HAKALAU, Hawaii (PNN) - June 21, 2023 - Ariel Maguire gathered together with other moms in her rural area of the Big Island of Hawaii to create a child-centered educational solution for local families. It was late 2021 and the parents realized that nearly two years of pandemic policies had left their children behind both academically and socially.
There weren’t a lot of childcare or early-education options nearby. “The closest place to send our (children) would be a little over an hour drive each way and it has a huge wait list,” Maguire said. “We were all struggling because we'd been stuck at home with our (children) without community for a couple of years and needed to get back to work.”
So Maguire and the other moms decided to build what they couldn’t find. They established their program, Kulike Learning Garden, as a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, as well as a private membership association, or PMA, that works legally like a social club to facilitate
voluntary association within a cooperative community of shared roles and expectations. They hired an experienced Waldorf teacher, and opened their Waldorf-inspired, child-focused, nature-based microschool on a family farm in January 2022 with about 15 children, ages three to six. Parent volunteers shared in the teaching responsibilities.