By Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin
Ezra Manners, 3, shows her play dough creation to
Lisa Foster, director of the Star of the Sea Early Learning Center.
TRAVELING PRESCHOOL
Taking hope
on the road
Twice a week, a pricey preschool
By Mary Adamski
takes its program Leeward, going
where there's need, choosing
discovery over dollars
Star-BulletinSchool has only been in session for one month, but toddlers at the Maililani Early Learning Center have demonstrated that they've mastered some basic lessons. Regina Tagaloa, 3, counted along as teacher Loretta Fukunaga took roll call, and Zane Viernes, 3, chimed in with "tiger" as Teacher sought "t" words.
Ezra Manners, 3, was just itching to use the painting sponge, but waited patiently until Preston Afoa, 2, was finished with his artistic expression in yellow.
And while their children colored designs to add to the big mural of ocean life, most of the young mothers and fathers did their own renderings of a green sea turtle.
Interaction between parents and children is a key part of the free program which was started last month for families living at the transitional housing project operated by Catholic Charities. The traveling preschool is an outreach project of the nonprofit Star of the Sea Early Learning Center.
It's the brainchild of Lisa Foster, director of the Waialae-Kahala preschool, where tuition costs $4,000-$5,000. Foster said she was motivated by the community schools which Kamehameha Schools used to run for Hawaiian children. When the school stopped its program in 1995, Foster sought help from the Star of the Sea Parish, Catholic Charities and her own school staff to help fill the gap.
By Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin
Kealii Tarape, 2, gets a kick out of learning.
"I knew there was a need and we decided our focus will be the homeless," she said. They started up the program, which will cost $70,000 a year, without having funding in hand. They have just received their first grant: $25,000 from the Henry and Dorothy Castle Memorial Fund.The economic difference is obvious when comparing the established center in affluent East Oahu with the Leeward program for families just one step up from being homeless.
Foster said, however, "Parents in spite of their circumstances want a chance for their children. There are just different issues for them -- financial, housing, maybe even hunger.
"Children have an inner desire to discover, to learn, to make sense of the world. It is a universal thing among children," she said. "There's lots of research that shows that enrichment opportunities like this make an impact on learning later in their lives."
By Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin
Preston Afoa, left, and Ezra Manners enjoy milk
and donuts during snack time at the Maililand
Early Learning Center.
"This has been very good for us," said Walter King, a social worker at Maililand, which houses 200 people in 44 families. "There's a waiting list for Head Start and the families here can't afford to pay for preschool."Fukunaga and teacher aide Ryan Watson, staffers at the Waialae school, pack up a van borrowed from the Star of the Sea parish two mornings a week and head west. Foster and Ellie Honda, president of the Waialae Parent Teacher Guild, joined them Wednesday to observe the one-month anniversary.
Adults, including a half-dozen parents, joined in as guides for the children, who move from one activity to another.
The school is run under the Montessori method in which "the classroom is prepared to enhance choices and independence . . . to foster a positive self-image," Foster said.
By Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin
Shane Viernes cheers on his son, Zane, 3. Instructors at
the learning center say interaction between parents and
children is a key part of the program.
It's a philosophy followed in many mainstream schools now but, said Foster, "Marie Montessori started in the slums of Italy with poverty-stricken children."The children move from painting to play dough to puzzles. But many of the fun things have a practical application in life. Shareef Sabir, 3, was fascinated at trying not to spill when he poured water from container to container, something his mother Zarinah said she hasn't trusted him to do at home.
"They learn to take care of their things at home and to do things on their own," said Glenda Afoa. She watched her son, Preston, 2, master the chopsticks, moving toy balls from one bowl to another. "I praise them a lot. Doing things together, you can communicate with your kids."
Her 4-year-old Bartolo brought one book after another for her to read.
Sapphire Manners said she kept her daughter from class one day because of a doctor's appointment, but Ezra "ran away from home to come here."
"I'm so excited, I know we are impacting them," said Foster, who cautiously projects that the program will expand. She has visited other small community preschool projects that are also beginning to organize. "We are starting to communicate, we want to coordinate and get a bigger voice.
"What would be ideal would be for a community to take on its own program, in the long term to have them be self-sufficient."
Foster said she has already heard from one parent interested in getting training. Community college courses are available to earn an early-learning certificate needed to get a preschool job.
"If we invest in children, we are investing in the future," she said.
