Now is a great time to step up and take an opportunity to support the U School's mission. Here are a few ways that our community can engage and contribute:
DONATE! Take a chunk out of next year's tax bill while helping us provide the best education we can. Win-win.
BOOKMARK your Amazon shopping from this link, and your purchases will chip into our tuition fund.
Surprise us with an item from our Amazon WISH LIST.
SPREAD THE WORD about our mission and enrollment opportunities.
Speaking of enrollment...
It's that time again! Can you believe it? Enrollment has begun for Summer 2020 and the school year 2020-21. We are currently processing applications from our Claim Your Spot families. If you or someone you know is interested, the way to proceed is to contact Ryan directly.
Mindful Parents & Educators
Wednesday evening mindfulness continues! Twice a year, the MP&E intro rolls around. This is the 8-week class where parents and teachers of young children get a deep-but-also-broad introduction to mindfulness techniques to be applied when children are present. Staying focused with the four techniques we learn in this class can accentuate four key characteristics of compassionate caregivers: Attentiveness, patience, calmness, and positivity.
As ever, we meet at the U School on Wednesdays from 6:30-8:00. The next intro runs from March 4 - April 29.Registration is open. Once you've taken the intro, you have access to all the 4-week extension courses, which cover additional topics—the foremost being, Once I've booted up my own practice, how can I share mindfulness practice more directly and transparently with my child(ren)? More information, and full course listings are here. Hope to see you some upcoming Wednesdays!
U Family Kitchen Lab
U Family Kitchen Lab is an experience designed to inspire “power food” cooking and foster a positive relationship in the kitchen for families. U School Cooking Teacher Vanessa offers two unique experiences for families to join at her Sunday afternoon U Family Kitchen Lab.
Family Classes – Children and family adults attend together for a class and learn to make delicious “power food” snacks. There will be a mid-way opportunity during class for children and families to play in the U School outdoor area or gym.
Adult Classes – An adults only class desigend to provide a framework to cook delicious, “power food”, low-stress meals.
Each hour long Sunday afternoon class will be hands-on and will involve tasting and taking “mindful bites” along the way. At the end of each class we will eat what we’ve made and Vanessa will provide recipe frameworks that participants can take home and implement in their own creative ways.
Lil Hoopers provides an opportunity for preschoolers to learn the game of basketball. This “all about the fun” class will introduce basketball basics as children, ages 3-5, experience being part of a team.
Lil Hoopers is coached by Grek Powers, G Powers Training (GPT) founder and owner. Grek, who is a current parent of the U School, has been working with youth in the Ann Arbor area for over 20 years. He has coached basketball at Pioneer High School, worked for AAPS Rec & Ed in various capacities, and since 2016 GPT has taught basketball, soccer, and chess through AAPS Rec & Ed in over 20 local elementary schools, ages Y5-5th grade.
Registration is open for the current six week class here.
Lexicon Circles
How can families and educators optimize their communication with children using the U School Lexicon? When we started this cycle of Thursday-evening discussion groups, we thought we'd devote each session to one of the lexicon's five core concepts: Ubuntu, Power, Awareness, Choice, and Fun.
But the first thing we learned was that these concepts are tough to tease apart; it makes more sense to address people's child-rearing challenges from multiple angles at once. We've discussed topics including screen time management, dealing with resistance around mealtime or bedtime transitions, coping mechanisms for when a child is melting down, eating habits around sweets...These meetings cover a lot of ground, but we always return to the lexicon to guide and organize our discussion.
Join us on Thursday, March 19, 2020, from 6:30-8:30. Drop-ins are welcome! Suggested donation is $10/family, and the proceeds go straight into our tuition fund. Read more about the program here.
