A Cautionary Tale : The Orion Feeling...

Back in 2011, Lorien came up with her a feeling called "the Orion feeling". I wrote all about it in this blog post. I thought Lorien had discovered the feeling of nostalgia but didn't have the vocabulary to describe it. When I read over the blog post and exactly what she said, her feeling was more than nostalgia. There is probably a German or Danish word that describes it better. She felt safe and excited at Orion. It was a very specific feeling for a very specific place. She honed the feeling into nostalgia as she grew but I think the original feeling is best described as "the Orion feeling".

Last night as I was surfing Facebook right before bed, I came across a post for one last open house at Orion tonight. Way back when our kids were at Orion the district threatened to close our campus and move the school to share with another school. Almost ten years later, they made good on that promise. Orion is closing it's Allerton Street campus and moving in with John Gill (a school...not a person). So, Orion called out to all of its previous families to come to one last Multicultural night at the Allerton Street campus. I knew immediately I wanted to go with the kids. Will has been out of town for the week so I also knew it was going to be tricky.

Today was crazy...this whole week has been crazy. I was trying to recover from Colter's birthday party yesterday while trying to get a million things done for graduation tomorrow. Lorien and the other Seniors walked the halls of their elementary school. When we were driving home, Lorien asked me if I had been emotional seeing her in her cap and gown at Greenbrook. I explained my feelings about her being at Greenbrook and told her I would have been more emotional if it had been Orion. Then I told Lorien about the open house at Orion tonight, she really wanted to go! None of the other kids were super interested in making the trip so Lorien and I headed across the Bay together.

Even pulling into the neighborhood pulled on our "Orion feeling" heartstrings. Walking in we talked about the neighborhood and how impressions change as we grow older. It was wild and wonderful to walk about the corner and into the main entrance. All of those old feelings and memories came washing back. This school was magical. This school really shaped Lorien and her creative personality. It is a lovely place.

We walked into Lorien's second-grade class and one of her very best friends, Emma, was there!

Kristina was Lorien's second-grade teacher at Orion. Kristina is the only teacher of Lorien's who is still there. We were all so happy to see each other! Kristina has three kids of her own now and her oldest is a kindergartener at Orion this year!

This is the hook Lorien used every day to hang her lunchbox on...she bought lunch almost every day but she still brought a lunchbox?

As we were leaving we ran into Ellen. Ellen was Lorien's first-grade teacher. She has retired but was back for the last Multicultural event. It was such a lucky break to see her! She always loved Lorien and supported her.

We loved being at Orion. It was magical and beautiful and supportive and so hard. The district has struggled financially for a while. They were always threatening to close schools to save money. There were limited supplies and no "extra" classes like science or art. I taught art in each of the kid's classes for three years. We contributed our time, energy, money, and talent to the school to try and lift all the kids. We contributed, partially because it was part of attending the school (each family had to contribute a certain number of hours) but mostly because we love our kids and wanted the best for them. I had three (and then four) little kids and we drove across town every day for school. I would sing and whistle to keep babies awake as we approached school so their nap schedule wouldn't get messed up. Orion focused on creativity and learning through doing. My big kids go such a rich start to their education but we paid for it with labor and time.

Will and I discussed the differences between Orion and Greenbrook (where the other kids have had their educational start). The biggest differences are creativity and money. Greenbrook is great, but it sure is bland. At Orion they would start learning about a country for Multicultural and dive deep into that country and its culture. They would use things about the country to learn math, science, history, everything! At the end of the year they would show off all of their hard work, classrooms would be transformed into the country they studied. It is so impressive. I didn't realize how rich and amazing this education was for my kids until we left...and came back tonight. Will thinks our kids are getting a better education out here but I am not sure. I don't think you can compare educations from start to finish. Most kids who start at Orion end up moving to a different school district (like we did). Their education path gets disrupted. Meanwhile, most kids at Greenbrook stay in our neighborhood and go all the way through our district for graduation. If Orion could keep all of the same kids and offer the diversity of education all the way through senior year we'd have a better idea of their success rate.

I am so thankful Lorien and Wyatt got a start at Orion. I am also thankful we left. I wish there was a district that was generously supported financially and had an educational approach like Orion. However, I don't think that exists yet, for now, we are going to be happy in Danville.

Here is the blog post about Lorien's kindergarten year at Orion and their Multicultural night highlighting the Philippines. I thought I blogged about all of the Multicultural nights we were at Orion...but I didn't?

Lorien's First grade class in 2009 studied Panama.