How to make regular school more like home school

Our elementary school is undergoing a credentialing review and just issued a survey for parents to complete.  I spent some time crafting this response to the last question, "What can our school do to improve its academic excellence?" so I thought I would share it here, partially so I remember what to look for the next time we look at schools:

"I am always a fan of encouraging more reading and writing from students.  Language arts seems relegated to workbook pages - perhaps each quarter students should be required to read a classic or challenging for their ability book and do a project/write about it.  Also, I thought outdoor school and CIMI were great programs for the middle schoolers - maybe the school could host a science day with experiment stations or do something local like going to the beach to study tide pools or going to hills to study local plants and animals for the younger kids to get them engaged in learning about and studying their local ecosystems.  A last recommendation for middle schoolers would be to have either a career day or career "chats" with parents/business people/scientists/engineers/local artists/writers/lawyers/government employees/ etc, so that the students can get interested in a variety of career options/see how their studies will help them in the future/motivate them to work hard in high school and look for opportunities to be volunteers, interns, or entrepreneurs themselves as teenagers."

That last bit is because as my senior applies to colleges, I'm realizing how little he knows about what kinds of jobs are out there, and I'm seeing how much colleges value a little real world experience - a summer job, a project selling something or providing a service (lawn mowing), regular and consistent volunteer commitments.  And those things have value in themselves for teaching teenagers about responsibility and managing money. (It's been a good experience to have our teenagers pay for many of their activities and stuff out of their lawn mowing/job money.  We pay for school related expenses; they pay for fun.  Unfortunately their lawn mowing money dried up here, and our second son didn't find a job this summer, but he didn't try very hard in between his mission trip, family vacation and football practice.  So his fun has mostly been free stuff - beach day, playing his guitar or cards with friends, or having a friend over for a movie here instead of going to the theater, when he has time after schoolwork, football and family stuff.)

Really, I think school would be better if it were more like home school - groups of students small enough that individual preferences, strengths, and weaknesses can be addressed, opportunities to do lots of hands-on and experiential learning like going to museums and concerts and battlefields and oceanfronts.

The advantage of school over home school is the concentration that students and teachers apply at school - my kids seem to have fewer distractions at school than at home. They also seem to do better with a solid routine and spelled-out expectations that I had a hard time providing at home. My kids also work harder when they are participating in programs like Academic Challenge Bowl and essay contests and just in-class competition in general.  My nagging them at home was not an encouragement to do well.

This credential is from the Catholic schools association. I was happy to commend our school for its Catholic identity which shines because of weekly mass, three times a day or more daily prayer (morning, noon, and before they leave for the day, plus sometimes additional prayers in the classrooms), art and statues in the classrooms and building that celebrate Catholic saints and wisdom, and celebration of holy days and Catholic traditions. Religion class and opportunities to receive the sacraments and encouragement to be active in the parish and community were additional ways that our school exudes its Catholic identity.  And while the teachers are human and some are better than others, for the most part the teachers seem to role model an active, loving practice of their faith.  I've been very happy with our little school, other than some minor quibbles - mostly about fundraising and the occasional questionable choice about things like music that the kids dance to at the Fall Festival. Nothing overtly scandalous, just mediocre and thoroughly secular.  The school has a mix of parents who choose it for its Catholic identity and those who choose it because it is academically rigorous and safe. I wish there were more at the school for the first reason, but ideally Catholic schools would work on the hearts of the parents who aren't religious, in addition to the kids.

So we'll be continuing to send the kids to school at our next duty station, about which we should be finding out soon. I'm beginning to get a little twitchy - time to either move or to find out we are staying so that I can commit to activities and relationships.  In a new location, I always begin with a desire to jump in and make connections and form friendships, but as the tour goes on, I begin to feel myself pulling away, even at this early stage.  I don't feel a need to exert myself to sell raffle tickets like I did last year. I haven't joined any new committees or jumped up for volunteer jobs, partly because of the new baby, partly because I have enough volunteer jobs, and partly because I don't need to use those opportunities as avenues to meet more people. I'm sure I'll be back at it next fall. A friend in the DC area just emailed me about deadlines for choice schools and magnet programs - already thinking ahead to next fall as the first quarter finishes up.  DC is a potential next stop for us, but if we happen to stay in a mild to tropical clime, I wouldn't complain... I just don't particularly want the desert outpost that is going to get assigned to someone in my husband's peer group - or him.  Then again, I've always been pleasantly surprised by how much we end up liking our duty stations, so we may find something or someone to love even in a remote oven.