So, I’m back from Colorado. In a nutshell, with the new CDC going up, we are looking to have a tighter connection with Concordia University, going to more of a ‘lab school’ model. There is a wonderful school in Boulder that is a lab school for the University of Colorado Denver, and though it is different in many ways, we had a personalized tour of their facility and special meetings with their staff.
But first, the motel. It. Was. Awesome! Annette, an old friend and the director of the early childhood program at Concordia, booked rooms for us at a charming log-cabin-style motel. It fulfilled all my tiny house needs!
Best of all, and I’m not being sarcastic, is that with pot being legalized in Colorado, we saw a bunch of pot heads. Some were even staying at our motel They were very harmless and wonderfully eccentric. The boy in the banner was up bright and early, looking around the firepit for any lost…. roaches? Is that what joint ends are called? His friend was wearing an incredible poncho:
Ok, now a bit about the school: They allowed us to take photos, but of course not of the children. I could bore you with the 164 that I took, but here is just a glimpse into how their environments are so fantastic. If you think of ‘preschool’ and visions of colorful murals and bright primary colors come to mind, well scrub your brain out and look at these amazing spaces.
Here are a few of classroom images:
Now, of course their culture and financial structure is completely different, so we would never and should never be a carbon copy of what they do, but man, it was so nice to be in an inspirational environment. (The United States is currently messing up their expectations of young children, and dang it – I want to fix it. Let young children learn how God meant young children to learn. I’ll get off my soapbox now or I could go on forever.)