Halona Meadow Farm And Forest Children's Center

Welcome to Halona Meadow Farm Children's Center, a private farm and nature-based preschool. My name is Robyn Andersen and I am the director of Halona. I have been an educator and caregiver of children for 30 years. I attended Granite State College in Early Childhood Education. Since that time, my roles have included Head Start teacher, children's camp director, after school program coordinator, children's yoga instructor, children's art instructor, and infant/toddler caregiver, preschool enrichment coordinator. In addition, I home-schooled my own two children, who are now 19 and 22. This is an accomplishment of which I am most proud! I am currently the lead teacher for a Waldorf- inspired preschool summer program. My passion for guiding young children has now led me to create my own children's learning center.

The essence of this program is love. It is important to me that the children I interact with trust me and know I care for them. And so I have created a program where each child can feel comfortable in a family-like setting.

The program includes six core components:

Nature
Although I do not subscribe to any one educational philosophy, I have taken the best of all that I've learned over the last 30 years and have created primarily a nature-based program. Throughout each day, the children will spend lots of time in nature and outdoors. They will be involved in activities such as taking nature walks, where we will observe and identify all of the little creatures that we come across. We will explore vernal pools, brooks, and ponds. The children will also engage in arts and crafts using natural materials. I have a deep respect and love for our natural world and want to nurture that in all the little ones in my life.



Play
When a young child is organically engaged in an activity, whether it is imaginative play or creating in the sand box, they are doing their true work of learning. I could never artificially create anything more engaging than authentic play. What does authentic play often look like? It involves getting dirty, playing outside in all types of weather, and being allowed to take reasonable risks, such as climbing and jumping off of rocks.

Farming
The children will be exposed to a variety of homestead activities. We will be gardening, caring daily for little goats and bunnies, and engaging in seasonal activities such as berry picking and sap collecting. I hope to include riding activities in the future.

Art
One of my passions