Waiting for a Miracle

PVP Newton Director Kelly Cisneros has a special place in her heart for the children of Tierra Adentro,

Colombia. It is an understatement to say that the small village, located up in the mountains three hours outside of Ibague, isn't the easiest place to get to. It certainly doesn't help that the roads were unsafe to travel as well. This, Kelly believes, is why, despite many promises from many people, the children of the village still don't have the clothes and supplies they need to attend school.

"They live in very sad conditions," Kelly says, "and are waiting for a miracle."

Kelly is hoping that she -- along with help from the Pine Village community -- can play a part in supporting their educational -- and lifelong -- success by starting with the very basics that so many of us take for granted: clothes and shoes to wear, and a backpack full of pens, pencils, and other supplies. Her goal is to collect 300 backpacks, and then fill those backpacks with clothes and school supplies so that the children will have what they need to attend school beginning in Feburary, which is the start of their school year. And because so many previous attempts have failed in delivering these basic items to the village, she's taking it into her own hands by personally handling donations, packing materials, and then sending everything to Ibague. From there, her mother will hand-deliver the items to the children of the village.

In order to help make this happen, Pine Village is committed to helping in every way possible. Co-Founders Emma Lougheed and Brid Martin see this project as the very epitome of what their dream was in founding Pine Village thirteen years ago. "To not just see ourselves as part of the global community," Emma says, "but to directly reach out to children across the world."

Community Director Marina Ituarte takes it one step further in saying, "What is so special is that, by supporting what is in the heart of one of our [eight] directors, our community can come together and help make the dream a hundred times stronger. We can help make dreams come true."

Our hope is to establish a long-term plan that connects Pine Village families with those in Tierra Adentro, with the younger children exchanging pictures and then, as the children grow older, to set up a pen pal program and possibly even visits with teachers and kids. The first priority, however, is for basic goods. Kelly is therefore requesting the following items, many of which can be gently used:

School Supplies:

• Backpacks
• Rulers, compasses
• Erasers
• Markers/Sharpies
• Crayons
• Pencils
• Pens
• Glue sticks
• Notebooks
• Pencil sharpeners
• Laptops for the schools
• Calculators
• Dry erase markers

Clothes, sizes 2 - 16

• Summer clothing
• Rain boots
• Shirts
• Pants
• Socks
• Sweaters
• Raincoats
• Shoes

To make it easy for families in other schools to donate, each Director will place a box for donations in their school. Kelly is requesting that donations be made by Friday, December 6, to allow time for packing and shipping, and then delivery in mid-January (in time for February, the start of their school year). Specific questions can be directed to Kelly at pvpnewtonkelly@gmail.com.

Because Pine Village wants to make an impact in our local communities as well, we are currently working with several organizations in the Metro Boston area in hopes of establishing long-term relationships more locally as well, both for the Pine Village community as a whole, and for individual schools. The Brighton school, for example, will be participating in the Pay It Forward movement during the month of November. We'll be bringing you more information on these initiatives soon.

Connecting with our Kids

Pine Village Co-Founders Emma LaVecchia and Brid Martin

This post was written by Emma LaVecchia, Co-Founder of Pine Village Preschool. 

Every now and then, in between all of the office hours, I get the chance to meet with and talk to real live parents (and children) in person, to learn about their experiences at Pine Village and listen to what is important to them. 

Please don’t misunderstand, I am forever grateful for the opportunity to run this business, and deep inside I really love the business aspect of things.  I have learned more than I could have ever imagined, and relish every second.  But if I could ever dream of having the best of all worlds, it would be to spend more time with parents and share what we have learned, and of course learn more from all of them. 

Wednesday night was one of those wonderful and rare “connection” opportunities.  This is the stuff that fuels my tank.  I’m sure it does the same for all of us who are educators at heart, including Brid (the other PV Co-Founder), when we find ourselves missing the “people piece”.

We gathered that evening to help guide a small group of Pine Village parents at one of our locations to start a Parent Committee group, which they hope will, in part, have a positive impact on building community in their school.  This is of course another great passion of ours: to build communities within our schools that nurture lifelong relationships between families and children.  But that’s a whole other topic. 

The moment from that night that has remained with me until now was the discussion about connecting with our own children, and how as parents we want to have a clearer picture of what happens at school in order to know how they spend their day.  This of course was one of the subtopics that generated from the Committee goal of wanting to enhance the experience that their child has each day.  I was reminded in a deep way that connecting with our children isn’t only about collecting facts, knowing schedules, gathering and looking at their projects, knowing what they ate, or which park they went to.  Connecting with our kids is truly about understanding how they feel.  Yes, it’s a right brain AND left brain thing.

As parents, when we want to know how our children are doing, we instinctively look for answers to questions; hard facts, real life examples to show us what our child did that day or week.  We want daily notes, photos, newsletters, projects and emails.  This is our left brain at work.  However, we are often so focused on those pieces – and it takes so much of the time and energy that is at its lowest point when we finally have the chance – that we don’t fully engage the other side, the emotional connections of the right brain.  We often forget to talk – just talk – to our kids.  To ask our children – yes even the very young ones: 

• “What were you thinking about when you made this picture?”
• “How were you feeling today at school when your teacher left early?” 
• “Tell me about who you played with?”
• “How is your new friend Jane? Why do you like playing with her?” 

It’s not just about the notes and the pictures. We need to focus equally on connecting emotionally with our children.   We need to walk with them on their journey of life, and encourage them to acknowledge the feelings and emotions they experience by asking about them and listening to them about their day.  This is truly how we get to know our children, learn about their day and what they learned and experienced. 

One morning this week as I was driving my 17 year old to high school, he said to me: “Mom, do you know why kids cheat?  It’s because teachers and parents put more emphasis on a grade rather than what we actually know.”  At the time I had three thoughts, 1) “Sad”  2) “That was quite profound for a kid his age.”  And, 3) “I hope he isn’t cheating.”

But his statement had even greater meaning since our parent meeting last week.  It’s truly not only about how many projects the children complete that day, if you received a daily note or if your child read three or four books that day. It is equally about experiencing what our children are experiencing.  About engaging with our children and taking the time to understand this whole other part of their life, from their perspective.  It applies to teachers as well.  We can get so caught up in the daily tasks of the day that we forget to enjoy the kids, to engage with them, to really get involved in their play.

Yes, of course there is a balance.  And in that perfect world we would all be able to have just the right amounts of each.  In reality though, most of us probably need to make the conscious effort to engage and emotionally connect, with our own children in particular, and put aside our expectations and predetermined guide of what we think determines success.

Open House Dates

Hello! We will be holding open houses at each of our locations over the next month. Please see below for more information. If you'd like to view the dates by school, you can see our events page at: http://mybilingualpreschool.com/events/

We welcome families looking for preschool spots in the 2014-2015 school year for children 15 months through 4 years old. (And we still have a few spots available for the 2013-2014 school year as well. Please contact our Enrollment Coordinator at enrollmentpvp@yahoo.com if you would like more information.)

And current families - don't forget that if you refer a family to us and they contract, you receive a referral bonus. (Just make sure they note your name in the "How did you hear about Pine Village?" section on their application form.)

All events are free and open to the public; however, we do ask that you RSVP at http://mybilingualpreschool.com/events/http://mybilingualpreschool.com/events/ (scroll down to the bottom of the page for the RSVP form) if you are planning on attending so that we can prepare appropriately. 

Open House Dates, Locations, and Activities:
All Open Houses are at 6:00 p.m.; for more information about each location, please see http://mybilingualpreschool.com/locations/.

Wednesday, November 6
Needham (65 Fourth Avenue; Needham)
Activity: Círculo del Amor (Circle of Love)


Thursday, November 7
Jamaica Plain - Centre St. (633 Centre St.)
Activity: TBD

Kendall Square (695 West Kendall St.; Cambridge)
Activity: Spanish Story Time


Wednesday, November 13
South End (700 Harrison Ave.; Boston)
Activity: Painting; making bracelets and necklaces


Thursday, November 14
Jamaica Plain - Revere St. (1 Roanoke St.)
Activity: Círculo del Amor (Circle of Love)

Newton (1326 Washington St.; West Newton)
Activity: Circle Time

Porter (2067 Mass. Ave.; Cambridge)
Activity: Sensory tables


Wednesday, November 20
Brighton (617 Cambridge St.)
Activity: TBD