I liked My Special School because we got to go on a lot of field trips and I liked mystery Fridays.
My favorite part was the morning because you got to draw and play with Legos while you were waiting for everyone else.
Miss Alice is a nice, nice teacher and I liked when she read us books.
I learned about peace, love and how to tie my shoes.
PARENTING: A tearful goodbye to the Preschool years
by Susan Torrey
Montecito Messenger
July 27, 2011
There’s a date on my calendar that’s marked with a big red circle. It’s looming with both dread and excitement. It’s the last day of pre-school for my daughter. The end of the sweet little world she’s been a part of and the beginning of something bigger and new. She started the spring of 2008, barely two years old. She’s now five which means she’s spent more of her life there than not. Unlike a lot of parents we didn’t tour schools. We followed the lead of some close friends and found ourselves at a spot which was perfect for us, My Special School. It’s a small Montessori school, owned and run by the amazing Alice Tropper, who has made her life calling teaching preschool aged children.
She is kind and patient beyond what I think is humanly possible, but day in and day out, she manages the 6 children who follow her every word. They sit patiently and take turns. They respect each other and play nicely. It’s their home away from home which is filled with love, respect and kindness. It’s an idyllic bubble where everyone gets along where there are, no exceptions, and where inclusion is the rule. There are no unkind words spoken because with Miss Alice it’s all about the love. Because of what’s happening at school, Fia has been exposed to more than what we could have imagined. Every month Miss Alice arranges a variety of classes, Creative Movement, Yoga, Qi Gong, Aikido, Music, Drama, and weekly visits to “the grandparents” at Garden Court, a senior residence, for stories and lunch. “Mystery Fridays” consist of a special outing determined by what is happening in town or what the kids want to do. This week, bike riding. Next week? Who knows, but maybe the beach? The butterflies? A park? Every week is full of learning and adventure.
We’ve shared some of Fia’s most important milestones with Miss Alice, because she was the one who has guided us through. Potty training, reading, tying laces on her shoes, riding a two wheel bike and playing her first game of checkers. She’s celebrated her 3rd birthday, her 4th and her 5th at school and with Miss Alice. Almost seems like a lifetime, and in some ways it is. It’s been my daughter’s lifetime.
As she transitions from this sweet little world, where she’s one of 6, to where, she’ll be one of too many, I am sad and excited for her. I know it has to happen, but I want to keep her safe and in a world where there are no mean words exchanged and where love and respect is the norm. In 6 short weeks we walk her across the street to her new kindergarten class. We’ll drop her off and set her free to explore her new world. I know it’s a world that will look and feel a lot different. She’ll learn tough life lessons where not everyone wants to be friends. Where not everyone is as well behaved and where mean words might be exchanged. But it will also be a world where the work which Miss Alice prepared her for will shine. She’ll be kind and make friends. She’ll find her voice in the crowd and hopefully be the example.
Just as I was told, the years have gone too quickly. I remember dropping Fia off the first day at My Special School. I left, got in the car and had tears streaming down my face. And now, as that day on my calendar, which is circled in red approaches, I get tears just thinking of picking her up for the very last time.
*Susan Torrey’s column appears regularly in the Montecito Messenger.
Dearest Alice,
I remember vividly the day Danny and I interviewed with you. It seems like only yesterday. I remember crying all the way home, feeling so anxious about having a stranger take care of my little boy, was the decision about going back to work the right one? Three years later you feel like part of our family…our everyday life. Now I feel anxious and sad that it’s time for Danny to move on.
How can we ever thank you? You took in our son, taught him the values of friends, animals, and our planet. You taught him more than numbers, ABC’s and “moon-a-gones”. You taught him how to be a good person. You made our job of parenting that much easier, and we are so proud of the product…little Danny. Thank you!
Dear Alice,
I am not sure where to start to describe the contribution that you have been in our lives…You have been teacher and friend and confidant and an important partner in the learning and growing process that accompanies raising a child in this day and age. I have turned to you for guidance and advice and support and laughter. I have watched your children grow in mind and body and spirit. I have watched Jenna learn to read and write and work with numbers at a very young age and love every minute of it.
Jenna is now seven years old. I think she was barely three when we first came to My Special School. There has never been one single day that we were not happy to be going to school. As you know, I have felt that your influence has been so valuable that I have pulled Jenna out of Kindergarten and First Grade just to spend a day with you…and I look forward to doing the same this year! Being connected to you and your group is important to both Jenna and me.
Alice, always know that you are special and what a gift to this world you are.
We love you, Alice.
![GetAttachment[3]](https://www.myspecialschool.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/GetAttachment3.jpg)
At My Special School we went to see Michael Katz tell stories. Also she took us to the theater.
Sometimes at lunch, we said that trees were on “time out” for putting leaves in our lunch boxes. Now I don’t like that, because I love trees a lot.
Alice read us stories and took us different places, we could go across the street, we could do anything!
I liked that Alice had a dog and a turtle. Ty was a really nice dog to kids. He would always eat the pear cores when Alice cored the pears. Ty died and we were sad, we looked at his picture. Leilani, the grey cat, would play in the drips in the showers. She would sleep with kids at nap time. I’m glad I met good friends at that school.
I liked helping Alice sweep the side yard. We went to Garden Court and visited Grandma Mary. She gave us chocolate kisses. Alice made me feel happy and cozy. It wasn’t a big school, it was a house.
When I first visited Alice’s school on a photography assignment, I was newly married and children were a far-off thought. That day, I was so struck with the magic that she worked with the children, I remember going home afterward and telling my husband, “When we have kids, I want them to go to Alice’s.”
When our first daughter was born, there was no question of where she would go, and two years later there we were at her first day of school at My Special School. Most kids cry the first time you drop them off at school, Alice told us, not to worry — but when we dropped our daughter off, she didn’t even look back, as she was welcomed immediately into a game with the other kids! (We have always been so impressed by the inclusiveness and lack of cliquishness that Alice cultivates in her kids.) No tears. Instead, she cried when we picked her up — she wanted to stay with her new friends and Miss Alice!
Thanks to her year at My Special School, at “almost-3” our daughter has learned her letters and numbers, how to dress herself, how to use the potty, developed excellent manners, learned how to share and how to handle conflict, and has formed strong friendships and a wonderful sense of self. She has also turned into a kind and giving big sister who loves to dote on “her baby”! We can’t imagine a better place for her to be, and recommend Alice many times over.
It’s fun there!
You teach us really good stuff
You let us have very cosy naps
You are a very good teacher
You read us good books sometimes
Sydney is a good dog. She licks us a lot and whenever we come in she runs around and she wags her tail and licks us and plays with us!
The playground is good. The scooters are fun.
I learned the days of the week.
I learned Yoga and Qigong.
And Alice taught us how to go to the bathroom!
(A framed gift from Colby at Graduation)
What is an Alice?
“Someone who I spend lots of time with.”
What does she do?
“She uses her gift from God to teach kids.”
What’s the best thing she does?
“She lets me spend the night.”
What does she look like?
“She has green eyes and wears dolphins because she loves dolphins.”
What will you miss about Alice?
“Her voice because it’s very special and she makes me feel special.”
Alice, you have brought a calm and level of comfort that is critical to parents…. This is priceless! I can tell you from experience that 35 years later you will have parents and students walking up to you and telling you how incredible their time was with you, if you are like me… You will be in tears by the time they finish telling you the depth of meaning their time was with you… Things they don’t even know now until they are exposed to the bigger world and then compare, from their experience, how unique and powerful their time with you was! It will last with them for life! (A fact)