TCS Math Specialist Tom and his wife, Tara, are in their seventh year as TCS parents. Their son, Thomas, started with us in our 3’s/4’s program and is now a fourth grader. Here, Tom talks Thomas’s journey as a student, his journey as a parent, and how Thomas continues to use the lessons he learned from the Early Learning Program.
One of the many benefits of having our child enrolled in The Children’s School’s Early Learning Program (back when it was called pre-primary and pre-kindergarten) was transitioning from the half-day preschool program he’d been attending into a full-day program. The Waldorf “inspired” start that he’d had was a terrifically supportive and kind introduction to schooling, and pre-primary at TCS was a perfect next step.
Our child’s first teachers at TCS helped him with things like making it through a whole day to being a part of a larger group of friends and transitioning, as a group, from building to building across campus. My wife and I still fondly recall hearing reports of our son lying down and “resting” while his teachers lovingly rubbed his back and eventually allowed him to look at books quietly, because he was done with naps. We also continue to be grateful for those same teachers who gently, but without backing down, helped him handle paint on the sole of his foot for the project they were all working on. Those first TCS teachers also helped us, as parents (who are both also educators), with learning about who our child was becoming and what kind of student we might begin to expect.
During his second year at TCS, our son truly began to develop into an independent learner. His teachers that year were so deliberate about establishing a culture of respect for self, others, the shared space, and all the activities involved in learning and play. The second year of pairing of those little cuties with the oldest students on campus, known quite fondly as “Big Buddies,” served to further develop our son’s sense of being an important part of a bigger community. I think it was during this year that he began referring to TCS as “my school.” It was also during this year that I had the great pleasure of helping to chaperone the class on what was one of my favorite field trips ever: our neighborhood fire station. Performing with his classmates for parents and siblings in a specially arranged and choreographed celebration of Prince songs, continues to be an important family memory.
In addition to preparing him to be a successful learner moving on, another important foundational impact of having our son enrolled in TCS’s Early Learning Program, for our family, is the collection of diverse friends and families that he has had the opportunity to grow up with. The teachers during those first two years made it a priority that we all learned about and accepted all structures of families, tones of skin, and traditions and celebrations.
Our family is so glad that we were able to have our son in this particular, Midtown Atlanta school, for this crucial time.
