Monday-Friday 7:30-5:30 See "group size" for a little more info on preschool, aftercare, and enrichment based mixed age playgroup hours.

NOW ENROLLING for Preschool and Homecare ages 2-5 yrs.

A note on playgroup/homecare enrollment:

When we enroll children at age 2yrs, we hope to keep them through at least 4yrs of age.

We put a lot of energy and love into helping 2yr olds get comfy at school, use great conflict resolution skills, and we help with the transition into underwear.

We would like to enjoy this effort by continuing to work/ play with them through ages 3yrs and 4yrs.

The community building that grows out of their first year at school, is greatly enjoyed through ages 3yrs-5yrs.


Hello!

Welcome to “Mountain Valley Community School” a progressive alternative to standard preschool and childcare. We truly and deeply care about our future generation's happiness and their responsibility to themselves and the future of our community. To us, a community should be environmentally and socially aware/ just, close-nit, caring, sustainable, and festive. Therefore, we have an environmentally conscious, culturally diverse, anti-bias/ anti-racism place-making rhythm journey around the sun. We embrace enriching philosophies such Montessori, Waldorf, unschooling, attachment parenting, Non- Violent Communication, and blend them with our own special magic/charm/sparkle to create a comfortable, compassionate, fun, and enriching place. Our small class size enables us to be flexible with the various needs and interests of each child. Preschool aged children experience age appropriate enrichment in a home-schooling environment.

At Mountain Valley our biggest focus is to foster and co-create a close-nit community. We mentor respectful communication amongst each other and give each other the space to play together or alone. We are here to play and create together as well as to cry, heal, and then laugh again together.

We like our place to be an extension of your family and encourage families to meet. To achieve this goal we hold quarterly potlucks to reconnect and bring in the new season. We also organize family and school field trips.

for more info or to schedule a visit contact
Susan 971 285 5949 cell
calendulasusan@peacemail.com

We are a state certified facility:
The primary provider must have at least one year of qualifying teaching experience in the care of a group of children in an ongoing group setting such as kindergarten, preschool, Headstart program or licensed child care; OR has completed 20 semester credits or 30 quarter credit of college or university training in early childhood education or child development; OR has documentation of attaining at least step 8 on the Oregon Registry.
The provider, substitute providers, and any Assistant II level staff are required to have fifteen (15) clock hours of training related to child care every year. Of these 15 hours, at least eight (8) clock hours must be in child development or early childhood education. These staff must maintain:
current infant and child cardiopulmonary resuscitation certifications ( CPR ) and first aid food handler certification;and show evidence of two (2) hours of training in Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse.

LINKS:
www.homeschoollearning.com/appr...shtml
www.montessori.edu/homeschooling.html
www.waldorfhomeschoolers.com/
www.unschooling.com/library/...dex.shtml (I especially like the article on Swingning!)
www.alfiekohn.org/articles.htm (unconditional parenting articles)

CLICK ON ARROWS BELOW TO OPEN SECTIONS AND FIND OUT MORE!!!

ACTIVITIES:

*NO TV*
-art projects
-exposure to a wide variety of music
-various percussions
-singing and dancing
-movement and song games
-obstacle courses
-puppet shows
-various dramatic play
-Improv games
-involvement in meal preparation
-nature art
-outdoor/nature play
-gardening
-story time
-circle time
-early literacy games
-guest speakers
-Sign Language
-exposure to foreign languages
-seasonal school & family field trip

Activities vary with seasonal changes.

SEE OUR PICTURES for glimpses of our fun.

Our curriculum is based on placemaking and community. We learn a lot about what it means to be from the Pacific Northwest and what it means to be "me". And how that all comes together in COMMUNITY.

Fall/Early Winter Curriculum Themes By Week

August 28th @ 6:30PM Mandatory Orientation

Week I (9/8- 9/12) : Please bring in family picture collage!
*Getting to know you and connecting
*How we take care of our school
*Personalizing the space
-Paint Collage
-take pictures @ school for collage
-Gather Veggies
-hang pictures of family and friends
-paint folders
-share stories and play listening game
-practice fire drill

Week II (15-19) & Week III: (9/22- 9/26): Sat., Sept. 20th Veggie BBQ Equinox Potluck @ MV 3PM
*Equinox has arrived
-nature walks
-community clean up project
-collect fall treasures
-equinox mobiles

Week IV (9/29- 10/3)
*Fall planting

-native plants and restoring forests
-Read: A kiss goodbye a story about raccoons who have to leave forest home because of logging
-Read The Lorax

Week V (10/6- 10/10) Family Field trip: Salmon Festival @ Oxbow Park (DTBA)
Element: Water (add element to fairy wand)
*Salmon Week
-listen to Chenoa Egawas CD
-Salmon mobiles tell stories of salmon
-pretend to be animals associated with salmon
-Salmon obstacle course
-Read our salmon books

Week VI (10/13- 10/17)
*First Nations of the Pacific Northwest
-Read various traditional stories of Pacific Northwest
-Use story tellers seat in native plant garden to tell Chinook origin story
-listen to Chenoa Egawas CD
-make medicine bags
-continue work on mobiles

Week VII (10/20- 10/24) & Week VIII (10/27- 10/31) & Week IX (11/3- 11/7)
PARENTS! Please bring in pictures of loved ones that have passed on and a short story about them and dress your child on halloween for our halloween parade

*Discussing and decorating for Halloween
-Read various halloween books
-Make bats
-Make jack-o-lanterns
*Discussing and decorating for Day of the Dead
-Read Elena’s Serenade, and books about Day of the Dead
-Set up altar to dead relatives
decorate with candles, flowers, natural candy
-Bake Pan de Los Muertos
-share stories about loved ones
-halloween parade

Week X (11/10- 11/14) CLOSED on the Nov. 10th
*Traditional/ family recipes and stories.
-Fall harvest
-Cooking/ Focusing on food
-Starting our Mushrooms

Week XI (11/17- 11/21) CLOSED 26th, 27th, 28th
*Recapping the Fall
-adding pictures to collage

Week XII (11/24- 11/28) & Week XIII (12/1- 12/5)
Family Recipies
-family stories, recipies
-looking at the map, tracing our heritage
tracing how our family came to Oregon

Week XIV (12/8- 12/12) & Week XIV (12/15- 12/19) & Week XV (12/22-12/23)
Element: Fire (add element to fairy wand)
*Decorating for Hanukkah, Christmas, Solstice, and any other family holidays
celebrated
-Make beeswax candles
CLOSED 12/24- 1/1 REOPEN 1/2

In the Spirit of Homeschool

At Mountain Valley we foster a homeschool environment. Children are provided the choice to participate in all activities offered or excuse themselves to work on another project in the schoolhouse. No one is ever forced to participate in any activity (excluding quiet time & we all sit together for meals). Everyone is encouraged to join, but also respected if they prefer to do something else. We also tune in to each child’s learning needs and pace. We are deep listeners who care about the holistic child. We will consider, support, and guide:

A) His/ her basic needs:

Is she/ he eating enough vegetables, fruits, and proteins?
Is he/ she getting enough exercise and full body movement?
Is he/ she getting enough rest?
Is she/ he staying hydrated?
Is he/ she having healthy bowl movements?


B) Development of fine and gross motor skills.

C) His/ her emotional well being.

D) Connection with friends.

E) Conflict Resolution:

Is she/ he able to protect her/ his body?
Is he/ she using her/ his words?
Is she/ he able to recognize the need for peace and quiet time for centering?
Is he/ she able to take time for oneself when needed?

F) Math and reading readiness. We look for any interest in math and reading and support it through projects and games.

G) Are we having fun?
Is she/ he laughing?
What is she/ he interested in?
What does she/ he like to do?
What does she/ he get excited about?
Who is she/ he playing with?
Who is she/ he having a hard time with and how are they getting through it?

H) Other....

PLACE:

Our A-Frame home with it's wood ceilings creates a homey cabin feel; like a home away from home.

We have a
- playroom with a beautiful mural that we painted
- art room
- blue room for dramatic play and rock climbing
- family style living room for circle time, story time, and quiet activities
-Purple Peace Room for quiet time or Original Play
- Fenced backyard w/ plum trees, grape arbor, native plant garden, and herbs
- outside play house
- organic garden
- amazing grapevine arbor to play in!

MEALS:

We support New Seasons Market's Delivery service. New Seasons Market supports local farmers and sustainable agricultural practices. Their delivery van keeps cars off the road and uses bio-diesel. We serve mostly seasonal organic whole foods made from fresh produce (occasionally a frozen vegetable) for lunch and afternoon snack.

Preschoolers and interested toddlers help in meal preperation and setting the table.

GROUP SIZE:

10 children all day Mon.-Fri.
1 teacher for ages 2yrs-3yrs
1 teacher for ages 3yrs-5yrs
- when the majority of children are 3yrs + and are comfortable working and playing together; and they have honed in their conflict resolution skills, we will be adding one more child per day.

TUITION

TUITION:
*includes organic whole food snacks & lunch
*art supplies

*does not include diapers & wipes (please keep an eye out for diaper fund replenishing)

With respect and appreciation of socio-economic diversity, we offer a sliding scale.
-We are happy to accept DHS subsidies
-Families with yearly gross income of $35,000 or less may apply for a scholarship.
-Families with yearly gross income of $35,000-$45,000: $20/half day ($5/hr)
-Families with yearly gross income of $45,000-$70,000: $24/half day ($6/hr)
-Families with yearly gross income of $70,000-$100,000: $28/half day ($7/hr)
-Families with yearly gross income of $100,000+ are asked to increase their monthly tuition, which will then be added to the scholarship fund.
-Fulltime $850-$1100

Tuition is paid monthly. After your tuition scale is determined, we use a formula to average your monthly tuition over the year. You will pay the same amount every month.

Tuition formula:
(weekly tuition X 45 weeks in our school year)/ 11 months in our school year= monthly tuition.

Volunteer Hours:
Families are asked to volunteer at the school for 15 hours a year.
Some ways to volunteer:
-cut out pictures for collages
-wash our wood dining chairs
-put on a parent workshop as a fundraiser
-help with a fundraiser
-help with the village building convergence in May
-come to a work/ yard-work party
-help clean before and after potlucks

Community Hours:
Creating community in a busy world can sometimes seem like more work then its worth. Maybe you’ve had a long week and really don’t want to make it to the potluck. Maybe you have to take a personal day to make it to a field trip. Joining Mountain Valley is joining a community. Please make it to at least 50% of the community functions (there is one every month). We recognize the importance of joining to celebrate us as we take this journey around the sun. Please make time for us.

A call for Community.....From Mountain Valley Community School....To you...Lets be US.

Mountain Valley Community School is a home-care and preschool. But its more than that. It is a special place that is doing its best to co-create a sustainable community of learners, helpers, friends, families, and community partners.

At Mountain Valley our biggest focus is to foster and co-create a close-nit community. To us, a community is environmentally and socially aware/ just, close-nit, caring, sustainable, and festive. Therefore, we have an environmentally conscious, culturally diverse, anti-bias/ anti-racism curriculum. We embrace enriching philosophies such as Montessori, Waldorf, unschooling, attachment parenting, non- violent communication, and original play and blend them with our own special magic/charm/sparkle to create a comfortable, compassionate, fun, and enriching place. We are here to play and create together as well as to cry, heal, and then laugh again together.

Everyone at Mountain Valley eats fresh organic whole foods every day; child/ teacher ratio is kept low enough to connect deeply with each others interests and needs; we buy most of our materials from locally owned businesses; and do our best to buy sustainable products and natural materials whenever possible. We also strive to be socio-economically inclusive.

In the last year Mountain Valley Community School has:
*Started a worm bin and composts most food scraps
*Planted two native trees, three native berries, and one native lilac bush.
*Planted three fruiting trees and a nut tree
*Sheet mulched away our lawn and are in the process of planting an organic heirloom
vegetable garden to provide food for our school.
*Our Curriculum is based on place-making and bringing families together to celebrate
our Pacific Northwest Heritage: we do this by organizing field trips like Salmon Nation
Festival at Oxbow Park, blueberry picking at a local organic farm, and potlucks dedicated
to sharing our family recipes.
*And most importantly; Mountain Valley has facilitated a place for sustainable community
growth by connecting people to each-other and the beautiful place in which we live with
love and a sense of stewardship.

These are great contributions to a sustainable world. Mountain Valley is working towards a sustainable future. True sustainability includes:

-Environmental sustainability:
Examples: using natural materials, composting, organic gardening, reducing,
reusing, recycling, buying local organic food, sourcing materials locally.

-Social sustainability:
Examples: A happy comfortable work environment, paid vacations to re-energize
teachers, teacher and parent trainings/workshops, respecting and appreciating
differences and comfort levels, open communication, apple diversity, plenty of celebrating.

-Economic sustainability:
Examples: Affordable for families of all income levels (we are committed to
providing an exceptional environment that is accessible to all socio-economic
levels), and a sustainable yearly income of $25,000-$35,000 for the
dedicated, hardworking, loving, patient, nurturing (the list goes on) Mountain
Valley teachers and assistants plus health benefits and paid vacations.

We need Mountain Valley to provide a sustainable livelihood for its teachers, a low tuition for families, a high quality building and garden space, and various high quality materials for us to share. We can not meet these goals on our own. In most industrialized countries childcare and preschool are publicly funded and providers of such care are respected, appreciated, and provided with a stable income and benefits. Public funds are not being applied towards these visions and so its going to take people at the grassroots to make this important community growth a reality. In a time where public school is highly under funded, income disparity is growing, stress levels are rising, we have to look to each other for real solutions. Mountain Valley believes it starts with community. We at Mountain Valley are reaching out to you, our larger Portland community. We are asking you to be part of this vision, be part of this community.

There are several ways to be a Mountain Valley Community Partner... Read on...

-You can donate $15- $1000 per month
*This money can be appied to subsidize low income families' tuition
* It can be applied directly to improving our schoolhouse (add a front yard fence, hire a natural landscaper, put on an eco roof
workshop for the community while installing an eco-roof).
* It can be used to ensure health care for all Staff at Mountain Valley

- Help put on a fundraiser
examples
* A concert series at a local Cafe
* A benefit dinner
* A benefit auction

- Offer a Parent Workshop as a fundraiser

-Have an idea to add? Call Susan 971 285 5949