Co-op Preschool

Since Rainbow was a year old I have been taking her to Preschool.  Take that all in.  I know, how can a one year old go to Preschool?  

Well, in Seattle we have a great co-op system.  For those who don't know what a co-op is it's a school that is run by parents.  If there is a trained teacher (the one my daughter attends does) than this person would be the only person getting paid.  

A more specific definition can be found at: http://preschoolers.about.com/od/parentingglossary/g/Cooperative-Preschool-Co-Op-Preschool-Preschool-Cooperative.htm.  

Parents help out in the class room on a rotating bases and also have an outside of the class room job (for example, fundraising or cleaning up toys).  There is a board that oversees the running of the school and each position is filled by a parent.  There is a tuition but it's usually much lower than other types of preschools.  The Seattle co-op system is all overseen by the Seattle Central Community College.  The community college provides insurance and parent education to the schools.  

So when Rainbow turned one I had her attend a co-op that had a class for her age group once a week.  There wasn't any real lessons.  It basically was a play date in which the same kids attended.  The teacher would set up different activities around the room and the kids were given the opportunity to go around a play with blocks, do art, use a sensory table, so on.  Rainbow loved going to class and sometime in the Spring the kids became old enough to pay attention during the last 30 minutes for circle time.  They got to sing songs and dance around as a group.  Since the kids were only a year old parents were required to stay for every single class.  The class was only for an hour and a half.  

Rainbow this year

 Rainbow is now going into her second year in a co-op and this time the class is twice a week for the whole morning.  I will only be helping in the class room a handful of times during the month. The class  is still play based which I think is very important.  At this age socialization is what they should focus on the most.  There will be more structure as the school year goes on and there is learning but it's not a sit down and work in a text book type of learning.  I'm excited to keep you updated with how the school year goes and if there is any projects that we do in class when I'm there I will make sure to blog about it.