Social distance does not mean we can’t work together
Hi!
I’m Natacha. More than 25 years ago I founded CEFA schools. I designed the curriculum, the environment, the games, and trained the teachers one by one to ensure that our students could thrive during their most formative years. I wanted them to run with excitement into their classrooms, meet friends, see new things each day for them to explore, and loving teachers extending their arms to them for a hug. I knew that the way I had designed curriculum would ensure that children were learning the most important concepts, as well as “using their brains” in many different but essential ways during the day. It worked. Today, there are close to 30 CEFA schools in Canada, all owned by parents and teachers who want to provide this magical environment for their own children and in their own communities.
Today is March 25th, 2020. We are unfortunately experiencing a global pandemic, COVID 19. Many of us are practicing “social distancing” and working from home. We understand that staying home is the best thing we can do to minimize the impact of COVID 19. Here at CEFA we want to ensure your little ones are still having fun learning each and every day, even if they are at home. I have decided to create activities for you to do with your child at home to keep them learning and engaged. I will endeavour to post one activity that you can do with your children per day. I’ll try to find things you can do with household items, so you don’t have to spend money, and you can all stay safe inside. Because of that, activities that we do at school like glow-in-the-dark sensory tables and other extremely fun things, will wait for now, I will also try to choose things that are not too messy, assuming you already have enough on your hands at the moment trying to work from home and be there for your children, which leaves little time to clean up. Still, I promise they will be fun things, and if there’s something to buy, it can be purchased online.
I normally share my learning with our teachers and principals, but now that you are home with your children due to an unprecedented pandemic (thank you, COVID 19), I will try my best to share with you some of the things you can do at home, that your children would normally be enjoying at our schools.
Given these extraordinary circumstances, I have a few things I ask you to kindly keep in mind.
We are all working from home. This means I don’t have the same resources I would have at the office or in our schools (toys, additional staff, high quality camera, etc.). I will do my best to work with what I have available to me at home. Therefore, these activities will consistent mainly of written content, and any photos I can find to illustrate my thoughts will be obtained courtesy of Google.
I am doing this for all you CEFA parents at home taking care of our little ones. I’ve met many of you and I know you are incredible parents already. I would appreciate your comments so I can better tailor the content to your needs. Also, if you do any of the activities I will be suggesting at home, please send me photos so I can add them for the other parents to see – we can all help each-other! After all, one of CEFA’s core values is to contribute.
I am so very excited to start this journey with you! Happy parenting and keep strong – we are all here for you!
Yours,
Natacha V. Beim
