Testimonials
"Katy doesn’t just focus on meeting our
child’s basic needs; she is helping to create thoughtful, creative, and
passionate little citizens of the world. She empowers the kids to ‘own’ their
choices and equips them with the tools to help guide them towards the ‘right’
decisions. She will take the extra minute to teach them how to resolve their
conflicts and she also doesn’t just give them answers. She encourages them to
think for themselves and be curious about the world.
She also makes sure the children have an enriching and stimulating environment – including several field trips such as a visit to an organic farm or making pizzas at the local parlor. Our son enjoys coming to school and tells us, unsolicited, how much he loves it there. With all the stress in our lives with fitting in full-time careers, parenting, etc., this is the one area that we don’t have to worry about. We know our son is receiving the best care and we sleep so much better at night because of this."
-Melinda & Ed
"Katy is a phenomenal teacher! She is very nurturing and loving to our daughter. She made the transition of being her first care taker aside from family so easy for all of us. She has taught our daughter much independence and much respect for the environment. Katy is very nurturing and loving to our daughter. Katy spends LOTS of time on conflict resolution and I have seen a huge change in our daughter as a result.
We have seen our daughter grow in leaps and bounds since starting Katy's program 11 months ago. The other teacher at Mother Earth’s, Alicia, and the assistant, Erika, are also phenomenal and so loving. All three teachers speak Spanish and our daughter has learned lots of words in Spanish and also several songs. She is not even three and can say many words in three different languages! They go on field trips that are not only fun but also very educational and have TONS of outside play, rain or shine. Our daughter comes home dirty every day and I know she has had a phenomenal day at school, she is wearing the proof. Katy has so much passion for what she does and continuing her education and giving back to the community, I could not be happier for what she has done for our daughter and would recommend her program to anyone who wants a nurturing and loving environment that also offers independence and growth!"
-Courtney
"I have known Katy for about 4 years. She contacted me when I opened my own family child care program in 2008. She has been an inspiration and supportive friend and colleague ever since. We share a commitment to high-quality education for young children, a commitment that has enriched our friendship and our mutual professional development.
My own continuing education has allowed me to stay abreast of the professional standards of early childhood education, and I can attest that to this end Katy goes above and beyond. Her rich, play-based curriculum is set up in such a way that children’s developmental needs are met on many levels.While the classroom setup conveys a preschool feeling, the environment at Mother Earth’s Children is warm and welcoming, and Katy’s demeanor is always caring and genuine.
I have had the opportunity to see Katy interact with children on many occasions and am always impressed by her ability to
connect at the child’s level. The enjoyment on children’s faces as Katy reads a story or facilitates activities is very real. Katy’s relationships with children are so clearly deep and meaningful, and reflect the special teacher-child bond between them.
The curriculum at Mother Earth’s Preschool is always current, adapting to the interests of the children. Whenever I visit Katy’s program, I see new materials, new art projects on the walls, new things to explore. The children always appear happy and engaged in their surroundings.
I also know Katy through a professional development group that we attend with other family child care providers.We all draw upon Katy’s experience and expertise in the field of Early Childhood Education. She brings her questions to the table as well, showing her commitment to her own personal and professional growth as an educator. Katy and I have attended as well as presented several child development and curriculum workshops together, and I value her as a partner in my own professional development.
I would highly recommend Katy without hesitation to provide high quality child care to children.”
-Stephanie Antoni, owner of Beansprouts Preschool
"Our daughter is thriving in the lightly-structured, play-based, child-centered program. She gets to interact with children of mixed ages, spends lots of time outside, and enjoys playing in the great dramatic play areas, as well as many other options that are readily available to her each day.
Katy maintains a fabulous natural environment – the classroom is cleaned with natural cleaners, the children learn about composting, gardening, reusing materials and reducing waste; they use a cloth diaper service; most of the day is spent outside (not just in the summer!); the snacks are vegetarian, homemade, and incorporate lots of fresh produce and variety.
The children learn responsibility in so many different ways – snacks are served family-style and children serve themselves and control their own portions; food waste is discussed; children clear their own dishes from the table (all ceramic/glass/metal by the way – no cheap plastic stuff here!). Conflict resolution is implemented and children are encouraged to discuss developing problems with their peers and work together to resolve issues.
There is an incredible sense of community amongst the families, who have numerous opportunities throughout the year to interact and form friendships. Katy regularly provides pictures (invite-only online albums) to give parents a peek into all of the great things the kids get to do and learn.
Finally, Katy herself (as well as her terrific staff) is open and easy to talk to for both kids and parents. She is friendly, patient, warm, loving, knowledgeable and talented, and I am amazed at how much she has helped my daughter develop in her time here. We are so grateful to be a part this program."
-Shannon
"We have had a great experience with Mother Earth's. The warm, nurturing, family environment was just what we were looking for. We like that the children are encouraged to explore and learn through every day play. Our already inquisitive daughter has been thriving intellectually here and talks about the teachers and the other kids all the time. Mother Earth's has become an extension of home for our daughter and we're all thrilled to have found such a lovely community for our family."
-Shilpa
"What I love:
Mother Earth implements a child-based curriculum. The children are invited to but are not required to participate in activities. The teachers facilitate activities, allowing the children to explore. Barring safety considerations (and there is a certain amount of healthy risk-taking allowed), there is no correct or incorrect way for them to do things. As an example, Katy gave them paint capsules to play with one day. They had to figure out how to get the paint out. The children worked together, trying different methods to open them - I think they tried smashing, dropping, and dissolving them. It was a lovely exercise in teamwork, problem solving, and science, all in one loosely-structured activity. In addition, I got to see it all because they took photos.
The school is a very natural environment, and they provide healthy snacks. They use eco-friendly
cleaners and cloth diapers. There is a large, mostly shaded outdoor play area with a mud pit, a sandbox, play structures, paint wall, and fruit/vegetable garden. They spend most of their time outside, in all weather. When I am able to tear her away, Maggie comes home covered in sand, mud or paint - I love it! I can tell from her clothes how much fun she had.
The multiple age groups co-mingle, and the children learn from one another and mentor each other. When my daughter first started, she was the one of the younger children. Her development accelerated when she was exposed to the older children. Now, as one of the oldest, it is so sweet seeing her take care of the toddlers.
We left our previous pre-school because they were sending notes home about our daughter's behavior, and they were putting her in time out. I love that the teachers at Mother Earth will spend a half-hour with the children if needed, encouraging them to work out their conflicts and to speak and play respectful of the other children. "She is crying. How can you make her feel better?" "Tell her why that bothers you." "Maybe you could ask her if you could play with it afterward." And sometimes, if there is a meltdown, they just sit with them and offer TLC until they feel better. They are so patient!
Katy welcomes drop-ins or planned visits pretty much anytime. Although parent participation is not required, she solicits parent participation for field trips and lessons. Parents come to share cultural traditions (eg. divali, holi). She hosts evening potlucks throughout the year and a camp-out in the summer, and she invites parents for planned parent-child interaction (Mother's Day Tea coming up). She also sends captioned photos of the children in action at school. The atmosphere is also
very supportive of parent-teacher and parent-parent communication. I feel comfortable asking Katy for advice or coming to her with my concerns. As a result, I've developed some excellent friendships, and I feel like I am involved with my child's care even if I can't always be physically present.
Most important, I feel like my child is loved. You can tell that I love it there!"
- Rhea
She also makes sure the children have an enriching and stimulating environment – including several field trips such as a visit to an organic farm or making pizzas at the local parlor. Our son enjoys coming to school and tells us, unsolicited, how much he loves it there. With all the stress in our lives with fitting in full-time careers, parenting, etc., this is the one area that we don’t have to worry about. We know our son is receiving the best care and we sleep so much better at night because of this."
-Melinda & Ed
"Katy is a phenomenal teacher! She is very nurturing and loving to our daughter. She made the transition of being her first care taker aside from family so easy for all of us. She has taught our daughter much independence and much respect for the environment. Katy is very nurturing and loving to our daughter. Katy spends LOTS of time on conflict resolution and I have seen a huge change in our daughter as a result.
We have seen our daughter grow in leaps and bounds since starting Katy's program 11 months ago. The other teacher at Mother Earth’s, Alicia, and the assistant, Erika, are also phenomenal and so loving. All three teachers speak Spanish and our daughter has learned lots of words in Spanish and also several songs. She is not even three and can say many words in three different languages! They go on field trips that are not only fun but also very educational and have TONS of outside play, rain or shine. Our daughter comes home dirty every day and I know she has had a phenomenal day at school, she is wearing the proof. Katy has so much passion for what she does and continuing her education and giving back to the community, I could not be happier for what she has done for our daughter and would recommend her program to anyone who wants a nurturing and loving environment that also offers independence and growth!"
-Courtney
"I have known Katy for about 4 years. She contacted me when I opened my own family child care program in 2008. She has been an inspiration and supportive friend and colleague ever since. We share a commitment to high-quality education for young children, a commitment that has enriched our friendship and our mutual professional development.
My own continuing education has allowed me to stay abreast of the professional standards of early childhood education, and I can attest that to this end Katy goes above and beyond. Her rich, play-based curriculum is set up in such a way that children’s developmental needs are met on many levels.While the classroom setup conveys a preschool feeling, the environment at Mother Earth’s Children is warm and welcoming, and Katy’s demeanor is always caring and genuine.
I have had the opportunity to see Katy interact with children on many occasions and am always impressed by her ability to
connect at the child’s level. The enjoyment on children’s faces as Katy reads a story or facilitates activities is very real. Katy’s relationships with children are so clearly deep and meaningful, and reflect the special teacher-child bond between them.
The curriculum at Mother Earth’s Preschool is always current, adapting to the interests of the children. Whenever I visit Katy’s program, I see new materials, new art projects on the walls, new things to explore. The children always appear happy and engaged in their surroundings.
I also know Katy through a professional development group that we attend with other family child care providers.We all draw upon Katy’s experience and expertise in the field of Early Childhood Education. She brings her questions to the table as well, showing her commitment to her own personal and professional growth as an educator. Katy and I have attended as well as presented several child development and curriculum workshops together, and I value her as a partner in my own professional development.
I would highly recommend Katy without hesitation to provide high quality child care to children.”
-Stephanie Antoni, owner of Beansprouts Preschool
"Our daughter is thriving in the lightly-structured, play-based, child-centered program. She gets to interact with children of mixed ages, spends lots of time outside, and enjoys playing in the great dramatic play areas, as well as many other options that are readily available to her each day.
Katy maintains a fabulous natural environment – the classroom is cleaned with natural cleaners, the children learn about composting, gardening, reusing materials and reducing waste; they use a cloth diaper service; most of the day is spent outside (not just in the summer!); the snacks are vegetarian, homemade, and incorporate lots of fresh produce and variety.
The children learn responsibility in so many different ways – snacks are served family-style and children serve themselves and control their own portions; food waste is discussed; children clear their own dishes from the table (all ceramic/glass/metal by the way – no cheap plastic stuff here!). Conflict resolution is implemented and children are encouraged to discuss developing problems with their peers and work together to resolve issues.
There is an incredible sense of community amongst the families, who have numerous opportunities throughout the year to interact and form friendships. Katy regularly provides pictures (invite-only online albums) to give parents a peek into all of the great things the kids get to do and learn.
Finally, Katy herself (as well as her terrific staff) is open and easy to talk to for both kids and parents. She is friendly, patient, warm, loving, knowledgeable and talented, and I am amazed at how much she has helped my daughter develop in her time here. We are so grateful to be a part this program."
-Shannon
"We have had a great experience with Mother Earth's. The warm, nurturing, family environment was just what we were looking for. We like that the children are encouraged to explore and learn through every day play. Our already inquisitive daughter has been thriving intellectually here and talks about the teachers and the other kids all the time. Mother Earth's has become an extension of home for our daughter and we're all thrilled to have found such a lovely community for our family."
-Shilpa
"What I love:
Mother Earth implements a child-based curriculum. The children are invited to but are not required to participate in activities. The teachers facilitate activities, allowing the children to explore. Barring safety considerations (and there is a certain amount of healthy risk-taking allowed), there is no correct or incorrect way for them to do things. As an example, Katy gave them paint capsules to play with one day. They had to figure out how to get the paint out. The children worked together, trying different methods to open them - I think they tried smashing, dropping, and dissolving them. It was a lovely exercise in teamwork, problem solving, and science, all in one loosely-structured activity. In addition, I got to see it all because they took photos.
The school is a very natural environment, and they provide healthy snacks. They use eco-friendly
cleaners and cloth diapers. There is a large, mostly shaded outdoor play area with a mud pit, a sandbox, play structures, paint wall, and fruit/vegetable garden. They spend most of their time outside, in all weather. When I am able to tear her away, Maggie comes home covered in sand, mud or paint - I love it! I can tell from her clothes how much fun she had.
The multiple age groups co-mingle, and the children learn from one another and mentor each other. When my daughter first started, she was the one of the younger children. Her development accelerated when she was exposed to the older children. Now, as one of the oldest, it is so sweet seeing her take care of the toddlers.
We left our previous pre-school because they were sending notes home about our daughter's behavior, and they were putting her in time out. I love that the teachers at Mother Earth will spend a half-hour with the children if needed, encouraging them to work out their conflicts and to speak and play respectful of the other children. "She is crying. How can you make her feel better?" "Tell her why that bothers you." "Maybe you could ask her if you could play with it afterward." And sometimes, if there is a meltdown, they just sit with them and offer TLC until they feel better. They are so patient!
Katy welcomes drop-ins or planned visits pretty much anytime. Although parent participation is not required, she solicits parent participation for field trips and lessons. Parents come to share cultural traditions (eg. divali, holi). She hosts evening potlucks throughout the year and a camp-out in the summer, and she invites parents for planned parent-child interaction (Mother's Day Tea coming up). She also sends captioned photos of the children in action at school. The atmosphere is also
very supportive of parent-teacher and parent-parent communication. I feel comfortable asking Katy for advice or coming to her with my concerns. As a result, I've developed some excellent friendships, and I feel like I am involved with my child's care even if I can't always be physically present.
Most important, I feel like my child is loved. You can tell that I love it there!"
- Rhea