Education for the Whole Child: How Audubon Charter School Nurtures My Two Very Different Children

In the fifth of our ten-essay series by parents of students at public schools Uptown, Donishia Dorsey writes about her children’s experience at Audubon Charter School Uptown.

Uptown, like New Orleans as a whole, has many public school options for families – from college preparatory schools, to three different language immersion programs, to a Montessori program, to a technology career pathway school.

In this series, we hear from parents themselves on why their child’s school is right for them.


My two children, Jackson and Chloe, are very different from one another. Chloe is in fifth grade, and she has a personality that doesn’t fit in a single room. She wants to be president someday. Jackson is is in  Pre-K 4. He’s younger than Chloe, and still learning about himself. He’s quieter and loves puzzles.

I was nervous that a single school could not nurture both of my children’s different strengths or meet their different needs, but Audubon Charter School Uptown does just that. Audubon has both a Montessori and a French immersion program; Jackson and Chloe are in the Montessori program. The Montessori Method is a whole-child approach that allows children to learn at their own pace. Children learn both individually and in groups, working in longer blocks than in a normal class. Montessori programs emphasize cooperation and allow children to learn naturally and explore, while still helping them meet state academic standards and expectations…

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