Meet Your Teacher!
Inspired by a lack of infant childcare in the area and driven by a love for raising littles.
Hi!! My name is Sandra Squires, I have been watching kids since 1997, and have had my own since 2011. I love to sing, dance, play, get messy and get creative. I am the lucky mom of three kind and intelligent kids; 14, 9, and one and a half years old.
In 2024 we bought a house on the Piney River and I finally had enough space to set up an in home daycare. PSA, don't try to buy a house with a two month old if you can avoid it, but now we have a 5 bedroom house in a quiet neighborhood, with a very large baby safe downstairs. Outside we have just under 6 acres surrounded by farms, and a large fenced in yard with a playground that is getting upgraded this year.
I work hard to create a safe Montessori style preschool environment full of crafts, music, playing, learning, and spending time outside. Expect a lot of books to be read daily, pictures by text or email, age appropriate projects to come home, and kids to be excited about what we learn. I have a clean driving record and offer pick up and drop off if possible, and enjoy taking the kids on field trips occasionally. Our home is peanut free and smoke free.
My Credentials
Red Cross certified lifeguard, including CPR and first aid, since Spring 2020.
Worked as a lifeguard for Lake Monocan with Wintergreen Resort, as well as for Camp Wintergreen. I have both worked alone and as a team keeping people safe in the water. Duties included correctly sizing lifejackets, watching the water and keeping count of patrons or students at all times, making sure rules are followed, checking pool or lake for safety, watching for signs of drowning, and preforming rescues. I also am trained and practiced in first aid such as administering epipens, the Heimlich maneuver, preforming CPR, dealing. with cuts and burns, and more.
Wintergreen Treehouse Ski/Snowboard School Supervisor - Fall 2019 until Spring 2024
When I took over the program I was tasked with restructuring the Treehouse program to be COVID safe. What started as a 40 student program with just 6 instructors has grown to hold140 students and over 40 instructors. I was in charge of teaching instructors how to ski and snowboard, how to teach skiing and snowboarding, creating harmony in a work environment where most instructors were high school and college age, working with Spanish and Portuguese speaking J1 students, creating a fun atmosphere for young students, working with upset parents, finding organization, cleaning, and endlessly working to improve the program. I am a Level 1 PSIA AASI certified snowboard instructor with a Child Specialist Level 1certification.
Homeschool Teacher/Tutor - since 2012
I was able to stay home and homeschool my first in a Montessori style for preschool, she learned all subjects to a fifth grade level by kindergarten. After going back to work in 2017, I continued tutoring both in the same style. Both girls entered elementary school in the gifted TAG program, which both have maintained since. Our classes have always been about discovery, we research interests and I guide the basics. I enjoy teaching math, reading, art,music, history and science.
Art Teacher - since 2006
I became passionate about art around second grade, I had AP I, II, and III art classes in high school, then I went to college for art, pottery specifically. I have received a strong training base in pencil, oil pastels, chalk pastels, photography, acrylic paints, oil paints, watercolors, colored pencil, marker, mixed media, screen printing, pottery, sculpting, and more. I started as a professional photographer after having my first daughter in 2011, and started selling watercolors in 2018. I began teaching alongside my professors during my freshman year of college in 2006 and have taught photography and watercolors to adults since.
Babysitter/Mom - since 1997
I started as a mother’s helper for a two month old baby when I was nine years old, by the time he was three months old I was babysitting alone. Throughout high school I worked as a full time summer nanny. I have continued to watch kids for friends and neighbors ever since. This experience, as well as being a mom, has made me a master at dealing with upset, gassy, and teething babies, headstrong toddlers, and mischievous little kids. I personally breastfeed and cloth diaper, and am happy to work with parents to make their children as comfortable at my home as they would be at theirs.