Reading List

Our supportive environment will offer you:

• Genuine lasting connections with others.
• Friends to talk to who really understand parenting and know your unique situation first hand.
• Caring people who respect you just the way you are.
• Professional staff trained in early childhood education.

When you enroll your child in a Parent Cooperative Preschool you are simultaneously enrolled in a vocational course through South Seattle Community College entitled "Parent Education Child Study Laboratory." The goal of this course is to foster competent parenting and family management skills. You acquire these skills through:

• discussions at monthly parent meetings.
• lectures at free parent education seminars offered quarterly at SSCC.
• informal chats with your parenting instructor.
• Informative handouts.
• experiential participation in your child's Preschool.

Parent Education Objectives
Course objectives for parents are to:

• Develop realistic age-level expectations from knowledge of childhood behavior and growth.
• Clarify child rearing values and attitudes to explore methods of child guidance.
• Experience and understand the role of parent involvement in maintaining quality learning environments for children.
• Develop skills to interact with children using developmentally appropriate and anti-bias practices.
• Discuss information on contemporary family concerns such as child abuse prevention, divorce, illness and death.
• Develop skills on group organization and leadership.
• Develop and/or increase confidence in managing the demanding role of parents in a changing society.
• Strengthen family communication and relationships.
• Identify and apply safe and healthy practices in the home, including nutrition, first aid, wellness, excercise, stress management and risk management.
• Access community resources, share information concerning child-rearing and family resource management.

Parent Instructor's Role
The parent education instructor is assigned to the Preschool by the Home and Family Life Department at South Seattle Community College. The instructor:

• Attends the Preschool lab two hours per week for each class that s/he works with.
• Works closely with the Preschool teacher regarding educational programs and the needs of the group.
• Maintains standards for the children's program, consistent with current theory, research and practice in Early Childhood Education.
• Provides parent education information to parents through a variety of ways: individual consultation, modeling, group discussions, formal lectures,handouts and parent education seminars.
• Gives assistance to parents in their role as assistant teachers at Preschool, offering guidance in interpreting behavior, growth and development of young children.
  Helps the group evaluate their program, and assists in the recruitment and hiring of a Preschool teacher when needed.
• Attends board meetings and parent meetings providing leadership, instruction,feedback regarding Preschool functions, offering guidance to the board.
• Holds a current First Aid / CPR card, vocational certification and safety training to includemchild / sexual abuse recognition & reporting and handling of blood born pathogens.
• Attends SSCC's Home and Family Life staff meetings and inservices, as well as work shops and classes relating to Early Childhood Education.

The Parent's Role
As a student enrolled in a parenting class and as a parent of a child enrolled in the Coop Preschool, you will have class requirements to fulfill:

• Attend Orinetation to Cooperative Preschool Seminar.
• Attend Preschool with your child one day a week serving as an assistant teacher.
• Attend monthly evening parent meetings to keep informed of Preschool business and to participate in parent education discussion.
• Pay monthly tuition on time for you and your child's Preschool experience.
• Provide a nutritious snack on a rotating basis.
• Hold 'special jobs' - one for operation and one for auction.
• Participate in fundraising activities.