About

Hi, my name is Miss Nicole. My husband and I moved here from the west coast almost three years ago with a growing family in mind. I am so happy to be enjoying the seasons again. My husband is a warm weather boy, so  I  pray in thanks that he's surviving. I am thrilled to be on this adventure, come snow or not (but the drought hurts). About me: I lived in several big cities  and also a couple other countries, for both school  and work as  a  young and older adult.  I love art, music, traveling, the outdoors, food and learning.  I "found myself " not in  an art or culture, nor teaching, but in family and faith.  We are so blessed with our sons, and after being completely enamored with young families, I am speechless at the joy of having my own. I am one proud Mama Bear!

Credentialed and trained as a master teacher,  I was passionate about early childhood education long before becoming a Mama. What a blessing it now is to be becoming a full-time teacher and Mama.  Always exploring different philosophies and programs, like a child, I found my niche in nature-based, emmergent and maybe Reggio Emilia curriculum. I am leaning into Montessori  and Anji play and I have recenetly added a lot of Conscious Discipline,  and special needs tools to my box. I love providing opportunities for children to learn at their level, on their terms and in the wild. Courage, creativity, trust and excitement pour out of these risk-taking and play-filled learners. Children are genius beings, and our adult needs pale in comparison to their  insatiable appetites for change and challenge.  We all need nurture, nature, passion and confidence but they have the high-energy to demand whatever it takes to get them going. It's my vocation and it's a true gift of joy to open up and attune to their needs with compassion and connection.  I am grateful for the opportunity to be at home with my boys doing a job I love.

It doesn't matter if you don't speak another language. The ways language and bilingualism improve brain function are impressive. 

  The children listen more because their ears are busy working to decipher and decode patterns in sounds both at home and in the immersion language. Already they have more potential to learn new words in any language, to speak any language and to organize thoughts in multiple languages. They can memorize the order and structure of multiple languages with no effort at these early ages, and it isn't  grammar, it's just immersion!  

 This organizing and structuring part of the brain develops and increases growth in other ways too, like enlarging the use of the part of the brain that finds patterns like those used in math and music. That means children are now noticing concepts like similarities and differences more readily and problem solving with more success, using both sides of the brain and their executive functioning skills.

 Does that sound like they may have a brain fit for STEAMM? Yes or anything challenging. Creativity, problem-solving and flexible open-minds make self-starters with regulation skills to manage life stressors. Children will feel competent at learning. This leads to seeking and discovering awe and wonder. 

How about the diversity of our country and world. It's full of beautiful multiple languages, cultures, foods, art and beliefs. This may be an opportunity to embrace all that. What if the French language brought your family to discover new art, film,  people and places?

It does matter to many people how well I speak French. I am interested in phone conversations with those people and can just say that I lived, worked and related in French for eight years and then for another two years spoke  French mostly only at work. All that was six years ago.  I will say however, that compared to schools I am familiar with, I am much more inclined to correct behavior and connect emotionally in English with English speakers and French with French speakers.  My  son gets upset when he wants to know the English words in a book and I tell him the French words, so I will give him the language that he wants to learn at that moment.  

  I will justify this with an example. If your child was a Spanish speaker at home, only speaking Spanish with caregivers and then went to school and had some hard times, hard days, challenging behavior and needed extra love, what would you think if his or her preschool teacher who was Spanish speaking used your home language with him or her?  If you think that  it's cheating him or her out of language skills, then this school is not a good fit for you. If you think that it's important that your child feel heard, seen and understood in their home language too, then this is a good fit for you.