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By Jerry Martin, Mackintosh Parent

The Boulder area has so many wonderful public and private schools, finding the right one can be tricky. Our son started this year at High Peaks Elementary School in Boulder. We were attracted to High Peaks because of its Core Knowledge curriculum, and its reputation for academic excellence. Unfortunately, it turned out not to be good fit. Mackintosh Academy was, however.

Our son is advanced for his age in a number of areas, and High Peak’s focus on getting everyone “ready for first grade” meant he spent a lot of time doing work well below his capabilities. We asked for more challenging work for him, but the school had a hard time meeting him at his level. When we inquired about math that would be more appropriate for his level, the school informed us that they didn’t do any significant differentiation in math until third grade. We resigned ourselves to another year of “after-schooling.”

Just a few months into the year, he was clearly stressed out at school—spending so much energy fighting a combination of boredom and overstimulation from the chaotic classrooms, trying desperately to not get into trouble. It was overwhelming him.  We decided to seek out a school that could better accommodate his needs. He spent a trial day at Mackintosh and came home happier than we had seen him in weeks. We switched him to Mackintosh that week, and he’s been happy every morning at drop off and pick up—he often complains that we pick him up too early!

Already, the teachers at Mackintosh have made sure that he is receiving individualized learning, being taught at his current level.  His math teacher saw that he needed to move faster—and made it happen so that our kindergartner is now in a group working on second-grade math. Ms. Miner, the art teacher, is his new best friend, and we get the Coach Holloway P.E.  report every day. The Mackintosh faculty is making sure that he’s being taught at exactly the level he needs in all subjects. Thank you, Mackintosh!

Mackintosh Academy Littleton