Parent Testimonials

Galina: I love this place. We love this place. It grounds us. 

Gene: It grounds us. We have two children here. Luca is three. He's with Ms. Robin in preschool, and we have Nika, who is five years old. She's with Chako.

When the kids come home, they say, “Hey, when are we going to go back to kindergarten?” They actually want to come here!

Galina: And when I pick them up, they're like, “Why did you pick us up?” Because it was fun to be at school.

Gene: And it's not because we're not cool! We're very fun, and they love spending time with us, but sometimes they prefer this place.

Gene: What I value most is the social skills they're developing and, in a way, the boundaries they're building with the world and with others, but also the lack of boundaries, in a way.

I think the school provides the needed structure for a child to grow, and at the same time, it gives a lot of space for the child to experience love, respect, and passion toward certain things.

They're not overwhelmed with a bunch of toys and activities where they get distracted from one thing to another.

It's the simple things that are presented to them in a structured way, whether it's play, toys, or activities between themselves, that really develop a structured approach to life in a playful and joyful manner.

They're hanging out in the field half the day, having free time, and then when they sit down to eat, they have to be quiet, focused, respectful of each other, and not distracted. They have to really be present.

I think that's what's lacking in many elements of our society today, that element of presence. I can say the same about myself. But we're lucky that our kids are growing up in an environment that teaches them to be present.

Gene: I think the first time we came here was during the Winter Fair.

It's an event for children and adults in which children participate by making crafts, and adults participate by making crafts, introducing music, and bringing other elements to the celebration.

It was a beautiful fair, and we saw how much effort the teachers, the school staff, and the children were putting into that event.

That was pretty amazing, and we could see that it really is a village, in a way, because everyone came together as one family and made it happen.

It was such a success that I think it really made a difference for us when we were looking at other schools. This felt right.

This was the right feeling, and we loved how much energy and effort people were putting into making this place a success.

We fell in love with it from the first time we saw it.

Galina: Last year, I volunteered to cut the oranges.

It was so hard! I was like, “Wow, that's it!”

Gene: Tough work makes you understand how much effort people put into it, right? If it took you a while to deal with orange peels...

Galina: For me, it was like two days!

Gene: I think it's great to be part of the village.

I like the name. At first, I thought, “What does New Village mean? Is that a real village?”

I spent a lot of time in a village while I was growing up with my grandparents.

My grandparents had a farm within a village, with others coming in all the time, everybody helping each other.

I felt fulfilled back then just being there.

And I think I have the same feeling just looking at my kids.

It really is a feeling of this community being a village.

It takes a village to educate a kid or to raise a child. And this is the right village to do it.

It's cool to be part of the village.

It's good for a child to be surrounded by the right environment, and I can say the parents are pretty fantastic.

We have green tea in preschool every morning, chatting about life, and it boosts your social connections in the right way while taking care of your child.

So I would say, if you want to join the village, this is the right village to join.

I think the name was what first drew us to the school.

We were really looking for a village, and we wanted a place for our children to be fully seen and known. When we got here and took our tour, I think it was Morning Circle that was our first real exposure to and experience of that village vibe. We saw the entire school body in one room together, with all the faculty, staff, and children.

Everyone was singing the same songs together and doing the same movements, and everyone knew each other. Everyone did.

All the children knew each other, all the teachers knew the children, and the children knew the teachers. That was our first sign that this truly was a village. It wasn't just in the name.

A community school.

The list is long of what we value here. I think the spirit of adventure is a big one. I know for my husband in particular, but for me as well, this idea of global citizenship and taking these annual trips, starting small and gradually going further and further away from your home base, but knowing that you're always home in community.

I definitely think of the spirit of adventure.

Also, with Classroom Without Walls (CWoW), being able to use your hands, put your hands in the dirt, be out in nature, and have a sense of responsibility and stewardship toward this land that we live on and interact with.

And with that, a gained sense of reverence that is very natural to children and childhood, and preserving that as well.

It's all connected and related, but very, very valuable.

In the spirit of adventure, there's a story I've told about when we first came to the school. As we were leaving our tour, I saw a flyer for the sailing club in the office, and that was really like, “Oh yeah, we're going to this school!” The fact that it's offered and it's across the street.

My older daughter has now been in sailing club for the past three seasons and has really taken off with it.

On one particularly windy day, she capsized.

They had been trained and had learned how to capsize, so she was able to get herself back up and get back to shore.

When she came back to shore and ran off that boat, she said, “Mom, I'm a real sailor now.”

She was prepared for it. It was exciting, and she was on her own out there. She came back and knew she was safe and surrounded, and that is New Village.

I would say that this is a very unique and special school. In my search, I've seen nothing else like it.

It's an intentional school where we have shared intention and shared language. This is about preserving childhood, yes, but also preparing these children to come up in the world as fully integrated beings who know how to use their hands, which I think is a really important aspect of this, and their hearts.

Unfortunately, I'm just not seeing a lot of that out in the world anymore, and I'm really grateful that we have that here.

Be aware that this is a unique school. This is not the status quo. You're just not going to find it everywhere.

It's really special, and we want to preserve that.

Yella: We joined the New Village community three years ago, and when we came to do our visit, there was just a very palpable, very beautiful feeling here.

It felt very alive, and there was so much beauty in all of the classrooms and all of the spaces: beautiful drawings, colors, flowers, music. That really spoke to me deeply, just this sense of the importance of living beautifully and learning in a beautiful environment.

I really could sense there was a joy present in the children and in the teachers. I could feel, when I was in circle, that everybody was very excited to be there. And I had never felt that in any other school setting before.

We came from homeschooling because it was so important to us that our kids were happy learners and that we could maintain their love of learning. And I really feel like that is nurtured here and protected here.

So that's what initially drew us to New Village.

Tyler: I think I'd just add that we felt like we really wanted to be part of a community that wanted to educate their kids with more intention. Whether that's really committing to no screens or not being so focused on test scores, but on how the kids are actually enjoying the material they're learning.

Yella: I appreciate so much that their unique beings are celebrated here, that they are really known. I feel like I've been so floored by how deeply their teachers know them. It's incredible.

To me, that feels like such a blessing, that they're celebrated for their uniqueness and that their gifts are treasured here.

And at the same time, they're expected and called to participate and contribute to the greater collective by being their unique, amazing selves.

That's really something I've valued deeply.

Tyler: I'll add that the teachers really do know these kids, their strengths and their weaknesses. And they don't see their weaknesses as something to correct, or even something to call a weakness. They're unique in their own ways, and how can they carry each part of their individuality while being part of this greater collective of kids?

Yella: And it goes both ways, because the children know the teachers.

Tyler: They do, and they adore them.

Yella: I've been here one week, and they sang a song for me the other day.

Tyler: Aww.

Yella: It's the sweetest thing. I mean, they're the kindest kids I've ever met in my life.

And just the way that the kids engage with the parents. I come to pick up, and I get hugs from kids who aren't my kids. I feel like I've made some of the closest relationships in the shortest amount of time in my life.

I feel like I have bonds that I know I'm going to have for the rest of my life here. And I think that's because New Village magnetizes people who are in alignment with each other.

You don't have to search so hard to find people you feel a deep resonance with, because we're all here for many of the same reasons.

I would say that if you're desiring for your family a place where you can feel inspired and connected to life, and you want to feel like you're part of a community, like a real community, then this school is exactly what you're looking for.

And if you want your child to be a joyful learner and to be supported in developing their entire being on every level, this is the place to do that.

If you want to celebrate your child's uniqueness, I think this is a great place for them.

There are so many extras outside of what happens during school hours that make this place so fun to be around and to be a part of, like the Winter Fair, for example.

The first time I came to the Winter Fair, I was like, “Oh my God!” I was ecstatic. It was just so much fun.

I had this strong feeling that if I had been able to come to this school as a child, what a gift that would have been, because there is this...

Tyler: This feeling of enchantment that is really present, and you can really feel it when you're here. The parents really come together to create that magic, and you realize that it's available all the time if we take the time to create it.

We discovered The New Village School in 2013.

We've had two children go all the way through The New Village School. They both started in kindergarten.

When we first came to visit the school, it was really an emotional experience. We felt a connection with the teachers and the way they communicated about the programs, the way they talked about them, and how they engaged with the children.

Certainly, in the early years, there's a lot of emphasis on the protection of childhood, which is a really big theme here. That includes things like the screen-free environment, a lot of emphasis on play and artistry, and learning and growing in a slower way.

It's really more developmentally appropriate.

For us, as young parents with young children, we were looking for somewhere where our children would not only be nurtured but also be brought into the academic world in a very age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate way.

We also really recognized the connection between the teachers and the students. Small class sizes help, but it's also just the way the teachers engage with the students. A lot of it is through conversation and dialogue.

There's lots of room for the students to challenge the ideas that are being brought up in class.

The other aspect is that there's a lot of project-based, very hands-on experiential learning. These experiences challenge the students to think analytically, work through problems, and understand processes.

They also allow students to build confidence in how they tell the story around their work, because they have to create a project. There's often a physical or artistic element, as well as a presentation they give to their peers and parents, even from the early ages of third grade and onward.

This is a core theme of the developmental elements of the school.

Some of the things we value most are, again, the preservation and protection of childhood. That's really important, allowing children to grow into themselves while also taking on more academic work.

One of the areas where you see that is in reading, which often comes a little later at the school, partly because they take a slower approach. They start with phonics and some of the basics to understand the decoding elements of reading.

Reading itself is somewhat abstract, so building those foundational skills before you're forcing or encouraging children to read early really helps.

My kids were probably in third grade before they really started to take on reading, and by fourth grade, they were devouring novels. Today, they love reading. It's really been a great thing for them.

In the early years, it's the preservation of childhood. In the later grades, they're really challenged to think more independently.

I think one of the areas that really helps them grow is the travel program. They're not only going to other countries, experiencing other cultures, talking about them, and understanding them in a first-person way, but they're also preparing for those experiences.

In seventh grade, for instance, they have to raise all the money to pay for their trip. There's a whole exercise around how you plan, budget, and execute a plan to make enough money to cover the cost of a ticket, which can be quite expensive these days.

They do a lot of baking, babysitting, lawn mowing, car washing, and all kinds of other industrious things. It really helps them build a sense of confidence.

And when they actually go on the trips as a class, with a teacher, they develop another kind of confidence about how they can live outside of school, out in the world, and understand how they relate to others.

I think that's a tremendous element of the school as well.

For young families, I would say this is a wonderful place to start. It's very secure, safe, and well held.

In the early years, preschool and kindergarten, the students are really held beautifully. And as I said, the preservation of childhood affects everybody.

As they get into the early lower grades, there's a lot of project-based learning, and the kids really enjoy doing the work.

They enjoy learning. It's not just about what they're taught. It's about the process of learning as well.

There are a lot of foundational skills taught through that process.

In the later grades, as I said, the travel program is important, but there's also a lot of project-based work where they have to think individually and critically. They have to engage with people outside the school as mentors and advisors.

They're really challenged to take on a bigger load and think independently.

As a parent, one of the things I love about the school is the community. The community is very strong, and there are lots of times when we get together to interact, whether it's hosting a Winter Fair, a parent party, or a camping trip, which has been really rewarding.

I think it gives you a tremendous support network. It makes you feel like there's a sense of place here that we all want to come to. It's a third home kind of thing.

And for the students, they never want to leave!

After school, they're still in the woodshop banging away on something, or running around playing soccer with their friends.

There's also a lot of intermingling between the grades, which I think is really good. We have a lot of big brother, little brother, and sister kinds of relationships that develop, which is very beneficial.

As a parent whose children have now graduated from the school and gone on to high school, they're doing really well. The foundation they got here really supports them.

Especially their ability to speak up in class, to challenge ideas, and not be afraid to call things out if they don't agree or if there's a problem.

It's really set them up well. They're both doing amazingly. Straight A's pretty much, which is great. I put it down to the foundation they got here.

So, yeah, it's been a great experience.

This is our 13th year as a family at The New Village School.

Thinking back to when we were first picking a kindergarten for our older daughter, Aliza, we had looked locally. We live in San Francisco, and someone mentioned that there was a relatively new school over in Sausalito called The New Village School, to which I said, “I'm not driving to Sausalito from San Francisco!”

But one of the teachers who founded the school, Meinir, came to give a talk at our preschool parent evening. Her talk was all about how to prevent addiction in children as young as preschool, which I thought was fascinating. So I went to this talk.

The thesis was that children really need to feel like useful members of society. I loved that, and I knew I had to come and see the school and see what all the fuss was about.

We visited, and I still remember that first circle we had in the Big Room, with every teacher introducing themselves. I've never seen such a diverse, interesting group of people who are truly passionate about education and children in one place. I wanted to take each one of them home, put them in my pocket, and carry them with me!

This group of people, together with the ethos of the school, represented what I thought the best of childhood could be.

I grew up in the former Soviet Union, and I had this lovely childhood where I got to spend a lot of free time exploring the creek, building little houses, and doing carpentry with my grandfather. This school, and the way it was designed, really represented the best of those things in my childhood.

When you drive over the bridge from San Francisco, which is very urban, and come here to Sausalito, just that 15 or 20 minutes over the bridge, it's an entirely different world.

We don't really have as much access to this in San Francisco. Knowing that they do Classroom Without Walls, where every child starting in first grade spends an entire day out in the world, experiencing and learning that way, I can't find that anywhere else.

It's almost hard to pick what I value most. I would have to say it starts with the community: the community of parents, educators, and students.

When you come together for a parent evening, Winter Fair, or the camping trip, which I don't do anymore because, low-key, I hate camping, there's something so beautiful about this community and the shared values we have for a slower pace and a media-free approach. Everyone's on the same page.

Also, everybody's a great cook! Whenever there's a potluck or an opportunity to eat, everybody brings it, and I love that. That's just the community.

The other thing I value, and it's a real toss-up, is Classroom Without Walls. Those days when they go off campus for basically a whole day, once a week, and then they also graduate to travel.

They start traveling as early as third grade. There's usually an overnight in fourth grade. There's an opportunity to go to Shasta for four days, which is this wilderness place where they cover themselves in mud and build a house they have to sleep in. In fifth grade, they go for a full week, and in sixth grade, they begin traveling internationally, along with seventh and potentially eighth grade.

Sending your child on a trip like this, they come home transformed. They come home knowing that they just did something hard, something that maybe they were nervous about. Maybe they were feeling homesick. There were some challenging circumstances.

This is not luxury travel. They're staying in hostels some of the time or somebody's home, and they have to really be a good guest.

They come back with this very strong sense of who they are, knowing that they can handle just about anything.

When they enter high school, academically, things are really challenging. I have a junior in high school now, and she's in a really rigorous environment. But she has that experience to tap into, to say, “I did a really hard thing.”

She slept in one room with all of her classmates, and they were stuffed like little sardines. It was hard, and they had to share a space, and the toilet wasn't always working, but she did that. So now she knows she can do just about anything else.

I try not to scare people with my love for the Village, but I do love the Village!

We've been through 13 or 14 years of it. I've seen a variety of things unfold, including COVID and the way we responded, some of the teachers who were really instrumental to our school leaving, and new teachers coming in.

I've seen it all, warts and all. And I still think that at the heart of what New Village is about, the core of it is still here. That's why we're still here.

First of all, if you're a young family and you're about to do preschool or kindergarten, I'm genuinely envious because the preschool and kindergarten are this magical, wonderful little fairyland.

Everything your kids get to do, I'm just as jealous as if you were watching a movie you love for the first time and haven't seen it yet. It's just the best!

But one thing I will say is that you do need to have a fair amount of trust. Because this approach to education, where they are intentionally moving very, very slowly in the beginning, there's not going to be worksheets and learning to read in kindergarten, drills, tests, quizzes, or grades. That doesn't exist here intentionally.

The ramp is very, very slow, and then things start to rise up.

Sometimes, when you're comparing your child to somebody who is not in this system, they might be more advanced or doing harder things, and maybe that makes you feel a little bit panicky.

Again, I came from the Soviet Union. That was a very rigorous academic system. So this took a lot of trust to recognize that there is a plan in place.

The reason you chose this school was so that your child would come out of it with a love for learning, with that passion and excitement to approach any subject, and to have had all these diverse experiences, knowing they can handle anything that's thrown at them.

They will come out absolutely ready for whatever next step, whatever high school you choose for them, whether that's a boarding school, because they're independent enough to live on their own, a local public school, or a rigorous academic private school.

Whatever experience they choose next, they're going to be well prepared because they're going to come out with a really strong sense of self. And hopefully, they will have retained that genuine love of learning that has not been beaten out of them through worksheets, I hope.

I think the worst part about being a parent at New Village is that we don't get to do any of the things they get to do!

I don't know how to knit. I don't know how to sew. I don't get to play in woodshop. I don't get to make soup for Soup Day in kindergarten. I don't get to go on these amazing trips. My kids have been to countries I've never even been to, and it's really unfair!

It's hard to sit back and watch them have all this fun that I'm not getting to have.

I've asked, “Hey guys, can you start a parent New Village? Is there a retirement community situation in which the rest of us could get to have some of the fun that you all are having?”

It's just not fair. I mean, if you want to feel that level of resentment for your kids, then go right ahead!

Well, I've got a quick little story about it.

My first impression of The New Village School didn't come from the campus or the faculty. It actually came from a couple of students.

I was aware the school was here, but my first real experience came through the local Little League. At the end of each season, every player gets a trophy, and I had the honor of handing out the trophies as the team coach.

We had 11 kids on the team, and as I handed each child a trophy, two of the kids handed me something back. It was a small gift and a card.

Those were New Village School kids.

I took note of that, and it made a big impression on me. This was before we had even thought about sending our own kids to the school.

When it came time to consider schools, we looked at quite a few, and I made a phone call to the parents of those kids. That's how it all started.

There are a couple of things that happen at the school, in the curriculum and programming, that I think are really outstanding and that fit my kids and us as a family.

It's an extremely free environment, in a way, and it's also a very protective environment at the same time. That combination seems to suit us well.

There's a lot of outdoor experience built into the model. There's also a pretty broad range of skills they're trying to develop in the children. It's not just academics, but, as they say, promoting the health and well-being of the whole child, the whole student.

That's important to us.

There's some very interesting and fairly unique programming that has to do with travel. These kids are taken on wonderful trips up to Mount Shasta. They're taken to Mexico, sometimes to Europe, and, in the past, South America has been one of the destinations.

That programming, I think, is extremely valuable and beneficial for the kids.

I don't often offer a lot of advice about individual schools, whether they're elementary schools, high schools, or colleges. But I would encourage families to take a really broad look around, see where this school fits among the others, and decide whether it has the elements they're looking for.

It's not for everybody.

But there are a couple of things about it, like the travel programming I mentioned, and Classroom Without Walls, or CWoW, where each child spends one day a week outside, off campus, typically doing an outdoor activity. Not exclusively outdoor, but mostly.

I think that's an important thing.

In hindsight, I've got to say that the screen-free policy has been extremely beneficial, and I didn't really think that much about it when we first came in.

I think some families considering the school put a lot of importance on that. It wasn't really that important to us initially.

But as we moved along and saw the de-emphasis on screens in the classrooms, we became comfortable with the idea that these kids are going to catch up with technology in no time.

I've talked to a number of New Village alumni about their experiences going on to high school, where there are plenty of screens, and it's not really a problem.

That's something to really consider, and it's turned out to be a beneficial thing for us.

My son, Gabriel, is now in high school, and he doesn't have a problem with the restrictions on screens that they put in place for the kids.

He said, “I lived with restrictions on devices throughout middle school, and for a few years before that at The New Village School. Not really a problem.”

My name is Emma, Emma Price.

The New Village School actually started in my parents' kitchen.

I came home from school one day in third grade, and all of my sister's friends and their parents had decided to start the school.

So I grew up in this community.

I then graduated and went to The Bay School of San Francisco. Two years ago, I graduated from UC Berkeley with my degree in sociocultural anthropology. And now I'm back at the school.

I teach mostly our seventh and eighth graders. We study North American Indigenous history and economic geography.

It's wonderful to be back.

I think one of the strongest aspects of the school is how fundamentally curious it is.

What it really emphasizes, from our Morning Circle to the students' academic experience to how they're being asked to engage with the world, is that all of our students are encouraged and expected to be curious and thoughtful.

What I'm always impressed by is how well they can speak to adults, how eager and competent they are in engaging with the world.

Our students are international travelers. They're voracious readers.

They are hungry for the world, and they have the skills to go meet the world.

I think one of the strongest components of our school is our community.

Parents here are parenting and raising their kids in a village.

Students know that, and they can feel that. Parents know that, and they can feel that.

I think morning time here is one of the happiest places in Marin County because everyone's excited to be here.

Students are riding their bikes, there's coffee, there's laughter, and there's sharing. It's such a gift to be a child who gets to be raised in such a tight-knit community.

I'm not a parent yet, but I would imagine that, as a parent, there's an ease and comfort that comes from knowing you're raising your child alongside other people who only want the best for them and want a thoughtful life and education.

I would say, come visit. Come to a Morning Circle, come to an Open House, and feel it for yourself.

Our students, especially our young ones, have such a comfortable, peaceful experience here.

The classrooms and the teaching team are focused on making sure that their senses are being soothed and cultivated.

They have enormous amounts of time outside to be in their bodies and in the elements, to be in the sunshine, amongst the grass and the trees, and in the garden.

They have a very peaceful, story-filled life here, all throughout their time at New Village.

But especially in those early years, we're really trying to create a comfortable, safe second home for them, where they feel enough comfort to be in their development and to emerge into who they are.

I've spent most of my life in and around New Village.

The New Village School was started in my parents' kitchen in 2008. From that moment, my siblings, my family, and I have been very much involved in this community.

I graduated from The New Village School.

I then went off to The Bay School of San Francisco for high school. Two years ago, I graduated with my degree in sociocultural anthropology from Berkeley.

The school and the community here have been very foundational to my childhood, my adolescence, and now my life in my early twenties.

I'm in the special position of being both an alumna of The New Village School and now a teacher at The New Village School.

As someone who was able to leave New Village and go off to high school and then college, I know how buoyant, resilient, and confident I felt.

When I entered high school, I felt very comfortable raising my hand, advocating for myself, asking questions, and being a really active participant in my academic life.

And certainly, in college, those skills carried forward.

That's a skill we emphasize here, and you can see it as early as Morning Circle.

We have first and second graders raising their hands, participating, and believing and knowing that all aspects of our day here are learning opportunities.

They are curious, willing, and eager to learn about the world around them.

Now, as a teacher here, I've taught in a couple of different settings, and what I know for certain is how sincere, thoughtful, and compassionate our students are.

I teach social studies, and I often teach difficult histories and difficult stories.

What's always astounding to me is not only how academically fluent our children are, but also how they engage with the material.

They are writing beautiful critical essays and thoughtful pieces.

They're beautiful illustrators.

They're competent verbal communicators.

They speak up in class. They give presentations.

Academically, they're so strong and so sound.

And emotionally, they are really able to hear and learn about the world around them with sensitivity and care.

Those two things together, I think, really set our school apart and set our graduates apart.