Wow! It is hard to believe it is our fourth year as a community of classes at Darb-e Mehr.  The goal of our classes has always been to create a space where our children feel a sense of belonging, and to grow and develop in a healthy way while connecting with their roots. It is wonderful to see them connecting and growing together.

Registration:

Registration for Winter Sememster 2007-2008 will start on December 9th for currently enrolled and new students and end on December 22nd. We accept registeration for children of ages between 4 to 18 years old. We will post more information on this page on how you can register. Although, we want everyone to be included in our classes, but our space and accomodations are limited, and the classes may get full. So please regiser today if you are interested. 

Schedule and Cost: 

The 2007-2008 school year is currently in session. We have tried to acomodate all of our classes on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month, but there were months with too many iterruptions, though we continue to have two terms to keep some continuity while trying to allow more flexibility.

Here is the current time table of classes and their associated costs for 2007-2008 calendar. Please mark your calendars for the special dates and make sure to be there at Darb-e-Mehr.

*  Last da of classes, plan for a longer day including potluck lunch.
** Sibling discount of 20% and scholarships are available.

Parent's Meeting:

Thank you to all of those dedicated parent who attended our first parents meeting on 9/9/2007. The second parents meeting will be on 1/13/2008, the first day of Winter Semester.

Field Trips:

Our field trips have been very popular. They are optional and fun. The following dates are set for getting together as a community for fun activities. More details will follow as we get closer to the dates. For now, mark your calendars for 11/18, 2/24, 5/18, and 5/22.

Remarks:

Thank you for all of your contributions and kind support of our classes. We continue to strive to make these classes a kind and safe place to be Zaratoshti, and to develop a community for our families to connect and “a place to belong to” for our children. One of the most important need of all humans is a sense of belonging. As immigrants are replanted in the new land, and just like a plant, we need to nurture our roots to be healthy and prosperous. These classes are one way to nourish the roots of ourselves, and our children. This helps our children to develop a more solid sense of identity and self-esteem, and for all of us to stay connected to our wonderful traditions and culture.
 
We continue to need everyone’s help in developing and maintaining our community and these classes. The rewards are immeasurable, and the challenges are workable. We have some old challenges and some new ones because of our growth. If you have any input or want to teach a class or contribute in any way, please join in.

To keep running our classes smoothly we need everybody to kindly follow these guidelines:

1. CONTINUE TO MAKE COMING A COMMITMENT! These classes are very important; Children follow our lead in taking this seriously. This is one way to model what are our values as a family;
2. PLEASE BE ON TIME! We meet in the temple for our lovely group prayer. When people come late, it is very disruptive to the group, and it breaks the flow. The child has a harder time adjusting to what is going on;
3. A SAFE PLACE. On the first day in each of the classes we make it a point to come up with an agreement that safety is number one in our community. Everyone’s bodies and feelings needs to be safe. The safety extends to ‘things’ and the animals at Dar-be Mehr as well. Please help keep this consistent for our kids. If you see a problem, please let the teachers know so we can incorporate in our teachings. It makes religion so much more meaningful;
4. A FUN PLACE TO COME HOME TO: Don’t force the kids to come, but some first timers may need more encouragement to try. Once they come, and give it a good try, then they can decide. Kind, but firm boundaries are crucial help children develop in a healthy way. We are committed to making the class a fun place to want to come back to. Please let us know what we can do to help.
   

We are all learning, including the teachers. If something is not working for you, please talk about it so we can make changes if possible. We all are doing the best we can, and have good intentions, but need all of us.

Supervision of Children:

When children are not in class, they need to be supervised by their parents. If you are carpooling, please make sure there is an adult that is keeping an eye on your child, and your child knows to go to if they need help. We are a community and want to have an eye on all of our children at all times. However, Darb-e Mehr is huge, and is not child proof! So for their safety, we need to be more diligent about this.

Fees:

Paying for the classes is another symbolic form of your commitment and support of our classes, and your kids know that you are committed. The fees pay for supplies, help maintaining our precious Darb-e Mehr, and dance teachers (i.e. dance fee).  There are scholarships available. No one should be excluded from our community because of financial reasons. We are all immigrants, and know what it’s like to survive in different parts of our journey. (Please note: It has been the policy that the newly arriving families will not pay any fees for the classes during the first year of immigration while attending our classes. It is one way for our community to extend a welcome.)