A Problem in Need of a Solution
As we raised our family we recognized from our personal experience that bilingual skills had opened doors to career opportunities and rich cultural experiences. In 2006 we began looking for an effective solution for our own children and, much to our frustration, found nothing available that would develop a bilingual student. As parents we felt compelled to equip our children with the capacity to thrive in a world getting smaller every day. Ultimately what we wanted was a program that prepared our kids to read, write, listen and speak in a second language.
2006-Garage Startup
Finding nothing that met our requirements of a well rounded yet fun and engaging language program Ruth decided to offer free Spanish lessons to the kids in our neighborhood under the guise of a “play-date”. She literally took a side walk chalk to our driveway and wrote” Free Spanish Lessons this Summer, MWF”. Much to our delight about a dozen kids and parents showed up regularly and enjoyed the experience of learning while having fun.
2007-Oakhills Elementary School
With one year of garage instruction behind us and a need to scale the learning to our students’ needs we pursued the topic with the local elementary school principal, Brent Cushenbury, to see if we could offer the language on campus. Brent suggested that we design a program that would allow kids to grow from year to year starting in Kinder and offer it to all elementary grades. We opened our first class for 1st graders before school successfully and have since added multiple classes before and after school for grades 1-6.
2008-Sierra Elementary School
After a successful year at Oakhills, we discovered an opportunity to offer “Sombrero Time” to a school in Rocklin, Sierra Elementary School. Karen Huffines, principal at Sierra, has been a great partner of our program and immersion philosophy. We promoted the program and quickly opened a morning class for 1st-3rd grade. Going forward we plan to open an afternoon class as well in the fall for the 4-6 graders.
2009-Two Big Projects
Granite Bay Language Education Facility Opens
This September we are excited to announce the opening of our first educational center here in the heart of Granite Bay. We will move the Oakhills/Ridgeview classes to the facility which is conveniently located on the bus line and about 1 mile from the schools. We look forward to showcasing a beautiful 1800 square foot center with two classrooms, a conference room and reception area. This will allow us to continue development of programs to serve the community. “Mommy and Me” classes for preschoolers, kindergarten, and adult classes are in the works. Our plans also include tutoring and internship opportunities for Jr. High and High School students.
Loomis Basin Charter School
Over the course several months during the summer of 2009 we had the opportunity to work with the administration at the Loomis Basin School District. A very forward thinking group, one of their educational goals has been to provide language immersion internal to the teaching day for all grades. While the school had been working towards this goal establishing a program they had difficulty gaining tracktion. They sited lack of quality curriculum, resources and well a clear path of progression as major issues. It was clear that after several discussions that not only were our philosophies were well aligned but that our services would. Loomis was seeking effective language programming and we had a solution. Out of these discussions was born a partnership with a goal to offer language learning to all students.
Already underway as of this fall, the Loomis Basin Charter School is piloting Sombrero Time. Our teachers deliver the Sombrero Time curriculum via our instructional method four days per week to Kinder-5th grades. All instruction is delivered in immersion and internal to the teaching day.
2010-Our Customer Base grows
Brighton Schools
Looking for a partner to solve a need for a quality language program we were approached by Christa Green, COO at Brighton during the summer of 2010. Brighton has been operating three privately owned schools since 1992 serving the Granite Bay and Folsom areas. Brighton specializes in infant, toddler, preschool, pre-kindergarten, school age, before and after school care. They also offer private elementary education from Kindergarten through the fourth grade. As of last September, Sombrero Time trained instructors began providing Immersive Spanish to Brighton students four days per week during the 2010/11 school year. We are proud to partner with this well established education icon.
Granite Bay Montessori School
For the past 19 years Granite Bay Montessori has offered a unique journey from Preschool to High School readiness for young learners. Their unique approach gives children the opportunity to achieve their fullest potential. The staff at GBM heard about Sombrero Time from several parents with students in our private program. After a series of observations and meetings it was clear that our immersion methodology would meet their high educational standards. We could not be more pleased to be working with this great group of dedicated educators.
Loomis Union School District
After launching a successful year of immersive Spanish instruction at the Loomis Basin Charter School we were asked by Paul Johnson, Superintendent of schools for Loomis Union School District to help them develop an after school Spanish instruction program for their primary grade schools. This progressive and student focused district is doing a great job of planning and thinking forward in terms of language, technology and the impact of globalism and the skills our students will need in the future.As you can image we were excited at the opportunity to further our partnership. As of September 2010 Sombrero Time instructors started providing our unique method of training students to speak, read, write and think in Spanish.
2011-Curriculum Publishing Project and iPad App Development
You might think that will all the growth sustained to date we might sit back and cruz for a while. NO WAY! Following our vision to help kids do the extraordinary through second language development we decided to publish our first two levels of curriculum and offer it commercially to schools. This product would mark our first in a line of resources to help teachers and administrators build a quality language program. Everything from class room resources such as flash cards, calendar systems to instructor training and development programs is in the works. And, even more exciting is the development of our first iPad Application! A great marriage between our instructional methodology wrapped in an engaging gaming shell. Look for this unique way to learn Spanish to be released on the Apple App Store this summer.