Orangevale Open K-8 School

Every school should be like this one! Amazing teachers teaching kids to love learning!

The school moved about two years ago, so some address entries have yet to be changed to their new Illinois Avenue location.
The reason why there is a waiting list to get in is because this school makes learning fun. Well, fun is not the right word, I suppose interdisciplinary is more appropriate. My daughter who is in first grade loves school to the point that she doesn’t like weekends. I am hoping this attitude continues throughout her scholastic life (it was not the case with me!).
Parental involvement is in every aspect of the school, so if you do not wish to get involved with your child’s school, then this is not the school for you. At least two hours per week is required in the lower grades and I have been told that as the kids get older, it is not as necessary. Also there is a mandatory monthly parents meeting that averages about 1 — 2 hours.
Fieldtrips are about twice a month, sometimes more. Again, parents volunteer to be a part of the fieldtrips as there is not school bus to take kids to the outings. However, the kids absolutely LOVE IT!
Orangevale Open (OV) is considered to be a performing arts school. Kids can participate in drama and at one point there was a choir. I don’t know if it will be coming back or not.
The students are assigned a «buddy» or mentor starting from Kindergarten. Wow. What an interesting concept to learn! And the older kids get to see what it is like to tutor younger kids.
Whenever I tell other parents about the school, the first question they ask is, «Is it a private school?». Technically it is not, but we pay on average $ 60 a month or so for all the field trips and activities. Very inexpensive when you compare to private tuition costs.