PCCL Parents Share Their Stories

My quirky yet extremely gifted 3rd grader was really losing his spark in a conventional school setting. But at the end of his first visit to PCCL, he was the happiest I had seen him in months. He said, "Mom, they didn't tell me what to do, they asked me what I wanted to do!"

Before he began attending PCCL, my son refused to do any writing. After one year of doing what he "wanted to do," he was writing at the middle-school level.

-J.B.W.

My daughter knew how to read in kindergarten, yet when she went to first grade, they were teaching her the "ABCs." And she was going to a highly respected elementary school. When I heard that she was being taught something she had learned when she was 3 years old, I spoke to her teacher, but there was nothing she could do for my daughter. She had to stay on her lesson plan. So I pulled my daughter out and put her in PCCL. The first day, she was so excited. She came running up to me and said, "They gave me really hard stuff to do!" For the first time in her life, she felt challenged. It brought me to tears, and I knew I had made the right choice.

-A.Y.

Our daughter, a conscientious and self-motivated student, attended a small private school for grades K-5. For 6th grade, she entered the public school system, and although she quickly adapted to the different style of learning and earned excellent grades, her challenge was to deal with disruptive students and teachers who were unresponsive to the concept of students as individuals.

By the middle of 7th grade, when her situation had not improved, we began to explore the possibility of home schooling but, instead, chose PCCL. We were greatly impressed by the intimacy of the group and the excellence of the individualized teaching. The decision was an easy one, and we've never looked back.

Our daughter's first love is for the performing arts, and she is thriving in the PCCL environment. Here, she can express herself and be acknowledged for her creativity, and learning has become the fun and happy experience it should be.

-E.W.

My 17-year-old son attends a charter high school and has maintained a consistent 4.0 GPA for four academic years. He is happy, has good relationships with his peers and teachers and has his sights set on attending either UCLA or Berkeley. He is currently deciding whether he wants to be a writer or a scientist or both!

Just three and a half years ago, he was schoolphobic. His grades were pitiful, and at times he had to be forcibly removed from our car and escorted to our local public middle school by the security man. After an attempt at home schooling, we found PCCL. Our very first meeting entailed us attending a field trip to the Southwestern Museum.

My son was quiet and reflective on the journey home before turning to me and saying, "Mum, I can't believe that the kids weren't running around the museum or mucking about. ... Do you think I could go back tomorrow?"

He did return, and within the two years that he spent at PCCL, he, among many other things, wrote a novel, learned to paint, conducted a research project on black holes, interviewing a leading scientist-in-residence at UCLA, and most of all learned to celebrate his skills and differences.

-T.F.

When our 4th-grade daughter was diagnosed with learning disabilities, her mother and I tried to work with our school district to get her the extra help she needed to succeed in school.

After a year of neglect, broken promises, and stone-walling by the district, combined with incidents of humiliation and physical abuse perpetrated on her by some classmates, our daughter was traumatized, isolated, depressed, and rapidly losing her love of learning.

When we enrolled her in PCCL, the change in our daughter was profound. The teachers understood her disabilities and tailored the lessons to coincide with her strengths, enabling her to excel academically. In the process, she regained her inherently joyful and inquisitive personality.

Our daughter is now midway through the 8th grade, and PCCL has a vital place in her life. The skilled, caring, and committed staff have nurtured her talents in art and drama and brought her to a level of academic achievement that surpasses her grade level. The PCCL teachers have also created a nurturing environment that rekindled her spirit and reinstilled her self-confidence.

This is a gift that goes beyond what most schools traditionally provide.

I will forever be thankful that we found the Pacific Center for Creative Learning.

-D.L.

"I wish my high school was more like PCCL," our 15-year-old said recently. "That was the best way of learning EVER!"

Our son was at PCCL for five years. During the last two, he was a little concerned that he might not be on an academic par with his peers from other, more conventional schools. I told him not to worry; seeing what they were doing there, I certainly wasn't worried! Now, a year and a half into his charter high school experience, we look back on those conversations and laugh. He's in all honors and AP classes and is getting As and A-s, and his scores on the PSAT, which he took last spring, were high enough to make him the talk of the campus the day they came out.

Perhaps more importantly, he is self-confident, sure of who he is and comfortable with himself and his gifts and talents. He is well-rounded, enjoys many sports and has formed strong, lasting friendships with a wonderful, decent group of kids.

-K.W.

At PCCL, the teachers treat the children with such love and respect that it allows for a complete safe environment for each child to express themselves genuinely. They know that they are LISTENED TO and therefore can dive into what inspires them and what interests them, therefore creating a love for learning which, in my eyes, is THE foundation for a succesful academic experience.

The small group of kids allows for a great social experience. They learn how to deal with different personalities on a daily basis, therefore becoming more accepting of each other's differences.

My daughter hated going to school. After 1 day at PCCL, her smile was back, and it has gotten bigger over the past 3 years. I have never seen her this content, secure and well-rounded. She has turned into quite a writer and has developed her skills in projects and presentations tremendously. She's blossomed in ways I know would not have been possible in any other school. She singlehandedly started her own ''knitting co.'' to create funds to buy herself her own Apple laptop.

PCCL has given her a safe place to grow and expand at her own pace. This is a foundation that will serve her forever. I am forever grateful!

-C.T.