Dear Parents,

I have been teaching and caring for young children for almost forty years. I began my career in New York City as a nanny while still a teenager. In 1976, when my daughter was 14 months old, I opened a Waldorf-inspired home daycare program called The Other Mother, which I operated for 10 years. During this period, I was very involved in helping the City re-develop the process of licensing home day care providers. Ultimately, I was one of the first to receive licensing under these new rulings. I also taught courses at the 92nd Street YMHA on all aspects of developing a home day care program, from business to crafts, and appeared on a Lifetime cable television program called Working Mother, which was seen nationwide.

Although I was highly successful on my own, I had a desire to work within a community of Waldorf teachers. I returned to school, received my Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education at Empire State College, and became a kindergarten teacher at the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City, where I taught for 4 years. I joined the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, WECAN, in 1983. I have attended most WECAN annual conferences since that time and I have taught many workshops in subjects such as: First Grade Readiness, Watercolor Painting and Children’s Games. Along the way, I have taught adults various subjects related to Waldorf Education, I have mentored Waldorf early childhood teachers in schools across the nation, and, over the years, I have trained many interns in my classroom. I co-taught the class, Introduction to the Waldorf Kindergarten, at Sunbridge College, in Spring Valley, NY for three summers. In 199I, I moved to Amherst, Massachusetts where I have since taught kindergarten at The Hartsbrook (Waldorf) School in Hadley.

I also have a passionate interest in both arts and crafts. I have worked as a jeweler, as a fiber artist, and I have been studying painting for many years at the Rudolf Steiner Institute, where I am a member of the board of trustees and I manage our summer bookstore.

Now, in this next phase of my life, I look forward to continuing my vocation on a much smaller scale. In the autumn of 2008, I will open The Cottage Garden, a Home Nursery program for six children.

    ~ Celia Riahi 

"If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.” -

Rachel Carson

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