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For nearly three decades, Gail Lampert has been working with children and parents at the South Spokane Co-Op. She started out as one of the moms who brought her three children to the preschool. She grew to love the co-op so much that she became one of the teachers and has since touched the lives of hundreds of families.
“Co-op preschool is unique in that the parents take an active part in the early learning experience,” said Elizabeth Ward of Spokane, who has a daughter enrolled at the South Spokane Co-Op. “The child gets developmentally appropriate stimulation and the parents learn valuable skills both through the preschool itself as well as the monthly evening seminars.”
South Spokane Co-op along with Manito Parent Cooperative Preschool are hosting an open house on Saturday, March 21 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Manito United Methodist Church, 3220 S. Grand Blvd. Parents interested in enrolling their preschoolers can enjoy refreshments and take part in fun crafts while learning more about the co-ops. For more information, e-mail jody713139@aol.com.
According to South Spokane’s website, sessions run September through May each year from 9:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. It offers a toddler day, two family days and two preschool days. Classes are available for children from birth to age 5.
The co-op is one of about six in the area that are affiliated with Community Colleges of Spokane under the Institute for Extended Learning’s Parent Cooperative Program.
Parents: Have you been involved with a preschool co-op? How does it differ from regular preschool? What was the experience like for you?
999 W. Riverside, Spokane, WA 99201
P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210
Main switchboard: (509) 459-5000 • (800) 338-8801
Newsroom: (509) 459-5400 • (800) 789-0029
Customer service: (800) 338-8801
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je9je9 on March 20 at 7:20 a.m.
I started co-op with my daughter when she was eighteen months old and finished with my son, three years younger, when he was five and ready to go off to kindergarten. It was a wonderful experience I would repeat in a second. I learned so much from other moms and from the wonderful teachers we had. The philosophy was that children learn through play and I liked that. The majority of the children were talked to, listened to and nurtured in the same way mine were and they made some lifelong friends. I knew the parents of my kids’ playmates and felt so safe leaving them at their houses. It gave them a lot of social skills at a very young age. I never worried about any of the academic skills because with so much parent involvement, they were getting read to and talked to and taken places and all that fell into place. It was a wonderful, wonderful time in our lives. So many people are so harried during those toddler years, but I look back on those years at the co-op with deep affection and our kids remember it very fondly.