As a mom of two she defines the pursuit and opening of this learning center as the blending of traditional and modern to create experiential and emergent learning for kids aged 3-10 years old.

Her personal story is both relatable and brave, and this next step is the realization of her going from teacher to mother, literacy coach to caregiver for her beloved father, and now, creator and founder of this new venture.

Tia started her professional career teaching kindergarten and grades 3-6 during which time she tried very hard to change the curriculum, make learning more individualized and provide support for kids who really needed it. She found success in changing the methods, the approaches, the philosophy and the pedagogy.  Focusing on curriculum enhancements with Readers and Writers Workshops, giving students more choice in what they were reading and what THEY wanted to write about was her focus, all while continuing to meet standards. With all that, there were still blocks to her ability to change too much and so she turned the roadblock into an opportunity and earned her Master’s in Literacy. 

“The idea was that if I got my Masters in Literacy, I could help kids that were really struggling, by intervening early and focusing on coaching teachers how to teach kids and how to implement literacy in a more meaningful way. I became a reading specialist and did a lot of work with literacy curriculums,” says Tia.

When Tia’s daughter was born, the idea of creating something new was also born. That’s when she started asking herself tough questions like: “am I going to go back to teaching public school? What program am I going to put her in? What does life look like for an educator with different views, who is also a mom?”

With COVID in the mix, things were changing rapidly and after looking at several programs, Tia realized that it was now or never and that while the other programs were fine, they just didn’t fit what she wanted for her daughter. She decided to create a program herself. After resigning from her public school job, she embarked on a path to blending momhood and her profession. She took the leap to creating her own school and doing what was best for her daughter. 

The first version of Tia’s school started with ‘pods’ and introduced concepts like yoga (Tia is a certified Kid Yoga Trainer) music and a nature-based program. Suddenly, the demand was very high, especially in the midst of COVID, because kids were wearing masks, and everywhere there was fear, learning from home and not a lot of feeling of community. 

The ‘pods’ really created a feeling of community, it became clear that’s what was missing, the roots of community, the traditional feeling of meeting and being together and of organic emergent learning. That’s when the first version of Tia’s dream was launched, with an incredible preschool teacher Ms. Laura and herself.

After four years of running a successful program with a curriculum based on the needs of the kids and their families, life happened and unexpectedly she became the caretaker to her father who had become very ill. 

After he passed, she knew it was time to come back to the idea of blending personal and professional experiences.

Now, with a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old, she once again faced decisions about which program would best suit her kids. The younger one with some developmental delays and a genetic disorder, and the older one, who Tia felt had a strong foundation but would benefit from a program. She enrolled her daughter in a micro-school and focused on her son, starting a small program that would eventually be the foundation for her long-term vision of a different kind of learning experience.

Today, Tia leads a thriving community of like-minded families with kids aged 3-10 years old that carries with it roots of tradition and elements of an emergent curriculum where kids learn at their own pace and are encouraged to guide their experiential learning. 

Tia continues to stay connected to education and goal setting by leading reading groups and creating individualized learning plans for the kids. In addition, she provides literacy instruction, guided reading and reading support several times per week.

“I’ve always wanted to live on a farm, continue as a teacher and bring the concepts of homesteading, caring for animals and other practical life skills to my kids, and now I am bringing all of that to the community and by blending elements of traditional and modern. I know that growing up, my father had to help ground me as I was navigating my bigger dreams, but I am sure he’s seeing my vision of how to merge my love of farm life with my experience as an educator and my position in life as a mom.”  Tia 

She loves all things inspired by nature and feels like nature offers something special for kids, and that’s why her philosophy and experience as an early childhood educator is heavily inspired by the principles of Waldorf and Forest Education, as well as Reggio- Emilia and Charlotte Mason educational philosophies. 

Her background as a dancer has enhanced her understanding of the process of early childhood development, highlighting the importance of full body learning in the evolution of the child’s understanding of oneself and the world. 

Christina is deeply invested in nurturing and supporting kids’ imaginations and curiosity to learn about themselves, and their relationship to nature and the world around them.  She creates a warm and nurturing environment for young children to experience a sense of wonder, deepen their imagination and grow in connection with their environment and community.  

Christina is passionate about the benefits of extended time in nature, dancing, the arts, cooking plant-based whole foods and traveling. 

Her love for the forest is magical and the kids recognize the magic in it because of her enthusiasm and excitement for the benefits of spending time outdoors. A recent outdoor walk with a small group of kids unfolded into an ‘emergent’ curriculum that let the kids’ imaginations run and their creativity come forward. 

The kids know and respect the rules when we go on a forest walk. We set boundaries, and once we settle on our ‘landing place’ the magic starts to happen. In the forest, there are no disruptions and fewer materials. And the kids start to play with whatever is available to them. On this walk, they started setting up ‘house’ and they started to build conversations about things they saw in our ‘landing place’ and they started to build a community inside that space, making a home, playing, pretending to cook. It was magical and a perfect example of an ‘emergent’ curriculum. 

Christina specializes in:

• Performing Arts

• Forest Education 

• Art – including fiber art, watercolors, painting

• Animals

• Cooking

• International studies

Some of Christina’s Affiliations, Education and Professional Development include:

• BFA in Dance from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst 

• Master’s, Early Childhood Special Education, Hunter College

• Creative Movement/Dance Teacher, Buenos Aires, Argentina

• Bilingual Teacher at New York Center for Child Development, New York

• Forest Playgroup for Children Ages 1-7 and their Families, New Jersey

One of Christina’s favorite quotes:

“Receive the children in reverence, educate them in love, and send them forth in freedom.”

–Rudolf Steiner

Jennifer has over 20 years of experience in Early Childhood education. With enthusiasm and her self-described ‘passion in following the lead of the child, guiding them in their education with age-appropriate experiences, beautiful materials, and academic support’, she blends her personal hobbies of fine arts, fiber arts, jewelry making, foraging, traveling and butterfly rearing to share with the kids. 

She believes strongly in the idea of ’planting the seed’ with kids and watching them learn that there’s a bigger world out there.  She thrives on using everyday items on the farm as examples to reinforce fundamentals like math, science and literacy. 

Her specialty is Monarch Butterflies, and her curriculum includes engaging the kids in the entire lifecycle of Monarchs, from planting milkweed (where Monarchs lay their eggs) to engaging the kids in watching how caterpillars grow and change into butterflies, all with the goal of making it a complete hands-on learning experience. 

Jennifer’s focus on building confidence in young kids and her dedication to creating a child-guided ‘emergent curriculum’ can best be explained by this program she created during the Pandemic 

I taught a small pod of 8 – 10-year-olds about the America’s by working with them to create an imaginary trip from Alaska to Argentina. We planned out the “journey” together allowing the kids to make stops of interest along the way. They used their imagination and math, science and literacy skills to calculate miles, understand geography, and read and research more about each location we traveled to. In El Salvador, they discovered a sculpture artist who deploys the powers of vibrational sound as a form of healing. His work intrigued them and led them to many questions. They watched videos, took out books about his art and learned a lot about him. When we saw that the artist’s work was going to be on display at a museum in New York, we took a trip and found out that the artist was at the museum that day! The kids were excited, and because they had learned so much about him, they felt comfortable going right up to talk to him and asked him questions. It was an experience we all will remember for quite some time. 

Jennifer specializes in:

• Horticulture

• Nature

• Gardening

• Art – including fiber art, watercolors, painting

• Animals

• Monarch Butterflies

Some of Jennifer’s Affiliations, Education and Professional Development include:

NJEEPRE: New Jersey Educators Exploring the Practices of Reggio Emilia 

CDA in Child Development from Montclair State University

One of Jennifer’s favorite quotes:

The best education does not happen at a desk, but rather engaged in everyday living – hands on, exploring, in active relationship with life. 

-Vince Gowman