{"id":41418,"date":"2022-03-31T17:27:18","date_gmt":"2022-03-31T23:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-look-into-the-alternative-teachings-of-mancos-early-childhood-school\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:01:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:01:16","slug":"a-look-into-the-alternative-teachings-of-mancos-early-childhood-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-look-into-the-alternative-teachings-of-mancos-early-childhood-school\/","title":{"rendered":"A look into the alternative teachings of Mancos early childhood school"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Teacher
Teacher Claire Broughton engages children in an outdoor lesson at the Mancos Dragonfly School. (Courtesy Mancos Dragonfly School)<\/span>Courtesy Mancos Dragonfly School<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Nestled in a corner of the Mancos Valley, children ages 2\u00bd to 7 dance and play in what has become a sanctuary for alternative early childhood learning.<\/p>\n

It is here that the nonprofit Mancos Valley Dragonfly School has welcomed students for the past three years.<\/p>\n

Departing from traditional schooling methods, the Dragonfly School embodies techniques from the Waldorf Education principles, which sees education as an experience that \u201cteaches the whole child,\u201d said Dragonfly teacher Claire Broughton.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a curriculum that Broughton described as the \u201cfastest-growing independent school curriculum in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Broughton, a previous Waldorf instructor, moved from Boulder to teach at the school.<\/p>\n

\u201cMath isn\u2019t just math, and science isn\u2019t just science,\u201d she said. \u201cEverything is applied and goes together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the school\u2019s staff of eight relocated to teach at the school. Wendi Jensen, another instructor versed in Waldorf teachings, moved from California. She spoke about the school\u2019s gentle, repeated routines guided by song and the seasons that encourage a\u201cjoyful contentment, kind of dreamy\u201d head space in children.<\/p>\n

Dragonfly began as a one-room preschool house. The school now has 27 enrolled students, but with the addition of a first grade in the 2022-2023 school year, it hopes to grow.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Mancos Valley Dragonfly School. (Courtesy Mancos Valley Dragonfly School)<\/span>Courtesy Mancos Valley Dragonfly School<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Nine parents brought the idea for the school to life. One of the parents, Mancos native Emily Palmer, is now the board president of the school. Her parents own the 160 acres the school is built on and fronted the costs for the initial build.<\/p>\n

Much of the school\u2019s success has resulted from community and parent volunteering, Palmer said. For instance, a mother takes care of the landscaping. A father is building a shaded structure for the playground.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo use the clich\u00e9 saying, it takes a village to make a school,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The closest Waldorf schools are in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. The Front Range also has Waldorf schools.<\/p>\n

Dragonfly focuses on teaching life skills such as folding laundry and cooking. Fundamentals like math and reading are incorporated into curriculum \u2013 not in the traditional sense, but more loosely with application, school staff said.<\/p>\n

Oddly enough, the students love folding laundry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way that we hold the rhythm; they\u2019re so capable of sitting when it\u2019s time to sit and following along when it\u2019s time to follow along,\u201d Broughton said, adding \u201ceven though they might be quote unquote \u2018behind\u2019 because they haven\u2019t learned ABCs in a structured way, we do in a lot of other ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are no worksheets or rigid memorization, which the school believes can potentially \u201ckill the joy of learning\u201d early on. Instead, the school curates activities like singing songs and introducing vocabulary through fairy tales.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that children are empty, and we have to fill them up is not our approach,\u201d Broughton said.<\/p>\n

The school flows with the seasons. The students spend a great deal of time outside. This spring, they\u2019ll plant a garden and make baskets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever is sort of happening outside is what we\u2019re doing with the children,\u201d Palmer said.<\/p>\n

An outdoor recreation area that began with a sandbox has expanded to include a playground, with additions like garden beds and an amphitheater to come. And the children play among an array of oak trees that they refer to as the \u201cFairy Grove.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every day of the week has a theme. For instance, the children bake bread every Wednesday, or \u201cyellow day,\u201d which they then eat on Thursdays with homemade applesauce and cucumbers. On Mondays, or \u201cpurple days,\u201d students feast on brown rice with carrots, pumpkin seeds, tamari, butter, \u201cgolden sprinkles,\u201d or nutritional yeast, and \u201cshaky shaky yum yum,\u201d or gomacio, a Japanese-style seaweed topping.<\/p>\n

Everything they eat is organic and served family-style.<\/p>\n

While the daily fares are quite different from most conventional kindergarten menus, kids enjoy the food because they help prepare it, Palmer said.<\/p>\n

The school places an emphasis on engaging tactile senses and understanding how individual students emotionally approach projects like sewing and stitching.<\/p>\n

They use natural materials like wood, wool, felt and silk to make crafts that are \u201cnot so much things that you just do in one day and you just send them home and then maybe they end up in the recycle bin \u2013 things that really take a couple weeks,\u201d Broughton said.<\/p>\n

In line with the school\u2019s alternative structure, the new first grade will be taught in two yurts, with a deck connecting bathrooms.<\/p>\n

Many families commute from Cortez, Durango and Rico, Palmer said.<\/p>\n

What happens when it comes time for children to transition to public school?<\/p>\n

The transfer may leave Waldorf students lagging their peers in a traditional sense, the school\u2019s staff said. But the students bring a \u201cquest and drive and joy for learning\u201d that inspires them to quickly catch up.<\/p>\n

For instance, Jensen\u2019s daughter received a Waldorf education through second grade, and then attended public school. After a three-month catch-up period, she surpassed her peers, skipped a grade and went to college at 17 years old, where she received two science degrees, Jensen said.<\/p>\n

Waldorf school graduates are \u201cwell rounded, they\u2019re creative \u2013 they\u2019re passionate to apply that to whatever job, whether it\u2019s Wall Street or teaching,\u201d Palmer said.<\/p>\n

The school days are split into morning and afternoon sessions.<\/p>\n

Palmer acknowledged that the school\u2019s tuition is expensive.<\/p>\n

\n

Mancos Valley Dragonfly School prices Morning sessions are 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Afternoon sessions are 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Preschool: Three morning sessions a week for $430 a month and four morning sessions a week for $575 a month. Full-day programs cost $670 per month for three-day weeks and $895 for four-day weeks. Kindergarten: Three kindergarten morning sessions a week for $450 a month, and four days, Monday through Thursday, for $600 a month. Afternoon sessions are an additional $80 per session. First grade: Four morning sessions a week for $660 a month. Afternoon sessions are an additional $80 per session.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The school plans a fundraiser April 23 at Fenceline Cider. All proceeds from a live and silent auction will enter the school\u2019s assistance fund, which helps families with tuition costs, coupled with state aid programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely our mission to be able to be accessible for anyone in every family,\u201d Palmer said.<\/p>\n

About 40% of students currently receive tuition assistance, on a sliding scale.<\/p>\n

For information or to enroll, visit mancosdragonflyschool.org or call (970) 516-0308.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of the families here are committed to being here because they can see the joy and the beauty that\u2019s emerging from their children, and they didn\u2019t actually know anything about Waldorf,\u201d Broughton said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dragonfly School is in its third academic year and will add a first grade in the 2022-2023 school year <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[747,155,28,167,29,181,180,93,762],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-41418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-children","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-local-news-lead","tag-newsletter","tag-school","tag-schools","tag-students","tag-teachers"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41418"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84960,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41418\/revisions\/84960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41418"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=41418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}