Mental Health and Emotional Wellness at School

Creating the Best Educational Atmosphere for Children

By Bentley Murdock

As our children navigate the final home-stretch of this school year, it is the perfect time to reflect on how the year was spent and what the overall outcomes are. Some children greatly expanded their learning, made new friends, ventured outside of their experiential comfort zones, and are excited for what the next school year might bring. Many parents have been happy with the school atmosphere, the dedicated teachers, the administration, and the content of the curriculum.

Overall, southern Utahns are fortunate to live in an area with as much freedom as we and our children enjoy. For the most part, we are amazingly fortunate to have so many options for schooling in the Saint George area. From public and charter school systems to private, collaborative, and homeschooling options, there are plenty of avenues through which our children can approach learning.

Unfortunately, there were many children who desperately whiteknuckled their way through the thickest of anxiety and depression during the last couple of years, doing the best they could with their resources. Some of these children were lost to suicide, in part due to the combination of pandemic-induced fear, worry, medicalfreedom and physical-autonomy suppression, and incessant bullying from their peers. For those families whose entire lives were turned upside down, I speak for all of us when I say, “I am so saddened and remorseful that somehow we, as a community, couldn’t do more to prevent the loss of your infinitely precious child.”

Many parents have strong feelings and concerns about what has been taking place in their children’s classrooms: subversive curriculum content, religious guilt, shaming, confusing gender role misappropriation, age-inappropriate and preferential politics, medical and constitutional freedom suppression, preferential racial inequality, physical autonomy denial, and even outright prejudice, favoritism, racial stereotyping, and utter neglect. A “woman scorned” could never hold a candle to the wrath of a dedicated and loving parent whose child is intentionally being mistreated, misled, or misguided.

It’s critically important to research and consider all available options as to what might be the best fit for each of your own children’s education. For most, the biggest factors are core values, curriculum, budget, and geographic location. I’m sure many families would love to be looking into an expensive private school, but their budget simply won’t allow it. Numerous others would love to hear from that gem of a charter school, but the lottery system never seems to spin in their favor. So then what? Do we really just send our kids off to the nearest state institution and hope for the best? Or is there some other way of pooling resources to craft a customized education model that can serve the children of our community without financial exclusivity or selection bias?

As family lifestyle wellness coaches, everything we do is about researching, investigating, asking questions, trouble-shooting, and gathering information from every possible angle. In order to know how to get where we’d like to go, we first must have a solid grasp on what the ideal future outcome could look and feel like. “The unaimed arrow never misses,” so if our target is specific, well-defined, realistic, and open-mindedly collaborative by nature, I’m thoroughly convinced those ideal outcomes are all within reach.

I have crafted a series of questions meant to clarify your vision of what an ideal education would look like for your children. Those who are willing to respond to these questions will receive a PDF download to help guide their family through conversations about fostering passion-directed learning at any age and cultivating a truly desire-based and passion-directed family life. Discuss these questions as a family, and send your answers to Info@MurdockAcademy.com.

• What aspects about your children’s current schooling atmosphere are working well for them?

• Does your children’s current educational system foster the cultivation of new and unique passions and interests?

• Are your children aware of what their deep passions and interests are, and do they currently have any outlets at school for those passions and interests?

• Do your children ever lack interest in, feel bored by, or skip ahead of what the rest of the class is doing?

• Are your children forced to wear a mask or maintain social distance?

• Are your children ever restricted from going to the bathroom or getting a drink of water?

• Does the administration, management, school board, and other supervisors of your children’s school have the students’ best interests at heart?

• What are the areas you would change about your children’s education, and what specific replacements might you bring in for certain aspects of curriculum, culture, or atmosphere?

• Are the teachers treating your children like the unique geniuses they innately are?

• Do your children ever feel there is an excessive focus on religion in the daily schedule and in the curriculum?

• How would you know if your children were enrolled in nothing more than an overpriced daycare?

• What are the unique educational, emotional, and relational needs of each of your children?

• What skills could you as a parent, couple, family, or business bring to an educationally collaborative table?

• If you were to create an ideal environment for your children’s experiential learning journey, what would it look like?

• If your children were to customize their own unique educational journey, what would that look like?

• What monthly budget is your family willing and able to dedicate to a customized approach to learning?

• How far would your family be willing to travel if unique educational options were available in Saint George?

• How might the transition for a student from the conventional public school system to an ideal private school setting best be facilitated?

About the Author

Bentley Murdock is a wholistic family lifestyle wellness coach, certified wholistic nutritionist, disease reversal specialist, and #1 best-selling author. With over twenty years experience coaching families toward wholistic lifestyle wellness, his multi-faceted approach considers all angles of healing, from plant-sourced nutrition and desirebased recreation, to mental health, emotional harmony, and relational peace. As owners and founders of Custom Coaching and co-founders of Murdock Academy (a student-directed learning co-op), Bentley and his wife, Michelle, guide local families through every chapter and season of family life, from assisted home-birth and custom youth education to passion-directed living and disease prevention. For more information about their services or to learn more about their student-directed learning co-op, send an email to Bentley@MurdockAcademy.com.

Bentley Murdock