The Selah Story
The last thing I planned to do at 51 when I started grad school was start a new school, particularly a preschool and kindergarten. My undergrad in English Education had me teaching middle and high school English before and sometimes amid raising 4 babies.
But when I was in Nashville studying Independent School Leadership, I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. And I had a few ideas about what the DNA of a new school in Harrisonburg should look like.
At the same time, I did a deep dive into reading about Maria Montessori’s method of helping young kids connect to God, that is, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. This is not the Sunday School I grew up on. The premise: children are open to and capable of deep religious experience and can encounter God personally. The method: actively engage children in a beautiful, sacred environment filled with sensory objects of play that match parables and stories of Jesus’ real life on earth. There is so much more to say! You really can’t understand the spiritual formation that goes on in these carefully prepared rooms until you see it. Suffice it to say, it’s beautiful!
Combine all this with a twenty-seven-year love affair with beautifully written and illustrated children’s stories and a deep belief that children learn best through discovery and play, and you might just have the beginnings of a small school that looks at educating children just a little differently than most.
Selah Academy is Christ-centered, literature-rich, discovery-based, and Montessori-inspired. Selah started as a pilot program in September of 2022 and will graduate to a full program this fall of 2023.
I invite you to go to our website to get a small taste of what Selah is about. And then, come visit us on Tuesdays any time between 11 am and 2 pm (RSVP) at our beautiful space in Otterbein United Methodist Church. We would love to meet you and answer any questions you might have about Selah Academy! And of course, feel free to contact us by email or phone through the contact information listed on our website.
Paula Cook, Director and Founder of Selah Academy