With every day that we are blessed to spend at this wonderful preschool, we are so very thankful to our founder, Bonnie Steussy. Her leadership, her love of education, her mutual respect of all members of our community, and her very deserved pride of the program she has created. We are always impressed by Bonnie’s skill at remembering every graduate’s World Culture Report country, knowing where their parents went to school AND! how they met, and quickly figuring out the name of the 5 to 10 people who run up to her on every grocery shopping trip, every stop at Costco, or any of her walks through town. To know Bonnie is to love her – her joie de vivre, her twinkling eyes, and wide grin and her deep hugs – along with her ease of talking about her love of education and her excitement at the continuation of her program.

In the 1970’s, Bonnie and David were working in South Carolina in an urban junior high school where their students had struggles in life, and many were in and out of the legal system. They started a program of parent education for the parents of their students, having sessions where they could all work together and problem solve, teaching them how to set boundaries and communicate respectfully with their children and each other. All of the parents who took the classes said that if they had an education program like that when their children were preschoolers, in their formative years, they would not have had so much trouble with their elementary and high school children. Bonnie and David were out in Issaquah visiting family and were told about a school that was for sale. They decided to go for it, walk the walk that they had talked about for years, and used American Express Traveler’s Checks to make a downpayment on the property and start the Issaquah Valley Family Education Association, and open a school called “The Children’s Garden”.

From the humble beginnings of The Children’s Garden, Bonnie has always told the staff and the parents that ‘who a child is when they are 5 or 6 is who a person is when they are 45 or 46’. When parents see us years later, they ask us how we knew their child so well, how we predicted who this child was going to be when they got older. As Bonnie says, “The child shows us who they are. We just need to listen, look in their eyes and see it.” 

Because of her vision, from the very beginning, the mission of the school was always to treat each student as both a unique individual and a caring, cooperative member of the group. The purpose of our program has always been to support and encourage the child’s natural growth in a social environment:

–          Instilling a positive attitude toward self

–          Developing a love of learning

–          Respecting the rights of others

–          Joining in group play, problem solving and conflict resolution

–          Treating each child as a rich and powerful resource of ideas that can be communicated and shared in a constructive way

–          Taking responsibility for one’s own feelings and choices

–          Respecting and appreciating the natural environment

 What an amazing bucket list she set out as the mission of The Children’s Garden School! Bonnie has also always known the value of community and building community. The program provided many opportunities and events throughout the year to build community, not to mention the quaint gazebo at the end of the walkway. In this gazebo parents share common bedtime struggles and victories, offer some childcare relief or meal trains, plan play dates, set up auction projects to work together on and schedule end of year celebrations. Through each of these small gestures, lifelong friendships are being formed. Ask the staff members who went through The Garden program as parents – we are still friends with the parents from our kids’ classes. We did summer “Mom and Kids Camping Trips”, we had Moms’ getaway weekends to Vancouver and Dads had poker nights, golf games and fly-fishing weekends. We are now going to weddings and baby showers of our kids’ classmates. To find a group of parents who share the same values of preschool education, social emotional skills and community building, all going through the same developmental stages of childhood at the same time as you and your kids? Priceless!

What an amazing program and how grateful we are to be a part of it!! Thank you, Bonnie! You inspire us, you lead us, you continue to share your ideas with us and listen with keen interest to new ideas!

We are so grateful for your vision, your kindness, your deep passion for education and your love.

We love you, Bonnie!