Sam started a new school this week at Community Cooperative Nursery School. We had to change for a couple of reasons, but we are very happy with CCNS which is a parent cooperative. If you want to know more about it go to
http://www.ccnsslc.com/ . It requires a lot of parent time - besides the regular committees that a school can require (and this is required at CCNS), two parents must volunteer in the classroom once every two weeks with very intensive work assignments. Keith will be doing this for us for awhile, isn't that cool? Anyway, this way the kid sees your whole family involved in his education and the parents get to know one another and the children very well, fostering a community for every child with the parents all on the same wavelength.
The philosophy of the school is focused on interacting with other children through play. They play and play. When I left on Thursday, Sam told me to go away because he and Miss Stephanie were checking out the Venus Flytrap eating a fly. With the parents in the classroom, the ratio is usually 1 to 4, but not more than 1 to 5 which is amazing to see in action. They have a really nice rhythm and they spend a lot of time outside. In the winter, they even have a mini sledding hill set up and some kids have learned to snow board!
I feel extremely welcomed as a parent and all the parents introduced themselves to both of us on the playground on the first day (usually parents don't introduce themselves to children). They all asked if there was anything special they needed to know about Sam. I feel really good about Sam being a part of this place. He goes three days a week for two and a half hours.
Sam's teacher, Stephanie Waldo, taught the parenting class we had last spring and she is amazing. The only drawback is that it is on the north side of town and takes 20 minutes to get there. But, as Kathy said, if you want something special for your kids, you aren't going to find it on every corner.
I was really heartbroken when I could not find a good Waldorf situation for Sam and I had a very difficult time finding a nursery school that did not focus on "academics". If want to know why this is such a priority, you better call me because I could write pages about that.
He made this in school and we embellished at home.
Isn't this pine cone enormous?
