We-- err-- ""wasted"" (?) nearly 2 years of preschool on our now 4 1/2 year old daughter before we found this place. They didn't advertise much, so we had never heard of it. But man, are we happy now! We LOVE them!!!!
This is the school for you if you like a lot of freedom and respect for your little one. There is very little emphasis on the ""skills"" our child was learning at the other schools-- how to wait in line, get into a circle and be quiet for long periods of time while a SINGLE child was called on to spell her name, or while the teacher were trying to get other kids out of their ""distractions"" (read: things they were really interested in!).
Our theory (that my husband & I share w/ Waldorf schools) is that at very young ages, children should have ACCESS to many things, but not be forced into doing any one thing.
We/they believe children have a natural love of learning, and this can be taken out of them with too much forced learning at a too-young age.
On the practical side, the school has lots of SPACE, inside and out. Wilderness Park is the ""yard"" for this preschool! Every day at 9am, kids & teachers hike down to the other side of the park to feed the ducks, koi, and turtles. Parents can join them if they have time-- incl. their too-young toddlers! (Kids must be 2 yrs and poty-trained to register.) There are also domesticated, poty-trained bunnies in the classroom, just hopping around, being part of the wonderful environment. Kids learn respect for nature inside, too.
Teachers: this is THE reason to be here, in our view. The teachers are the kindest, most energetic, most child-respectful adults we have ever met. Talk about being comfortable dropping our daughter off at school!
However, if you are ""conservative"" about children, and believe they need a strict regimen, will not learn at this age w/o prodding, or should start learning their ABC's, w/ or w/o interest, by age 3, this is probably not going to be your kind of school.
On the other hand, if you love the outdoors and nature, believe in your child's inherent ability to teach him/herself many things at this age, do not like TV for your child, and want him or her to be safe, happy, and honored while not in your presence, then this place is the cat's meow!!! There's really nothing else like it. We've been around. We know.
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