membership
All families who attend Meadow Creek are enrolled as members. Meadow Creek works through the Community Supported Education (CSE) Model. We are organized as a Private Membership Association (PMA) in order to protect our rights to gather for the purpose of education. Similar to a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group, member families at Meadow Creek support the education of children through collectivizing costs of buildings, teachers, supplies and materials. As a PMA, all members are responsible for tending the life and health of the land and school community together.
Members are invited to seasonal festivals, work parties, communal gatherings and other support offered through the membership to complete the circle from community, to school and back to parenting. As such, we encourage and support parent involvement and are grateful for the individual gifts you bring to the school and our children’s lives! This is not a space where home & learning is separate but a community, a place to learn, grow and develop a deeper relationship with your child and other families. You may join as a member even if your child is not enrolled in one of our programs or you wish to be involved in building community through the membership.
Member Offerings
Date Nights
Join other member families for an evening by yourselves while you drop off your kids at the farm for 4 hours. Your children will be fed homemade pizza for dinner, engaged in games, crafts and freedom to run their energy out on our 6 acres of meadowland and forest. Kate will guide them in teeth brushing, pj’s, storytime and dimmed lights so when you return from your evening you can silently slip in and retire for the night without the extra work. This is offered in the spirit of reciprocity at a low cost so in turn, our family may also recieve a break from time to time. Date Nights are offered to children 3-12 and happen monthly, sometimes following a seasonally guided rhythm such as making salt dough ornaments in winter & cozing up in front of the fire or setting up an outdoor theater in the summer. Parents are welcome to stay and walk the meadowland or use the wood burning sauna but are encouraged to get some alone time and leave the children in care.
Rooted in Wonder | A Seasonal Connection of Land, Waldorf & Fiber
This is a unique seasonal series for member families following the natural rhythms of the land and the connection brought to light in Waldorf parenting, fiber works and the many gifts of the seasons. Following four weeks each season this offering occurs four times a year for parents to slow down, connect with the land and work with their hands as different themes are brought to light following the seasons around parenting, child development, turning inward and building a deeper connection through the year with their children and themselves. Each season will bring a new theme that follows the natural rhythm, a topic of discussion from Steiner, time spent for meditation, gathering, celebration and reflection of inner work, and a fiber work project to prepare together as well as on our own.
| Membership
The first step toward membership is submitting our application and setting up an informal phone conversation with our lead teacher. This is a good opportunity to allow you to ask questions about the PMA model and our pedeology as a Waldorf forest school.
The next step is to visit the farm and experience the space in person. We ask that you set up a visit in advance and schedule following your interview. Depending on the season, you and your little ones may join our class for the day, or set up a tour when class is not in session.
After we have met, if membership is a holistic match with your family and Meadow Creek, you may send an email or verbally state your intention to become a member. If accepted, you will need to read and sign our member agreement and submit it, along with your annual membership fee, to Kate.
Members will then gain access to our community platform to join in upcoming classes, festivals and events.
Members will choose from a list of volunteer roles to support and participate in maintaining the health, life and growth of the membership and land together.
| Enrollment
Families who are interested in our yearly programs (Kinderforest, Grades + Farm & Forest), must become a member prior to enrollment. After holding an informal phone interview with Kate you will be guided through the application process and asked to submit the $40 application & intake fee. This compensates the in person and administrative work to initially welcome your family to vist our space and share about our programs.
After becoming a member you will meet to go over the enrollment process and sign required forms for the program you are signing up for. Enrolled families enjoy the same benefits of the membership as well as regular time engaging in friendships and surrounding seasonal and yearly festivals, celebrations and marks of time through our Waldorf centered curriculum.
| Our commitment to Diversity & Inclusion
Meadow Creek is dedicated to our role in restoring thriving among our human family. This includes acknowledgment of a history of heartache and trauma, while building a foundation of love, justice and reconciliation for the unwritten future. As we create relationships and humbly listen and learn, we’re making conscious efforts to educate ourselves on tribal sovereignty and rights. This includes a commitment to protecting First Foods, including restoring woodlands that support Salmonberry, wild Huckleberry, Blue Camas and more. Meadow Creek respects, shares, and supports a commitment to reciprocity, cultural and climate healing, and social and environmental justice.
We work with member families to make sure the children’s ancestries are seen and represented in the school. This includes bringing family festivals into our annual celebrations. It also includes singing songs throughout the year in different world languages including but not limited to Spanish, Anishinaabe, and German. Stories and fairytales are from around the world and impart a sense of connection to many cultures as well as conveying an underlying morality in subtle and profound ways. As children grow in their consciousness about the world, we meet them with the tools and information needed to meet the needs of an international world.
Diversity also includes working to insure that families of all incomes may participate in our programming. We can offer several options for families including: financial assistance, trade/barter and more to allow families participation in our programs.
Please inquire directly with Kate via email if money is the reason you are not participating in part or all of our programing.
We Acknowledge This Land
Meadow Creek Community Farm acknowledges the land we now steward is the ancestral homeland of Coast Salish and Chinookan peoples including the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, Grand Ronde, Cowlitz and more. We acknowledge their stewardship of the land and waters, and seek to align ourselves with their living example and values for all future generations.
LIVING MEADOW CREEK
HOCKINSON, WA 98606
360-609-9871
KATE@MEADOWCREEKFORESTSCHOOL.COM