New Preschool Attracts the 'Terrific Twos'

Don't ask Kathy Barnes if the "terrible twos" is a myth or reality; she doesn't even like the phrase.

"We call them the terrific twos," Barnes said in a meeting room in Our Saviour's Lutheran Church on Hill Farm Road in Fairfield Thursday afternoon. "As long as you understand their behavior, it doesn't have to be terrible, and you're providing them an environment appropriate for their age. For the twos, it's about having two or three of each toy so they don't fight over it."

It's a good thing Barnes, owner of Fairfield's newest preschool, likes the terrific twos because she's got quite a few of them signed up for Hill Farm Preschool, which is scheduled to open for classes Sept. 13. "I have so many twos that are interested in the program. I'll be teaching the twos," Barnes said. "I was full up with the twos, and what I ended up doing was opening another twos' class because the demand was so great."

Hill Farm Preschool's been enrolling children for two months and Barnes has 12 2-year-olds, and 3 3-year-olds whose parents are interested and waiting to see if more 3-year-olds enroll. She said each 2-year-old class at Hill Farm Preschool is limited to eight and will have two teachers, for a child-to-teacher ratio of 4-to-1.

Barnes said it can be difficult to attract 4-year-olds to a new preschool because they're likely already established in a preschool. "If I get twos and threes this year, I'd be really happy with that because I'd be right on track," Barnes said, noting that twos would be threes next year and threes would be fours.

"It's going to be a small program, even when we're full because of the space size and the class size," she said.

Fairfield has about three dozen preschools, and 15 of 19 churches in Fairfield have a preschool. Barnes said Hill Farm Preschool is different than some preschools because the child-to-teacher ratio is low - 5-to-1 for 4-year-olds and 3-year-olds, and 4-to-1 for 2-year-olds. She said the ratio for 2-year-olds is a state regulation. "We have smaller classes and can really, really work with each child individually," she said. "It's not a good idea to have one teacher with 10 3-year-olds because it becomes like babysitting, and we want to work with the children."

All ages in Hill Farm Preschool will attend from 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and Barnes said she believes in equal parts of play time and academics. Classes will include music, Spanish and "Handwriting Without Tears," while play time will include outdoor activities and playing with toys indoors. She said she hopes to have a bike riding program in a secondary parking lot at the church and nature programs and gardening on the church's grounds.

Barnes, 34, of Stratford, said she believes in hands-on activities for kids, such as bringing crickets to the classroom and having a fire truck or police car stop by so kids can touch them, and open art, where kids are encouraged to be creative. "Open art is more free art and creative art for children. They get to pick and choose what they do with their art supplies," she said.

Barnes, who's worked as a preschool director, assistant preschool director, teacher of twos and fours and the Fairfield County site manager for Gymboree, said parents will receive a weekly lesson plan so they know what their children do in school each day. "It really connects home with school. Keeping the communication open is an important thing for parents," she said. "When I enroll a child, I enroll the whole family, so it's really about nurturing the whole family and what their needs are."

If a child misbehaves, Barnes said she first looks at the class environment to see if something isn't right. For example, a child who gets upset when his blocks keep falling down may be in a high-traffic area, Barnes said. Barnes said she doesn't believe in "time outs" in preschool and would talk with a child's parents if their child seems upset or unhappy. "Just communicating with the parents is the best thing to do. You just have to really know your families and be in sync with them all the time," she said.

Barnes said Hill Farm Preschool came about when she knocked on the door of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in February 2009 and said she'd like to talk to someone about opening a school in the Hill Farm Road church. "It took about a year and-a-half to get everything together," she said, adding that she needed to receive approval from the parish and go through the town permitting process and state licensing process. She said she received her state license at the end of May.

Hill Farm Preschool will follow the Fairfield public schools' schedule and will offer camps during school vacations and in the summer, Barnes said.

Twos' classes will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays and threes' classes will be on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. A fours' class will be on four or five days, at the parents' choosing.

Tuition is $2,600 for twos, $3,300 for threes and $3,900 for fours who attend four days. Tuition is $4,300 for fours who attend five days.

Barnes said she'd like to move to Fairfield in the near future. "I love this town. It's a great town and great families are here," she said, adding that all the toys in the 2-year-olds' playground so far, which include a sandbox, playhouse, climber and toy car, have been donated by parents. "These things were all given to me. I know a lot of people in Fairfield," she said.

Barnes said her father, before he died of cancer last year, asked her siblings to make sure her preschool opened because he knew it was a dream of hers and wanted it to become reality. "The church families have been great here, so nice and so positive. I think I'm on Cloud 9 sometimes," she said.