BLOOM FROM THE HEART
A Montessori and Waldorf inspired program
PARENT HANDBOOK
Welcome to Bloom From The Heart! We are so glad your child will be joining us for our unique, play-based Montessori and Waldorf inspired educational program where we meet your child where they are while guiding their development through meaningful play and hands-on multi-sensory lessons, activities, and materials.
Please read through this entire handbook and reach out with any questions! We look forward to a rewarding and fun semester learning, playing and growing together!
Updated: May 1, 2023
Section 1: DAILY RHYTHM AND CURRICULUM
The Bloom From the Heart (BFTH) program utilizes a Montessori and Waldorf inspired curriculum that takes additional inspiration from traditional methodologies to offer a one-of-a-kind curriculum that embraces the best of all three worlds. Curated by Bloom’s owner, a Montessori trained educator in early elementary, the curriculum covers the five key areas of a typical Montessori preschool in the areas of Practical Life, Sensory, Mathematics, Literacy, and Culture, and the key areas of a Waldorf preschool in the areas of Exploring Nature, Celebrating the Seasons, and embracing Imagination and Fantasy through creative play and storytelling.
What is the difference between Montessori and Waldorf?
While both are very similar in many ways, especially in the importance of a multi sensory approach to learning, being play based, and integrating practical life skills into daily rhythm, one key difference is that Montessori embraces real life experiences whereas Waldorf embraces imagination and fantasy. We believe that both are equally important in developing the whole child and so integrate aspects of both into our curriculum and our play environment (i.e. the mini kitchen and washer set are more “Montessori”, whereas the fairy wings and play silks are more “Waldorf”).
Our daily rhythm is developed to keep the children engaged and moving throughout the day to different areas of the classroom and play space, including outdoors, to maximize movement and socialization opportunities while allowing them safe independence choices and a range of topics and disciplines to pique their interests and nurture their curiosities. We also anticipate 2 parent-participation field trips per semester that align with the season or monthly unit study topic, as well as holiday celebrations and other opportunities for families to come together and build community.
Our Daily Rhythm
9:00 Arrivals and Free Play
9:30 Morning/Welcome Circle
9:45 Specials*
10:15 Snack
10:30 Group Lesson 1 / Independent Work 2
11:00 Movement/Outside Play
11:30 Group Lesson 2 / Independent Work 1
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Teacher’s Choice
12:45 Closing/Restorative Circle
1:00 Dismissal for Regular Day Students
1:00 Learning Period (depending on the day, can be Group Work, Independent Work or Teacher:Student 1:1 Work)
2:00 Snack
2:15 Free Play/Teacher’s Choice
2:45 Closing Circle
3:00 Dismissal for Extended Day Students
3:00 Optional After Care until 6pm
* Daily Specials may change throughout the year but currently planned as follows:
Monday: Sensory; Tuesday: Rhythm and Movement with Ms. Jenn; Wednesday: Physical Movement; Thursday: Dance; Friday: Art
Section 2: ATTENDANCE, DROP OFF AND PICK UP PROCEDURES
Drop Offs: To maintain routine and minimize disruption to our daily rhythm, please ensure you drop off your child on time (9:00am). If you will be more than 30 minutes late to drop off, please call (272-200-2245) or email (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) to let us know. When your child arrives, they should remove their shoes at the door and take their belongings to their cubby in the back of the facility, hanging their coat up independently on the coat rack. Please make your drop off time brief to allow them to maintain continuity in the daily routine.
Pick Ups: As our day is timed right down to the end of the day, please do not arrive more than 5 minutes in advance or later than 1:00pm (regular day) / 3:00pm (extended day; not applicable for those staying for after care) to minimize disruption of the childrens’ routine. If anyone other than the parent/caregiver who drops the child off in the morning is expected to pick them up, please be sure to inform staff at drop off or call before pick up so that we know to release your child to an approved alternate pick up person. If we are not familiar with the person picking up your child, we will require ID before releasing your child to them. Your child will be reminded to take home anything in their take home bin and will be ready to depart with their belongings up front. Please be sure to check your child’s belongings once home to check if any soiled clothing is enclosed that needs to be replaced with a clean set of clothes.
Absences: Please call or email as soon as you know your child will be absent. As a reminder, absences are not prorated nor refunded.
Section 3: FEES AND PAYMENT POLICIES
Registration Fee
Upon registration, you will pay a non-refundable $50 registration fee. This fee secures your child’s spot in the Bloom From the Heart program. The $50 fee will be applied to your first tuition payment as a credit, unless you are applying during the Late Registration period, in which case the deposit is not included as part of the first payment.
Program Schedule / Pricing
REGULAR DAY PROGRAM (9am-1pm)
2 Days a Week = $2200/year ($55/wk; $245/mo):
3 Days a Week = $3200/year ($80/wk; $355/mo)
5 Days a Week = $5000/year ($125/wk; $555/mo)
EXTENDED DAY PROGRAM (9am-3pm)
2 Days a Week = $3400/year ($85/wk; $378/mo)
3 Days a Week = $4800/year ($120/wk; $533/mo)
5 Days a Week = $7200/semester ($180/wk; $800/mo)
Before/After Care = $5/hr (siblings $2.50/hr)
SIBLING AND MEMBER DISCOUNT 10% OFF TUITION
PAYMENT AGREEMENT:
A non-refundable registration fee of $50 is required within 5 days of submission of the registration form. The registration fee will be applied to your first payment except in the case of late registrations (must be enrolled by September 1, 2024 for your registration fee to be applied to your first payment.
ATTENDANCE, HOLIDAYS, SNOW DAYS, VACATIONS:
All scheduled holidays and up to 5 snow days are accounted for in the annual tuition rate. That means payments are due in full regardless of holidays and up to 5 snow days. Should we have over 5 closures due to weather, credits will be applied for days missed due to Bloom weather closures.
Credit is available for up to two vacation weeks (10 days) or other scheduled absences with a two week minimum notice provided of the expected days out.
Unplanned absences and sick days are not refundable or credited. Make up days are not available for any missed days.
PAYMENT PLANS:
Payment plans are available as a courtesy (payable weekly or monthly). By registering for this program, you have an annual tuition that is expected to be payable in full by the end of the program (prorated for late registrations). Payment plans simply provide the convenience of weekly or monthly billing for you to incrementally pay down your tuition balance if you desire which means you are invoiced on a regular schedule regardless of holidays or sick days, with the exception of planned vacations, as outlined in detail above.
Billing/Invoicing: The credit card used to pay your deposit will be kept on file in our payment processing system (Square). If you are not able to store your card in the system, an invoice will be emailed to you and payment is expected via online or in person payment according to the payment schedule. Your tuition payments according to your payment plan selection (weekly, monthly or in full) will be automatically charged to the card on file and/or payment expected via invoice, as follows:
- Weekly Payment Plan - payment due / card charged every Monday of the week prior to the following week
- Monthly Payment Plan - payment due / card charged the 1st of every month of the current month
- Payment In Full - payment due / card charged one time in full on the 1st of September, or upon registration for mid-semester enrollments)
Late Payments: Payments are expected based on the payment schedule above. Any payments not made within 5 days of your invoice will incur a $25 late fee. A $5 per day late fee applies per day after the 5th day. Your child may not continue attending the program until payments are up-to-date. We will do our best to make accommodations to your situation, but you must communicate with us in advance of the billing for consideration of any accommodations.
Before and After Care: Before care is available from 8am daily. After care if available until 6pm daily. We may be able to accommodate an earlier drop off or later pick up on a case by case basis. Anyone not signed up for a regular before/after care schedule who needs occasional care
may request care and we will accommodate as long as the staff is able to and/or already
scheduled to be there during the requested time. Payment of add-on before/after care can be paid the day of in cash/by credit, or may be added to your next invoice upon request. Before and After Care is billed at a rate of $5 per hour ($2.50 per hour for sibling).
CANCELLATIONS, MODIFICATIONS and REFUNDS:
Registration Fee: $50 registration fee is non-refundable for any cancellations made after submission of the registration fee and your child's participation in the program is confirmed.
Cancellations: Any cancellations that are made within 1 week of program start or any no-shows are non-refundable except for extenuating circumstances (i.e. unforeseen illness). Once the program is in session, if you need to unenroll for any reason, please provide at least a 2 week notice, and any unpaid future invoices will be canceled (or refunded for any pre-payments made).
Section 4: HEALTH AND SAFETY
Illness Policy: Children who are exhibiting illness symptoms such as a persistent cough or excessive runny nose, please consider keeping them home to minimize the spread of germs through cough droplets and mucus.
Symptoms that require child to stay home until they are clear of symptoms are:
- Fever (must be fever free without the use of fever reducing medication for 24 hours)
- Diarrhea or Vomiting
- Conjunctivitis (pink eye)
- Lice (must be treated with lice spray and nit free for 24 hours)
If your child becomes ill during the day, we will contact you and you will be required to pick your child up.
If your child comes down with a highly transmissible illness (i.e. COVID, Hand Foot Mouth), please inform us as soon as possible. We will inform all enrolled families via Remind/email when we are made aware, and provide further guidance based on medical/CDC recommendations for isolation, quarantine, etc.
Injury Policy: Bloom Staff are First Aid certified and will administer basic first aid for any minor injuries your child may incur during the day such as cuts, scrapes and bumps. For any more severe injuries, we will contact you and discuss what you would like to do (pick up, let them rest, etc). For extreme emergencies, we will contact you and call 911 if it is necessary. We will not bother you if your child has a minor incident but will be sure to inform you at pick up.
Behavior Policy: We review the basic house rules during morning circle every day which includes gentle hands, respecting personal space, treating toys and belongings with respect, using words instead of actions to express ourselves, no running inside the play space, and treating each other with kindness. Should a child become physical (hitting, throwing things, etc) , the teacher will gently guide and redirect them while helping them to understand why what they did was not a good choice. If the child needs time away from others, they will be given time in the calm down tent, which is set up with pillows, blankets, books to look through, and they will be able to choose one toy from the play space to use quietly in the tent until they are feeling calmer and ready to join the group. We do not call this a “time out” and instead want the child to feel that the tent is a safe space to regroup and not a punishment. Some children even self direct themselves to use the tent when they feel they need some alone time, and we allow that!
If your child is not able to be calmed down quickly and safely from any situations where they are harming or a danger to other students, we will call the parent to have them picked up. If your child continues to exhibit dangerous or aggressive behavior or disrupts the rhythm of the day to where it becomes a distraction to the other children, we have a 3 strike policy where we will need to ask you to pause their attendance until they are able to participate without disruptive behaviors. We are just not staffed to be able to spend significant time de-escalating situations with single students as it leaves the other children unattended and without proper attention.
Facility Safety: The front door will be locked from the inside at 9:30am once students go into Circle Time, and will remain locked while they are inside. Please be aware Bloom also operates open play and classes during the day so your children may have interactions with the public at certain times of their day. A teacher or staff member will be supervising the students at all times.
Section 5: CALENDAR, HOLIDAYS AND CLOSINGS
2023-2024 Schedule
The first day of the 2023-2024 program begins on Tuesday, September 5, 2023. The last day of the program is Friday, June 7, 2024.
Bloom From the Heart will not operate on the following days:
2023:
Wednesday, November 22 - Friday, November 24
Friday, December 22 - Tuesday, December 26
2024:
Monday, January 1
Because Bloom is also a play space business, we have less closures than the school districts provide. Bloom From the Heart will be open for families who want to attend on several additional holidays. Please note this will be more an informal learning day as we tend to have very light attendance on these holidays. A form will be sent to families to indicate attendance on these optional holidays.
Bloom From the Heart Optional Holidays:
2024:
Monday, January 15
Monday, February 19
Monday, May 27
WEATHER RELATED CLOSURES:
We typically follow the Stroudsburg Area School District’s callings of weather related closures and delays. However, based on the hours of the BFTH program, the ability of our staff to safely travel to and from Bloom, and consideration for your safe travels as well, we may make a different decision. We will inform you by 8am via Remind and email on a snowy or icy day as to any delay, early dismissal or closing. If unexpected weather rolls in while class is in session, prompting us to close early, we will inform you via Remind and email as soon as any decision is made.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs):
How do I know my child is ready for the Bloom From the Heart program?
While our Montessori approach offers us the opportunity to meet your child where they are developmentally and provide a personalized approach to their experience, given our limited resources as a private non-accredited program, please understand we are not equipped to support children who may not yet be ready for this program. Some of the key milestones we would need for your child to have met in order to have their best experience in our program are: ability to follow the routine of the day with focus; ability to understand keeping hands to oneself/gentle interaction with peers; ability to work with materials as they are meant to be used; basic understanding of shapes and colors; readiness to learn; ability to be separated from caregivers (while understanding all children have days where they struggle and need extra comforting), and to be fully potty trained.
What does it mean to be FULLY potty trained?
Children must be capable of completing ALL bathroom steps with little to no assistance, and are able to remain dry throughout the day. We realize occasional accidents happen even for fully potty-trained children, but the key word is “occasional”. If we find we are continuously having to assist your child with the bathroom usage or they are having frequent accidents, we will require them to pause attendance until they are a bit more ready.
Will I be charged during closures (holidays, weather related) or during unplanned absences (i.e. illness)?
Yes. The tuition is a set annual fee based on the schedule selected, and the payment plans are provided as a courtesy only, regardless of how many days your child should miss due to illnesses, holidays, etc. Please review the ATTENDANCE, HOLIDAYS, SNOW DAYS, VACATIONS section above for full details around snow days and approved absences.
What do I need to pack for my child?
Your child will be provided their own cubby for the duration of the program. They should have the following items daily (you may leave any items in their cubby for convenience):
- 1 snack and 1 lunch with beverage daily for regular day; if your child attends extended days and/or after care, please pack 1-2 additional snacks and/or light meal to eat in the afternoon
- Refillable water bottle
- 1 full change of clothes (including underwear and socks)
- Sunscreen/Outdoor weather protection
- Rain boots in fall/spring
- From first snow fall until snow melt, snow boots, waterproof gloves, snow pants and waterproof warm coat are required
PLEASE LABEL ALL YOUR CHILD’S PERSONAL ITEMS SO THEY DON’T GET MIXED UP WITH OTHERS’!
May my child bring personal items from home?
NO toys from home are allowed in class. Any toys that are brought will be kept in their cubby. Exception is for scheduled Show-and-Tell days when one toy is permitted from home to be brought out during show-and-tell time only. For Show-and-Tell, all items must be able to fit in the cubby and NO electronics please.
How can I stay in touch with Bloom teachers?
The teachers need to be fully engaged equally with all campers throughout the day. Please do not communicate directly with them via text messages or phone calls. If you need to reach a teacher, please call the main line 272-200-2245 and leave a message if no one picks up and your call will be returned by the first available staff member. You may also contact Sandra at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by cell at 917-514-6255. Sandra works from home primarily and will be the best go-between for you and the staff to relay any messages. If there is a specific issue or concern regarding your child or your child’s experience that you would like to discuss with a teacher, please request a meeting so that it can be discussed privately outside of pickup or drop off.
ADDITIONAL INFO
Photos and Social Media
We love to share photos of all the amazing things the kids are learning at Bloom! We may post pictures that include your child on our social media pages (Facebook, Instagram) as well as newsletters and for promotional purposes. If you do not wish your child’s face to appear in the photos, please inform us in writing at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will place a “sticker” over your child’s face on any photo posted.
REMIND Messaging Service
Please sign up for Bloom From the Heart’s Remind text messaging service. This allows general announcements to be sent out quickly to all camp families via text message including weather related closures and delays. All Remind texts will be sent by email as well.
HOW TO JOIN:
1) Send a text to 81010
2) Text this message: @bloombfth
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT AND AGREEMENT TO PARENT HANDBOOK AND BLOOM POLICIES
By enrolling in Bloom From the Heart, I acknowledge that I have received and read in full the Parent Handbook, and understand and agree to the details provided within each section of the Handbook.
I agree to abide by the policies and expectations set forth within the Handbook.
I have read and signed the online Bloom General Waiver of Liability, and agree to the House Rules as set forth within. Waiver can be found here: https://waivermaster.com/sign.html?q=DGHKD2E57PJR9