her Tilden teachers and developed great relationships with them. This teacher owns a snake; that teacher does Cal Shakes; the other one 'allowed' her to read 9th grade literature when she was an 8th grader because she really wanted to read it. Tilden also taught her how to self-advocate, and ask for what she needed to learn best.
The Tilden teachers were all quite qualified to work with my kid. I'm one of those hopelessly overeducated parents (engineering PhD from Berkeley) and I never had any reason to question a Tilden teacher's qualification.
As a parent, I really enjoyed the electronic reporting system - each day I got a little three-sentence writeup of how each day's classes had gone. If she had two classes and a study hall, I'd get a writeup from each class and a writeup from the study hall. It also really lessened the burden on me, because I knew I'd get a phone call or an email from a teacher if something really was up.
Three years later, my kid is headed for public 9th grade, confident about her skills as a student. She's still a little worried about her English classes, but over the summer (unknown to me) emailed all 3 of the English teachers, asked for the reading list ahead of time so she could get a jump on the year's reading. This confidence and self-advocacy is directly from Tilden.
Feel free to contact me directly if you have any other questions. Tilden rocks!
-- Carrie Beam, Walnut Creek