Rose Rock School began as The Purple House in 2007 in the home of Shanah Ahmadi. Recently enrolled in the LifeWays North America Early Childhood Training, she found the principles and practices of their approach to greatly resonate with her own observations and instincts that:
- Childcare programs can closely resemble a warm family setting.
- Children benefit from forming strong bonds with consistent caregivers.
- Children are best prepared for academic schooling by creating an environment and daily rhythm that inspires a sense of wonder and protects unstructured play and freedom of movement that is essential for optimal brain development.
As the only LifeWays oriented childcare available in Oklahoma at the time, The Purple House sought to provide an alternative to the institutional environment of many childcare facilities. The goal was to create a comforting atmosphere providing many natural opportunities for learning. Some of the basic tenets included daily interaction with the natural world, meals prepared with whole organic foods, and the inclusion of the children in the daily tasks of gardening, meal preparation, and care for their learning space.
The following several years were a time of tremendous growth and expansion due to the increasing desire and work of the community surrounding The Purple House. A Kindergarten building was added to the property, and the business was incorporated into a non-profit organization, Rose Rock School, with a board of enthusiastic parents and teachers envisioning the next phase of the school and assisting with outreach and fundraising.
In January 2012, Rose Rock School purchased 1515 W. Main Street, a large house on four acres of land in the center of Norman. Dedication of the school community and neighbors shone through with a collaborated effort to fund and work towards rezoning. A teacher came to live at Rose Rock School with her family in 2013, where she cared for a small number of children, as rezoning came to a close and construction commenced. When the school combined both locations under one roof in Spring 2015, the faculty and staff continued to grow to include three more teachers and two cooks.
In 2020, we were pleased to announce the start of our Grade School, beginning with Grades 1-3. We continue to add grades, teachers, and families to our program, and we are eager to include all of those who wish to join.
