Fall 2025 Class Schedule
Virtual and in-person group and private classes.
Registration for Fall 2025 is now open. Spots are very limited.
Fall classes begin the week of September 8.
Spanish, Music & Motor Skills
Caregiver & Me
Note: For the in-person class, a vaccinated adult must be present with your child.
Please provide proof of vaccination at time of enrollment.
Tuesdays, 9:30-10:15 a.m., in person, Palo Alto, CA (Ages 0-6)
Tuesdays, 1:15 p.m.-2:00 p.m., in person, Palo Alto, CA (Ages 4-6)
Fall classes begin on September 9, 2025
Rolling admissions, enrollment is per calendar month.
Contextualizing new vocabulary with a wide range of highly engaging, age-appropriate songs, finger plays, and movement, we work thematically through word groups (i.e. the body, African animals, farm animals, pets, weather), simultaneously emphasizing colors, counting, etc., with the intention of building a broad Spanish vocabulary base.
This class uses humor, puppets, visual aids, movement and a theatrical approach to language transmission. Music is a constant presence in the class and as we intentionally repeat lyrics and melodies, children as young as 18 months begin to sing along.
Caregiver & Me
Note: For the in-person class, a vaccinated adult must be present with your child.
Please provide proof of vaccination at time of enrollment.
Tuesdays, 9:30-10:15 a.m., in person, Palo Alto, CA (Ages 0-6)
Tuesdays, 1:15 p.m.-2:00 p.m., in person, Palo Alto, CA (Ages 4-6)
Fall classes begin on September 9, 2025
Rolling admissions, enrollment is per calendar month.
Contextualizing new vocabulary with a wide range of highly engaging, age-appropriate songs, finger plays, and movement, we work thematically through word groups (i.e. the body, African animals, farm animals, pets, weather), simultaneously emphasizing colors, counting, etc., with the intention of building a broad Spanish vocabulary base.
This class uses humor, puppets, visual aids, movement and a theatrical approach to language transmission. Music is a constant presence in the class and as we intentionally repeat lyrics and melodies, children as young as 18 months begin to sing along.
Civilized <> Civilizado
Human Society, Game Building & Spanish Conversation
Please note: This class is an intermediate-to-advanced competency Spanish class and is only appropriate for students who can thrive in an immersion environment or have attained a high level of receptive proficiency (comprehension.)
Tuesdays, 5:20-6:00 p.m., on Zoom, Palo Alto, CA (Ages 10-14)
Fall class begins on September 9, 2025
A full academic year commitment is expected.
Civilized is an exercise in anthropological thinking and game design. In Phase One of the class, the group will create an original human civilization that has settled in a (student-designed) environment.
Together we will craft the basic elements found in virtually every civilization: the architecture and housing infrastructure, economic systems (barter, currency, types of work, etc.), origin story, cultural and religious beliefs, artistic practices, communication, documentation and knowledge transfer systems, technology and tools, defense and security, resource management, legal codes, forms of governance and social organization.
During Phase Two students become citizens of their civilization, now gamified and under duress. To defend their "pueblo" (people), participants will need to honor (or adapt) their cultural institutions, values and doctrines, preserving their heritage, history and integrity while responding to threats of all kinds.
This is the 10th year-long learning game I will help create; games are the most potent context for learning. Gamified curricula foster natural language and vocabulary repetition, along with high levels of motivation and focus while simultaneously building discernment, resilience, grit, collaboration, communication, decision-making, resource management, problem-solving and strategy-formulation skills.
Human Society, Game Building & Spanish Conversation
Please note: This class is an intermediate-to-advanced competency Spanish class and is only appropriate for students who can thrive in an immersion environment or have attained a high level of receptive proficiency (comprehension.)
Tuesdays, 5:20-6:00 p.m., on Zoom, Palo Alto, CA (Ages 10-14)
Fall class begins on September 9, 2025
A full academic year commitment is expected.
Civilized is an exercise in anthropological thinking and game design. In Phase One of the class, the group will create an original human civilization that has settled in a (student-designed) environment.
Together we will craft the basic elements found in virtually every civilization: the architecture and housing infrastructure, economic systems (barter, currency, types of work, etc.), origin story, cultural and religious beliefs, artistic practices, communication, documentation and knowledge transfer systems, technology and tools, defense and security, resource management, legal codes, forms of governance and social organization.
During Phase Two students become citizens of their civilization, now gamified and under duress. To defend their "pueblo" (people), participants will need to honor (or adapt) their cultural institutions, values and doctrines, preserving their heritage, history and integrity while responding to threats of all kinds.
This is the 10th year-long learning game I will help create; games are the most potent context for learning. Gamified curricula foster natural language and vocabulary repetition, along with high levels of motivation and focus while simultaneously building discernment, resilience, grit, collaboration, communication, decision-making, resource management, problem-solving and strategy-formulation skills.
Sumergido <> Submerged
Spanish, Strategy and Enterprise
Thursdays, 5:00-5:45 p.m., in person, Palo Alto, CA (Ages 8-13)
Fall class begins on September 11, 2025
A full academic year commitment is expected.
With strategy, collaboration, and hard work a team of scuba divers (Buceadores) will attempt to establish an underwater vacation resort on a planet in a distant galaxy. Working alone, in pairs, or in teams, the entrepreneurial Buceadores will earn conchas (shells) to make tactical purchases, hold auctions, trade goods, and collect inventory to build a cohesive business plan and pitch a proposal to the Empresario in charge of the project.
The unpredictability of the Empresario will not be the only unknown variable: we aren't quite sure what lurks in the waters of the Sumergido project. There will be surprises.
Conducted entirely in Spanish, this Spanish simulation game builds practical, everyday vocabulary, speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills.
Please note: This class also has an occasional hands-on art, design and building component.
Spanish, Strategy and Enterprise
Thursdays, 5:00-5:45 p.m., in person, Palo Alto, CA (Ages 8-13)
Fall class begins on September 11, 2025
A full academic year commitment is expected.
With strategy, collaboration, and hard work a team of scuba divers (Buceadores) will attempt to establish an underwater vacation resort on a planet in a distant galaxy. Working alone, in pairs, or in teams, the entrepreneurial Buceadores will earn conchas (shells) to make tactical purchases, hold auctions, trade goods, and collect inventory to build a cohesive business plan and pitch a proposal to the Empresario in charge of the project.
The unpredictability of the Empresario will not be the only unknown variable: we aren't quite sure what lurks in the waters of the Sumergido project. There will be surprises.
Conducted entirely in Spanish, this Spanish simulation game builds practical, everyday vocabulary, speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills.
Please note: This class also has an occasional hands-on art, design and building component.
Gente Sorprendente <> Surprising People
Spanish, Perseverance, and Astonishing Human Accomplishments
Thursdays, 4:05-4:50 p.m., in person, Palo Alto, CA (Ages 6-11)
Fall class begins on September 11, 2025
Enrollment is per calendar month
This class features serious and strange, inspiring and incredible, historic and contemporary, unusual and uncommon human accomplishments around the world. Each week we will study an individual who has transcended their limitations, attempted the impossible (or implausible), overcome setbacks and pursued greatness (or authenticity) at all odds. Working alone, planting one tree each day Jadav Payeng has planted a forest that spans 1, 390 acres; Harriet Tubman helped more than 300 slaves escape to freedom; Karl Wilhelm Otto Lilienthal was the world’s first flying man; Amy Purdy has become a world-class snowboarder and dancer (on prosthetic legs), Mariam Paré is an astounding painter (without the use of her arms), Justin Bishop is a skateboarder who cannot see and Johanna Quaas is an 99-year-old gymnast who could stand on her head until the age of 95.
We will challenge our perceptions of human limitation as we study real-life role models for the power of determination and an indomitable growth mindset; the ability to persevere through adversity and setbacks. The class may inspire us to dream and execute, to believe that we can both dare to be ourselves and do something extraordinary and beautiful with our lives.
This class is designed to build a wide range of Spanish vocabulary (action verbs, nouns, adjectives and world geography) and will work on present tense verb conjugation of ar, er, and ir verbs.
IN-PERSON CLASS: ART AND GAMES IN SPANISH
We will occasionally engage in both a topic-relevant art project and a game, both of which are designed to foster language acquisition. Each game requires the repetition of the week's target vocabulary as part of the play. The relaxed and focused time provides us with an ideal opening for natural vocabulary acquisition.
Spanish, Perseverance, and Astonishing Human Accomplishments
Thursdays, 4:05-4:50 p.m., in person, Palo Alto, CA (Ages 6-11)
Fall class begins on September 11, 2025
Enrollment is per calendar month
This class features serious and strange, inspiring and incredible, historic and contemporary, unusual and uncommon human accomplishments around the world. Each week we will study an individual who has transcended their limitations, attempted the impossible (or implausible), overcome setbacks and pursued greatness (or authenticity) at all odds. Working alone, planting one tree each day Jadav Payeng has planted a forest that spans 1, 390 acres; Harriet Tubman helped more than 300 slaves escape to freedom; Karl Wilhelm Otto Lilienthal was the world’s first flying man; Amy Purdy has become a world-class snowboarder and dancer (on prosthetic legs), Mariam Paré is an astounding painter (without the use of her arms), Justin Bishop is a skateboarder who cannot see and Johanna Quaas is an 99-year-old gymnast who could stand on her head until the age of 95.
We will challenge our perceptions of human limitation as we study real-life role models for the power of determination and an indomitable growth mindset; the ability to persevere through adversity and setbacks. The class may inspire us to dream and execute, to believe that we can both dare to be ourselves and do something extraordinary and beautiful with our lives.
This class is designed to build a wide range of Spanish vocabulary (action verbs, nouns, adjectives and world geography) and will work on present tense verb conjugation of ar, er, and ir verbs.
IN-PERSON CLASS: ART AND GAMES IN SPANISH
We will occasionally engage in both a topic-relevant art project and a game, both of which are designed to foster language acquisition. Each game requires the repetition of the week's target vocabulary as part of the play. The relaxed and focused time provides us with an ideal opening for natural vocabulary acquisition.
Reading Readiness (ENGLISH)
Thursdays 2 p.m.-2:45 p.m., in person, Palo Alto, CA (Ages 0-6)
Thursdays, 6 p.m. - 6:45 p.m., in person, Palo Alto, CA (Ages 0-6)
Fall classes begin on September 11
Rolling admissions. Enrollment is per calendar month.
With funny puppets, engaging imagery for visual learners, rhyming, and word games, we will play with word groups and learn about their functions. This class also helps build hand strength, fine motor skills - each week we work on the hand-eye coordination needed for writing and effective pencil grasp.
The primary goal of the class is to inspire a love of reading and excitement about letters and literacy.
This class is appropriate for all children who have shown an interest in letters and their sounds. It is also designed for children in non-English language immersion programs, and children for whom English is not a first language.
Thursdays 2 p.m.-2:45 p.m., in person, Palo Alto, CA (Ages 0-6)
Thursdays, 6 p.m. - 6:45 p.m., in person, Palo Alto, CA (Ages 0-6)
Fall classes begin on September 11
Rolling admissions. Enrollment is per calendar month.
With funny puppets, engaging imagery for visual learners, rhyming, and word games, we will play with word groups and learn about their functions. This class also helps build hand strength, fine motor skills - each week we work on the hand-eye coordination needed for writing and effective pencil grasp.
The primary goal of the class is to inspire a love of reading and excitement about letters and literacy.
This class is appropriate for all children who have shown an interest in letters and their sounds. It is also designed for children in non-English language immersion programs, and children for whom English is not a first language.
You can also find me here;
