Wisdom Ranch School

[jellybean]

checked them both out and actually didn't like Blue Hills.  Anasazi looked like something to check into further.

Thanks

As a rule, children love their parents, believe what they teach, and take great pride in saying that the religion of mother is good enough for them.
--Robert G. Ingersoll, American politician and lecturer

[Anonymous]

Larry Olsen, who runs Anasazi, left the BYU program under a cloud.  There were allegations of sexual impropriety.  Don't know the details - anyone?

[jellybean]

http://outside.away.com/magazine/1095/10f_deth.html

Thanks, found something here, gives mixed info.  Written fairly well in contrast and does mention something about Larry Olsen and his background at BYU.  This is a Mormon based program.  Will keep searching for something.  Plan B is looking more feasible.

All contemporary religions and churches, all and every kind of religious organization, Marxism has always viewed as organs of bourgeois reaction, serving as a defense of exploitation and the doping of the working-classes.
--Nikolai Lenin, Russian revolutionary

[Nonconformistlaw]

Jellybean....the mentoring you mentioned..was it Big Brothers and Big Sisters you contacted? I think mentoring is a great idea...it doesn't solve the problems but I've personally seen it be helpful....I hope you dont give up on the mentoring idea...I know lots of organizations are sprouting up besides BBBS...anyway...if I find anything interesting about mentoring I'll pass it on to you here. ::rainbow::

[jellybean]

yes, he was on a waiting list for BBBS for 2 years and nothing.

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.
-- John Muir

[Anonymous]

If the kid is willing to go willingly (now that's an oxymoron) then why send him away at all?  Enroll him in an alternative school in Arizona that can help meet his needs and/or interests.  Outward Bound is great for building self-esteem and helping parents to repair broken relationships with their teens. No one has ever complained about Outward Bound.  Not parents or teens.  They aren't in the business of robbing kids of their adolescence and/or identity as a means of changing and/or controlling behavior.  Who needs a ranch school for 6 months?  Can't your kid go to school in Arizona AND get help with his issues?

[Nonconformistlaw]

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of....BBBS is great if you can ever get off the wait list....mentors dont exactly grow on trees....

Anyway.....here's a link for Arizona mentoring programs....there's a lot of them...if you want to check it out

http://www.azmentors.org/programlist2.htm

 ::rainbow::

[Nonconformistlaw]

TSW said--------"Oh Nonconformist... Let me name the ways I love Thee!

1 one thousand
2 one thousand
3 one thousand
4 one thousand
5 one thousand

oh heck I ran out of fingers. I should start a thread about the dangers of illegal fireworks one of these days."-----------

::rainbow::

[jellybean]

Thank you for the mentor link.  I have already contacted some of them via email for info.  For some reason, in the past, I haven't found that site and I've looked.  I guess it takes a village (not just a cliche).

I appreciate your help

May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house.
-- George Carlin

[OverLordd]

Hey you were being mean to! I belive you said something like. "Dont make me waist text on correcting you."  :razz:

[OverLordd]

waste, sorry sorry

[jellybean]

What do you like about Blue Hills? I didn't see anything attractive about it.  Also, maybe you could explain exactly what WWASP is and exactly what this site represents? Seems there is obviously two sides here in debate.  

That it is wrong for a man to say he is certain of the objective truth of a proposition unless he can provide evidence which logically justifies that certainty. This is what agnosticism asserts and in my opinion, is all that is essential to agnosticism.
--Thomas Henry Huxley, English biologist

[Anonymous]

WWASP/S is a network of highly abusive, cult-like "teen help" programs. 8 of their programs have been shut down due to abuse and neglect. Their program consists of confrontational "group sessions", in which students humiliate and berate each other, and Lifespring-style seminars, during which students and parents are indoctrinated and eventually come to accept WWASPS as their savior (notice how almost all the graduate talk about how their lives were saved? Yeah).

WWASPS, and any of their spin offs, must be avoided if you care at all about your child.

More info is available here:
http://www.isaccorp.org
http://education.guardian.co.uk/classro ... 32,00.html

[Anonymous]

Blue Hills?  I live in AZ - Blue Hills is a very small spin off by a former WWASPS person.  Don't know if she was an employee or what.  Someone said she used to be married to David Gilcrease.  Rumor maybe.

Anyway the pro of this would be that your kid is in AZ.  The con would be there are no family support systems in place - there is a Phoenix family support group that meets once a month and tons of ways to connect with each other during other times. Kids went - graduate or not - come to the meetings too.  

There are no parent/child  workshops that I'm aware of nor are there any workshops/seminars for you as a parent to get your life to a different place (if you need it, of course)  Some do, some don't.  

Schools and programs that are overseen by WWASPS are always in the news - both good and bad.  I have personal experience and know the bad is media hype - you know kinda like a famous person - the more famous they are the worse the stories.  Usually always based on fact but twisted so it hardly even resembles the truth anymore.  

There are thousands of success stories, but only a few that feel they were not given what they were promised.  Funny thing is, WWASPS, nor each individual school promises anything.  People hear only what they want to

If I wanted to believe my kid was being abused, I could have stupidly gone up to Cross Creek and pulled him out - didn't though, just made sure it wasn't true in other ways.  He said anything he could in the beginning to get me to come and rescue him from having to follow rules or to get away from not being able to do what he pleased.

If you really read some of the stories about abuse, you'll certainly see what would motivate it.  My son was there for 19 months and in all that time the only abuse he saw was the kids abusing the staff or their parents when they came to visit - his words.   He's been home 5 years so it's not a "fresh" experience and his story hasn't changed.  

Good luck to you in your research.  It's always best to look at both sides.

Here's a couple of links that help on the "pro" side - not welcome on this site and will get a lot of blasting - I can take it.

http://www.wwasprebuttal.com/parent_references.html

If you're in AZ - you can get some information on the schools at http://www.arizonateenhelp.com - you won't be talking with someone somewhere in cyberspace - you will be getting info from parents that have been where you are right now and in the same area.  As far as I know they aren't there to tell you what to do - only give you their personal experience and answer your questions.  I'm not sure what happens after that other than talking to an admissions person if you decide that's what you want to do next.  

But, please let us know if there's any pressure or anything that would be considered not right.  

PHX

[Anonymous]

Here's a couple of links that help on the "pro" side

You have to be kidding, right? The 'pro side'?!  :lol: These were written by WWASP themselves, the company who is raking in tens of millions of dollars per year (probably well over a hundred million now) on the backs of ignorant parents. Shame on all of you.