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Written by a parent of 2nd and 4th grade children
The toughest thing about choosing a school for your children is undoubtedly to decipher the ‘cold’ information from websites and brochures.
After doing our homework on the WIS website and several conversations with the head of school we decided to send our children. It has been an incredibly positive experience.
The children’s teachers foster a joy of learning, love of discovery, and a sense of responsibility and respect for others. They have created a nurturing environment centered around the children, enabling them to develop a sound knowledge base in core academic disciplines. There is a strong emphasis on character and citizenship education in addition to providing experiences in life skills, leadership and service.
Further, the teachers really adhere to the IB philosophy of fostering and promoting emotional, social and physical health and well-being in addition to nurturing creativity and aesthetic appreciation.
Our children love to go to school. Our house is filled with the sound of Chinese (Mandarin) counting and conversation bits. It is filled with the sound of piano practice and pieces of paper with Chinese calligraphy. The children demand to be brought to school early, as early as it opens, and they volitionally stay late to write for the school paper.
Class sizes are small, enabling teachers to give one-on-one attention. The latest technology is available in every classroom. The children’s progression in language classes is breathtaking.
All told, WIS has kept all its promises and exceeded our expectations in all aspects of our children’s school lives.
Written by the mother of a Kindergartner and toddler
My daughters attend Wisconsin International School and I can’t say enough good things about the curriculum, the teachers, the Head of School, and the other parents and students. Let me explain why I chose WIS and why I am so excited about this school.
I have always been an advocate of public education. From kindergarten through graduate school I attended public institutions in Minnesota, Michigan and Washington. Wisconsin’s excellent public schools were a deciding factor when I accepted a position at St. Norbert College. However, after teaching college chemistry to students who for the most part were educated in the Wisconsin public schools, my confidence in public education has diminished. The majority of my students are bright and hard working, but lack basic problem solving and critical thinking skills. They are deficient in math and science. They prefer memorization to a problem-based approach to learning. The students in my senior level biochemistry course are some of St. Norbert’s best students with high ACT scores and high school GPAs. I can’t count how many times my best students have said they didn’t have to open a book until they got to college. Our children deserve more from their education. I don’t fault the teachers working in the public schools. They are overworked, pressured to teach to standardized tests, faced with discipline problems, and must fight the culture that learning isn’t cool.
For these reasons I chose WIS for my girls. I want my daughters to be challenged and learn to solve problems not just memorize. I want my daughters in an intimate environment where the teachers have the time to give each student individual attention. I want my daughters to benefit from teachers who are given freedom to develop the best learning methods. I don’t want my daughters to decide that they aren’t good at math and science because girls aren’t supposed to be good at these subjects. I am confident that Wisconsin International School will allow my daughters to gain the critical thinking and problem solving skills that so many of my students didn’t develop.
Cyndi
Mother of a Kindergartner and toddler
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