May 27th – Last Day of School! (No school on Friday, May 28th)
We can’t believe it is already the end of another year. We have had such an amazing second year here in Louisville, and can’t thank everyone enough for helping to make it happen. We look forward to seeing everyone over the summer and many of you next year, also!

June 15th 7:00pm at City Hall (749 Main St.) – City Council Meeting
This will be the final meeting to approve the Elementary School, so we’d love to have your support!

June 24th – 27th, Albany New York – AERO Conference (Alternative Education Resource Organization)
We invite you to join us at the AERO Conference this summer! Michele & Elizabeth will be speaking on the topic of “What does a rabbit have to do with Social Justice?” Kerry, Haley and Christy will also be attending. For more details check out the AERO Conference website.

April 21st 7:30pm @ Rock N Soul Café in Boulder – Concert Benefiting The Patchwork School: Taina Asili y La Banda Rebelde
Please join us for an evening of eclectic music, brought to us by board member, Isaac Graves. 10% of the evening's proceeds will be donated to The Patchwork School! Taina Asili y La Banda Rebelde have finally completed their debut album War Cry and will be celebrating this grand accomplishment on a nation-wide tour, stopping in Boulder on April 21, 7:30pm, at the Rock N Soul Cafe. Taína Asili y La Banda Rebelde, blend soulful vocals laid over a unique infusion of Afro-Caribbean, reggae, rock, hip hop, and flamenco sounds. Listen to their song "War Cry" at www.tainaasili.com. $8 in advance, $10 at the door, tickets may be purchased over the phone (303-443- 5108) with a credit card purchase or in person at The Rock N Soul Cafe.

April 24th 9am-4pm – Gardening Day (and drop-off for Materials Drive)!
In collaboration with the CU Environmental Center, Transition Louisville and Community Roots, we will be converting a section of the front yard of the First School (preschool) into raised beds for gardening. By joining the Local Food movement, we are finding yet another way to be involved in our community, and creating an opportunity for our children to get very close to the source of their food! We've typically had a Landscaping and Gardening day every spring, as a fun family work day and potluck. This year we're coordinating the day to be closer to Earth Day and REALLY need your help to make this happen! Please bring a dish to share (please consider bringing extra for CU student volunteers) and tools (labeled). We will be sending out a list of needed materials shortly! More information on maintaining and harvesting the garden will also be available later on. This is an exciting step for our community and we are looking forward to getting our hands dirty with all of you!

April 29th 7pm-8pm – Elementary School Information Session
For those of you that missed the last one, we will be having another session about the Elementary School in April. We’d love to see you there or have you help spread the word! We will also be able to answer questions about the new Tuition Assistance program.

May 1st 11am-1pm – Additional Drop-off Time for Materials Drive
Planning some spring cleaning? Before you get rid of all that stuff you no longer need, consider donating it to the Patchwork Elementary School. We are specifically looking for items to furnish the new school but you can donate many items. Items we don't use for the school will be sold in a yard sale to raise funds to further equip the elementary. All donations are tax deductible for you, and a benefit for the school! We ask that all items be gently-used and in re-sellable condition. Some examples of items we're looking for are area rugs, art tables, bookshelves, kitchen supplies, storage bins, computer desks, computers, appliances and couches. Items that would be great for the yard sale are gently used clothing, baby items, and toys. The yard sale will be held on May 15th, and donations can be dropped off during the April 24th Gardening Day or on Saturday, May 1st from 11am-1pm at the new school. We will give you a receipt for your tax-deductible donations and we can arrange pickup of bigger items if necessary. We will also be looking for volunteers to help price and work the yard sale. If you're interested or have any questions about donations, please contact Julie Adkins at snikdaj@gmail.com.

March 9th, 7-8pm – Elementary Information Session
Please join us to hear details about the opening of our new Elementary School, scheduled for this Fall 2010! We will be holding the session at our current location. Please contact us with any questions!

March 22nd - March 26th – Spring Break (No School)

March 31st, 7-8pm – First School (preschool) Info Session
This will probably be families’ last opportunity to get on the wait list for this fall. We still have a few full-day spaces left, so let us know if you are interested!

Past Events

February 13th – Payment Contracts and Registration Fees For Next Fall Due for Returning Families

February 15th – President's Day (No School) and Third Trimester Payments Due

February 25th – Last Day of Second Trimester

February 26th, 9am-12pm – Learning Dialogue Open House (No School)
This will be an opportunity for you to come with your children to school to talk with teachers and let your children show you what they have been up to lately. There will soon be sign-ups in the cubby room for you to choose a half-hour time block.

January 18th – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (School Closed)

January 28th, 7-8pm – Information Session
We will do a tour of the school and answer prospective families’ questions. This is also an opportunity to add your child to our waitlist. Please RSVP to info@thepatchworkschool.com if you are interested in attending.

January 30th, 10am – Family Space Odyssey Museum Trip
In support of all the wonderful research happening regarding space, we are organizing a time for families to meet at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to visit the “Space Odyssey” exhibit. This is a wonderful, interactive exhibit with hands-on experiments, places to dress up like astronauts, great shows and much more. Just go on into the museum and you will find the entrance to the exhibit immediately on your right after showing your ticket. Don’t worry about meeting in any particular spot, because we will certainly bump into one another inside the exhibit. For more information about ticket prices, directions, etc. see: www.dmns.org.

February 1st, 7-8pm – Elementary Information Session
Please join us to hear details about the opening of our new Elementary School, scheduled for this Fall 2010! We will be holding the session at our current location. Please contact us with any questions!

February 9th, 7-8:30pm – Preserving “Inner Wildness” Discussion Group
We would love to have families, staff, and community members join us for a discussion on preserving children’s “Inner Wildness.” This term was coined by Chris Mercogliano, and he defines it as “the luminescent spark that animates the young,” but this has been written and talked about in many different ways, including the “soul of the child” or the “inner child.” Why is this spark so important and what can we as teachers and parents do to help keep it alive? Here are some suggested readings that touch on this topic, but there is no requirement to read to attend (there are a few copies of each available to check out from our resource library):

• In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids’ Inner Wildness by Chris Mercogliano
• The Happy Child: Changing the Heart of Education by Steven Harrison
• Pluralistic Learning by Yaacov Hecht

February 10th – Teacher In-Service (No School)

Thursday, September 24th 5:30pm -
Back to School Night Potluck
In celebration of this new school year and our community, we'd like to invite everyone to a Back to School potluck! We'll provide the paper products, if you could please bring the offering that corresponds with your last name: A-H: Main Dish, I-L: Side Dish, M-R: Dessert, S-Z: Drinks. If you're able, please RSVP before the event so we can have a sense of how many families will be able to make it.

Tuesday, October 13th, 7-8pm - Information Session
If you are interested in joining our waitlist, this is the session you need to attend! The hour will include a tour, information about the philosophy and the school, and a question/answer session. After the session we will hand out the waitlist forms which you can return that night or take home with you. RSVP's are appreciated but not required. If you are unable to make this session, and would like to be notified of future info sessions, please join our patchworkAnnounce mailing list

Monday, October 26th & Thursday October 29th, 10:00am - Field Trip to the Stratford Assisted Living for a Halloween Parade
We will be taking our first field trip of the year to a nearby assisted living home to bring Halloween cheer to the residents, and to allow the children a safe and enjoyable opportunity to "Trick or Treat!"

Tuesday, October 26th, 6:30pm - Book Club
Let's gather and discuss the suggested summer reading, In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids' Inner Wildness by Chris Mercogliano. The meeting will take place at the Starbucks on McCaslin Blvd. (459 McCaslin Blvd., Louisville, 80027). We encourage moms and dads to attend, (Brooke's husband will be there and hopes he is not the only male!). Please come even if you have not finished the reading. Please R.S.V.P. to Brooke by e-mail, brooke@thepatchworkschool.com. A few weeks prior to the meeting she will send out some discussion points/questions. Depending on our attendance we might split into small groups for discussion. This will be a child-free event to allow for uninterrupted conversation. (There are some copies of the book at the school if you would like to check it out.)

Thursday, August 20th, 7pm-9pm - Parent Orientation

We are strongly encouraging all parents (both new and returning) to attend our Parent Orientation Workshop. In the future, this will be a requirement to register, but this first year it will just be recommended. We will use this time to help parents know what to expect, further explain our philosophy, and make sure we are providing as much home-school consistency for the children as possible. The location is still to be determined, but please save the date if possible! In preparation for the workshop, we would also like to strongly encourage parents to consider reading the following book: In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids' Inner Wildness by Chris Mercogliano. It is geared towards parents and is very helpful in explaining some of the fundamentals of our school's philosophy. We don't entirely agree with the Technology chapter (click here for our perspective), but the rest is great! You can click here to find it on Amazon.

Friday, August 21st, 9am - Student Open House

We will be having an open house for all registered families to bring their children in to meet the teachers and refamiliarize themselves with the school. We will send out additional reminders about this in August.

Monday, August 24th – First day of School for 09-10!

Saturday, May 16th - Garden Creating, End of Year Bash and Potluck!

This was a huge success We managed to carry out so many of the the garden plans created at the Garden Planning Party, and we even lucked out with decent weather! Here are some photos from the event: