Mary Poppins Pre-K is absolutely a perfect fit for our daughter! We missed the signs of her readiness for Pre-K, so after that school year already started we discovered at 3.5 years old she was SO ready for a learning environment. We are so thankful for how Mary Poppins works and focuses on the needs of each child; We needed to start Pre-K in October - done. We needed flexibility in the scheduled days so our daughter could still spend time each week with both sets of grandparents - done. We needed a fun, enriched learning environment that also prepared her for what kindergarten has in store - done. Shalaine is so well-versed in Montessori and Waldorf methods, she was very attuned to how she would help our daughter transition from just-daycare to Pre-K curriculum and environment, and she’s invested in teaching self-sufficiency and independence. Shalaine’s focus is process over product, so she allows our daughter to take a shot at something new which I would hesitate to offer because it could be “too messy” or make more work for me. My Eureka-moment was picking our daughter up, where she had a bunch of washable finger paint on herself and her clothes (Shalaine does use smocks, however my daughter dug into the activity too quickly for the smock to work retroactively, and Shalaine was so apologetic about the mess that day) - initially, I had my typical reaction of “what on earth is all this?!” Then, as I was rubbing in Shout spray later that night I thought “Wait...is our daughter is going to school to learn by having her hands on things and engage all her senses, or to learn how to keep her clothes pristine?” I still use Shout spray to the point I should buy stock in it, but now I see the stuff (paint, dirt, what-have-you) on her clothes as physical evidence of her learning that day. Shalaine will text pictures and short videos of their activities so I feel I get to be part of our daughter’s day as well as she invites parents to join during a school day to eat lunch or read books with all the other kiddos. I just found out my mom has been going over to read books on the days she watches my kids - which is awesome! She assesses our daughter on a quarterly basis and her tuition REDUCES as she becomes more independent and helps younger kids. I remember saying this to someone when our daughter started, because 1. the daily rate was already so reasonable, especially for the level of enriched activities they do, 2. It doesn’t usually work that way - I’m used to rates going up with cost of living expenses. That person said “Yeah, right, that will never happen.” However, Shalaine contacted me when our daughter was reaching independence benchmarks, she let me know which things she was still waiting to progress, and how we could work on those outside of school as well. Lo and behold, after 3 months at Mary Poppins, our tuition went down. And when we were having some trouble with the rest-period/nap-time, Shalaine was already problem-solving, wanting to make sure that school remains a place our daughter is happy to go to each day. Mary Poppins Pre-K is an absolute treasure.
- Kelsey Anderson
