Fremont Community School encourages interaction with other children and fosters respect for others and the natural world. Our program is flexible and individually paced, encouraging your child’s independence and imagination. Fremont Community School serves as a bridge between a child’s first years at home and his or her forthcoming years at school. Here, children cross the bridge at their own pace through the medium they enjoy the most: Joyful, Unstructured Play!
  Our day begins each morning with a circle of song, movement and verse that reflect our seasonal themes and projects. Our home, which we fondly call —"Casa Verde", is an ideal haven for curious young minds to play and imagine. The classroom environment promotes creative play with readily available art supplies, natural wood blocks, puppets, dress-up clothes and trestles. A warm organic whole-grain snack is offered every day and children bring their own lunch.
The children, Chickadees and Starlings, spend at least an hour a day in the attached, fully enclosed yard which provides ample room to run, climb, dig, and move their energetic bodies. Lunch marks the end of our day.

In addition, Fremont Community School holds a series of festivals that celebrates the seasons, gives rhythm to the year, and brings us together as a community by including family and friends. These include: the Harvest Festival in September, a Lantern Walk in November, the Winter Garden in December, and a May Day Picnic at the Arboretum.
 
Our Teachers
Tara Katz, Director and Lead Teacher
Tara Katz
director and lead teacher

Tara's warmth and enthusiasm serve as the heart of Fremont Community School. She has been the Chickadees teacher since 2001, and became the director of FCS in 2003. Tara studied the principles of Rudolf Steiner and Waldorf Education at Emerson College in England. She also holds a bachelor's degree in Speech Communications and Theatre Arts from Oregon State University. She has taught kindergarten, first grade and second grade in many Waldorf schools in the Seattle area, as well as in England. She is also the mother of two enchanting children, 12-year-old Phoebe and 4-year old Alexander.
Maria Jimenez, Lead Teacher
Maria Jimenez
Lead Teacher

Maria was born in Spain and brings a passion for diversity to her teaching. As a native Spanish speaker, she speaks and tells stories in Spanish, adding a bilingual component to the FCS classroom. She has a degree in Sociology from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, and earned a Master in Divinity degree at New York Theological Seminary in 1992. Maria’s Waldorf education includes training at Rudolf Steiner College in California, and she recently completed the Foundation Year at Sound Circle in Seattle. She is the parent of a 12 year old son and a 10 year-old daughter.
 

Jennifer Durrie
Assistant Teacher

Jennifer participated in the Parent-Tot program at Brightwater Waldorf School in Seattle and has assisted in Brightwater’s Minnows preschool classroom. She has also been the lead teacher in several preschool classes and plays at Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle. She holds an MA in Art History from George Washington University and has com-pleted doctoral work in Art History at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She is the mother of two daughters: 8-year-old Isabel and 5-year-old Zeirna.