Falcon will be home to a new preschool scheduled to open during the 2006-2007 school year.Tanya Luiten is the owner and director of the new preschool, Town and Country Preschool, and her goal is to prepare children for their elementary years through hands-on learning. “I don’t want to focus directly on academics, but to have children learn academics through other mediums, such as art, science, cooking and play,” she said, “We will focus on social skills, too.”Luiten, who has lived in Falcon for 11 years, has a son and daughter, ages seven and five. She decided it was time to open a preschool after her experiences with preschool programs for her children. For two years, she drove her son to a Colorado Springs preschool. “It gets old after awhile,” Luiten said.She also experienced problems with the lack of preschool programs in Falcon when her daughter started preschool.”My husband stood in line for seven hours to sign my daughter up at Woodmen Hills,” she said. “After that experience we knew we needed to start a preschool.”Luiten said she has been working on the idea of opening a preschool for more than a year.”We’re in desperate need,” she said.Town and Country Preschool will be located in a newly constructed building that will be located at the Falcon Town Center. The preschool will be geared toward ages three-and-a-half to six. Enrollment for the three classrooms will consist of 15 students, each with one teacher and one aide per classroom. Classes will be held during the morning and afternoon for two hours and 45 minutes, Luiten said.”Larger preschools have more standard curriculums. I think it will be unique because it will be a privately owned preschool, with its own philosophy and small class sizes. The children will get more individual attention.”With a bachelor’s degree in psychology and child development, as well as a master’s degree in marriage, child and family therapy, Luiten said she has worked with children for 28 years, including 10 years involvement in the preschool setting and directing a YMCA program in California.”Having a preschool has been a dream of mine for 20 years, so when the opportunity arose we decided to jump on it,” she said.For more information, or to register for the 2006-2007 school year, call 494-0758.
