GPCP is different than any other school in town, and I am so proud to be part of this community…read more The reggio emilia approach to child-centered learning and play makes it so fun. Our two sons, who are 1.5 and 3.5 years old, love it, and we are in our 3rd year here. Our teachers are uh-mazing (I get jealous how much my kids sometimes run to their teachers instead of me. Belinda (the atelierista) gets our kids exploring museum worthy art projects (who knew toddlers could do all this?!) and she helps them appreciate and interact with nature. You'll never get the flexibility you get like you do at GPCP. It's more affordable than any other comparable option (my husband does an excel spreadsheet for all things financial). Where else can you pay what we do for as little or as much child care as you need? Only sending your kid for M/W/F but need a random Tuesday for aftercare? Yours!
Every single one of my friends at other "preschools" (daycares) who have left GPCP have made me really appreciate GPCP. These families usually left because they have the kind of jobs where they just couldn't participate to the level we are required here (neither parent can leave work to do parent helper days for example). Their schools have a lot of great things that I sometimes envy, such as less parent requirements. We do a lot of "parent helper days" and committee meetings. It's safe, nurturing. Like most cooperative non profit schools, they can be a tad more disorganized, and they take off for many holidays and staff development days (either my husband or I have to take work off, or arrange additional childcare, which is a lot of hassle). But believe me, there's a major tradeoff....
What my friends at these other schools all complain about is that they don't really feel like they have any sense of community. They don't know the other parents, kids, or families. They describe a much more transactional, "corporate" feel. And... they all miss GPCP and wish they had the kinds of jobs that were more flexible (or more family support) so they could return. These parents know that they are paying for a child care service, and that they lost the sense of community that came with GPCP. They complain that they don't know the other families and have more of a "hi" and "bye" interaction with most other families (and teachers). Sure, parents there don't have to work nearly as hard as we have to, but psychologically most of us all tend to care more about whatever we've put some sweat equity into. We have hosted many of our GPCP teachers and parents to our (very untidy) house with their kids for playdates, dinner, school camping trips and even some major holidays; we've even vacationed with several families. We really know our fellow GPCP families.
Unfortunately, GPCP just isn't built for every child or family, especially for those who are just wanting (or needing) full time, nothing-else-required-of-parents type of child care. Most of us GPCP families are privileged enough to have the option to do something like this school. All of us have at least one family member with the kind of flexibility necessary to participate in this kind of model (we have a lot of entrepreneurs, business owners, freelancers part-timers, or at least some family support (grandparents) to actually have the time and bandwidth to participate as much as we do.
We have created a place that feels more like a home than a "daycare". We GPCP families are also typically cut from a different cloth, and we truly value our "cooperative", very parent-participatory model of early childhood education. We not only get the privilege of watching our children and their friends at school together, we are actively involved and shaping their school environment. I wouldn't have it any other way.
