FAMILY SUITES

The Nature Nest's classrooms are referred to as "Family Suites". A Family Suite is a home-like educational environment where a small group of children and their caregivers remain together throughout the years. A model of care that eliminates the frequent and often stressful transitions most children experience in traditional child care centers.

Children in family suites at The Nature Nest benefit from relationship-based care and are given the opportunity to establish secure bonds and a true sense of belonging. 

Family Suites, modeled after family child care homes, offer the safety and comfort of a home away from home, providing consistent caregivers throughout the years, along with a support network of other neighboring caregivers. It's no wonder this is becoming the preferred arrangement for more and more parents.

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Bonding to adults who provide consistent, nurturing care during the years of early childhood is tantamount to the development of healthy relationships in youth and adulthood.  Brain research indicates that “the architecture of the brain depends on a series of critical but subtle emotional transactions between an infant and a devoted caregiver…clearly formulating the elusive building blocks of creative and analytic thinking, and the sense of self” (Dr. Stanley Greenspan).

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​An emphasis is also placed on the learning that is cultivated through mixed-age groupings.  The younger ones learn basic self-care and social skills from observing the older children, and the older ones learn basic nurturing skills by observing the caregivers tend to the little ones.  Another benefit of having mixed ages is that the ratio of children to care providers enables more of a family feeling.  The caregiver/teacher is able to meet the special needs of each age group.