Thank you to Creative Play Center (CPC), teacher Ms. Cory, and the Pre-K co-oping parents of 2017-2018. At the orientation meeting for the co-opers, I shared that my daughter, A_____, would shy away from other children, to the point that at the park she would not climb up to the slides if other kids were near. Two kind co-oping mothers told me they made it a point to look out for A_____. As it turns out, the teacher and the co-opers made our girl so comfortable that she loved her school from the start and didn't need that much help. On day one, I returned to school to see if she was still okay. She just looked up and said excitedly, "That's my daddy." There is a great advantage with co-op schools, that co-opers parent the other kids, as well as their kids.
Another great advantage is that the co-oping parents learn as much as the children do and form important attachments with other parents, at the same time their children are forming attachments with the other kids.
Most of the parents brought prior co-oper experience. They shared their experience with other parents, as well as the kids. The rest of us parents learned a lot from these parents, the teachers, and from co-oping the kids. I feel 100% more prepared to help A_____ now. Ms. Cory loved my daughter and so did the co-oping parents. I also needed their patience with my blunders and to help me learn to be a good co-oper. I felt anxiety being a co-oper, at age 68, an adopting father, with little experience with children. I expect both A_____ and I will be successful now as a child and parent in kindergarten and elementary school. It is hard to overestimate what a great boost of confidence it has been for us.
The co-opers also set up play dates for the kids outside of class. With all this parent and kid contact, sharing and long-term attachments are common. CPC has a wonderful long history, and most of the teachers were once inspired co-opers at the school. Many co-opers were once co-op kids at CPC.
CPC organizes classes so that children are all within one-half-year in age. The "rustic" background playground of CPC is bigger than most co-op schools and, for me, more inviting. Before enrolling, we attended many of the $10.00 drop-in classes on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons with Ms. Chrissy, which included free time and circle time with bubbles. It was a good introduction to the school and the playground. Because of this, A_____ considered CPC her school before she attended Pre-K classes.
CPC emphasizes the play aspect of preschool/Pre-K. A child can be happy at school and love school for a whole year (or years) at CPC before facing the large size classes of kindergarten. I think there is a lot of mental maturation at age five that makes academic learning more fun and appropriate for them. In my experience, four-year-old minds are more fantastical and need nurturing for confidence-building, more than a focus on academics. CPC teachers work in the academics within the curriculum in a nonthreatening and fun way. The play and non-judgmental emphasis at CPC avoids stressing four-year-olds and their parents about academics.
My gratitude and thank you to the parents, the nurturers, the confident parents, generous parents, novice and experienced co-oping parents, Ms. Cory and the other teachers--a huge thank you from A_____ too. Thanks for preparing us both to be successful. read more
