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Date: 1/17/2023
HADLEY – Former public school teacher Alyssa Taft has opened a home preschool called Nature and Nurture in her home. The school is currently accepting applicants for its first term beginning Feb. 1. Its design and curriculum offers an alternative to the conventional educational model found in many public and private schools.
Taft said that the idea for the preschool came to her in wake of her growing dissatisfaction with certain aspects of the public schools she taught in. She has also chosen to cater to special needs students as well, a departure from the industry norm.
“My preschool is called Nature and Nurture Preschool, and we’re located in Hadley. It’s a home-based preschool in my home. It’s a small preschool, I have a maximum of six students at the moment. Basically I went to school to be a teacher, I worked in the public school system, but I didn’t like everything that was done in public school,” Taft said. “I wanted to do more of a play-based model, so my preschool is play-based, meaning we don’t do worksheets, you won’t see me up at the front of class saying ‘This is the letter A.’ They learn but they learn through play. My background is in early childhood education and also special education, so my preschool is also open to students with disabilities, which a lot of home preschools aren’t, so that’s something that sets my school apart.”
Besides being play-based, the school will also place heavy emphasis on the role of nature in education.
“We are also a nature-based preschool so a lot of the materials that I have in my classroom are natural materials and also we spend about half of our school day outside in all weather. We’ll be out in the snow playing in our snow suits and everything like that,” Taft said.
She explained that the class capacity is a function of her sole proprietorship, but that parents interested in the school can still apply.
“[The six-student maximum capacity is for right now], unless in the future I get an assistant then it can be up to 10 kids, but six is the state rule for one teacher…No, [the preschool is not at capacity right now], I’m just starting to fill up now. We actually haven’t started yet, our first day is Feb 1. We’re still looking for students now,” Taft said.
Parents can apply online for the four-day-a-week program.
“[Parents interested in sending their children to Nature and Nurture] can go to my website natureandnuturepreschool.com, and on the website there’s an Apply page where they give all their information, then I reach out to schedule a tour…It’s $1,000 per month, for four days from 8:30 to 11:30 in the morning, Monday through Thursday,” Taft said.
Taft explained the philosophy behind the school’s “play-based” model as a tool to instill a lifelong passion for learning in her students.
“My thoughts are, the age group I work with is 3-to-5-year-olds and most of them do go on to public school or private school, a more typical school model. I really want to preserve childhood, so for the couple years that they would be in my classroom I really want to focus on play, which means I choose materials for my classroom that are going to lead to learning; an example would be I have alphabet puzzles, and I have little white boards and white board markers for them to write and draw on.
They’re choosing what they want to play with, but at the same time it’s leading to them learning those skills that they’ll need for school,” Taft said.
This model is the result of Tate’s own lived experience and feedback from other teachers she met along the way that wish kids were more prepared in certain aspects for starting school.
“I’ve worked with and talked to a lot of kindergarten teachers, and if you ask them ‘What skills do you want to see kids coming into school with, they usually say what’s most important to them are the social skills, being able to talk to adults and being able to talk with peers and work out problems that come up and also just being motivated to learn and interested in the topics that they’re going to be learning about. So that’s what I’m trying to instill in the preschoolers,” Taft said.
Taft said she enjoys having her workspace directly downstairs from her residence.
“It’s in the lower level of my house…I do [enjoy sharing her home and workspace]. It’s on a separate floor so it feels separate. Once I walk down the stairs it’s preschool mode, but I like it. It’s nice for students to see more about my life. When I worked in public school, a lot of students thought that I lived there. So now they get to see where I live…I don’t want to [disclose the address of the preschool] for the safety of the kids in my care, but it’s in Hadley, about seven minutes from UMass’s [The University of Massachusetts] campus, so that kind of gives people an idea of the location,” Taft said.
Nature and Nurture has received no government funding, and is entirely funded by tuition and out of Taft’s pocket.
“It’s just funded by me and tuition, because you can take vouchers from the state but then they’re also making decisions about your program and I really want it to be my vision. But I am planning on starting a scholarship which will be done working with local businesses, that’s something I’m planning on but haven’t started yet. For now it’s all just privately funded,” Taft said.
Although the school’s first operational day is Feb. 1, applications will be open as long as spots are available. Camps will also be offered separately in the summer.
“Feb. 1 is going to be our first day of school, but I’m doing rolling admissions until my spots fill up so in April if I still have a spot open then I would still accept a child at that time. I am doing a school-year model, so we’ll go Feb. 1 until mid June; for the summer I’m going to be offering some week-long camps which will be a separate enrollment from the school year,” Taft said.
She said that Nature and Nurture is the ideal environment for children to learn and grow in.
“To me, Nature and Nurture is the perfect place for children because it allows them to have independence in their learning and develop a love of learning in a very safe and caring environment,” Taft said.