Covington Cooperative Preschool

My name is Karen Lee (Warehime) Brown. I have lived in Kent since I was five, except for the first ten years after I was married, when I lived in Everett, WA. I am 74 years young and have been married to the same man for 56 years. Our four children, three girls and one boy, have raised us to what we are today and have now turned the job over to our 11 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. I thank them every day for their patience. My husband and I have been lucky enough to have all of our children living close by. Once a parent, always a parent. The only thing that changes is how we are needed.

Just remember that each day we have with our children is a gift and we need to make the best of it. Take time out to enjoy your children and let them be children because sooner than you know it, life changes. Some day these children are going to imitate back to us what we have modeled for them, making our job very important. Do we want happy, patient, cooperative, risk-taking, problem-solving, positive-thinkers? Then we have to model those traits.

I was introduced to the Co-op philosophy in 1969, when I signed our first child into her first pre-school experience. I enjoyed it so much that I signed myself up for the training classes to be a Co-op preschool teacher at Everett Community College. When I finished I was asked to teach one of their two and a half to five year old classes. I was a Co-op parent for six years in Everett and the last three of those years I taught. I also taught classes on puppetry and was involved in the annual area-wide workshop.

In August of 1975, my family and I moved back to Kent. I took a year off from preschool to get settled in. Then in September of 1976, I joined up with Covington Co-op Preschool for two years with our son and then our youngest daughter.

In my eight years as a Co-op parent I worked as Registrar, Parent Coordinator (I had to visit every new parent in their home), Board Chair of View Ridge Preschool in Everett, Treasurer and Board Treasurer of Covington Co-op.

I applied for a Lab Coordinator Position at Covington in the fall of 1978 when they offered the young three year old class for the first time. I have been teaching for thirty-four years at Covington because I think Covington is the Best.

I have training in: Math Their Way, The Whole Child, Developmentally Appropriate Practice for Young Children, Communicating with Young Children, Brain Development of Young Children, Prevention of Child Abuse and Cultural Diversity. I try to get at least fifteen hours of up-to-date training every year.

I enjoy working with these age groups because they are so loving.