Machon Hadash
After a year meeting on Zoom, in the woods, and in the courtyard, we anticipate that we will finally be able to return to our classrooms next fall. We are very excited to be together with you, but any child who needs to continue participating virtually can absolutely do so.
You'll find lots of information about our program below. If you have any questions, we'd love to hear from you! Email amy@or-hadash.org
Register now for the 2021-2022 school year!
Come join the fun! All Or Hadash children who are not enrolled in a Jewish Day School participate in Machon Hadash, and we welcome day school students to join us once a week at a reduced rate, too! If you are not a member of Or Hadash but would like to check out our education program, we'd love to have you. Please email the Director of Lifelong Learning, Dr. Amy Robertson, at amy@or-hadash.org
Because the fall holidays begin immediately after Labor Day this year, we will wait to start our formal school year until September 22, the week after Yom Kippur. Here is the full calendar for the school year.
Grades K-2 meet Shabbat mornings, 9:30-12:00
Our young children's program is designed to nurture a sense of belonging at Or Hadash and in the Jewish community more generally. We work with the natural power of a child's curiosity and desire to explore as we tell stories, ask questions, sing songs, spend time outside, and do lots of imaginative play. Our main entry point is Shabbat itself -- the feeling of it, the rituals, the stories, the prayers, and the community. Tuition: $460
Grades 3-6 meet Wednesdays, 5:00-6:45pm, and Saturday mornings, 9:30-12:00
As our children grow, our program grows with them, encouraging their questions and offering stories and teachings that help them navigate their every day life. As we add a second session each week, students learn to read Hebrew, improve their facility with prayer, and learn the fundamentals of Hebrew conversation. Tuition: $1100
Grade 7 meets on Wednesdays only, 5:00-6:45pm
In their last year at our weekly education program, our 7th graders engage Torah in a very different way, each choosing two verses from their own Torah portion for the class to study deeply together, bringing our budding adolescents into an increasingly complex way of engaging the stories they have known from an early age. The last semester of the year is devoted to their own questions -- discovering them, refining them, and searching for answers. Tuition: $750
Day school families: We want Or Hadash to feel like home to all of our children! Day school families are invited and encouraged to join our Shabbat morning learning community. Please email Amy to pro-rate tuition for you if needed.
Fall 2020
Fun, meaningful, and SAFE Jewish learning during our public health crisis
This unprecedented time calls for unprecedented creativity and flexibility, and we are ready for the challenge! Join us this fall for a combination of virtual and outdoor learning opportunities for children.
Given the quickly evolving public health situation, we are thinking and planning in seasonal blocks. For winter -- January through March -- we are offering both in-person/outdoor learning and virtual learning options.
- For early elementary children, K-2, we will offer a virtual option and are building an outdoor, nature-based Jewish learning program that we hope can take place on Shabbat. If this seems unsafe at any point, of course, we will move entirely virtual.
- Our 3-7th graders will each get to choose two elective tracks for Judaics, allowing them to lean into an activity they already love and building Jewish learning into modalities that work well online and in physically spaced environments.
- For 3rd-6th graders, Hebrew learning will take place through a combination of virtual classes and "micro-groups" of 2-3 students, depending on whether a particular child prefers a social learning environment or a tutoring environment.
- Ready for some details for your calendar? The general meeting time for Machon Hadash continues to be Weds afternoon and Shabbat morning. Our windows of time are a little longer than before in order to allow us to create really small, interactive learning groups, but students will have a personalized schedule that includes break times when they can either go to a Zoom club lead by our teens or take a break from screens and come back when their next class starts.
- Wednesdays: Our main program will be running from 4:30pm until about 6:45pm - but don't worry, children do not need to be in class this entire time!
- Everyone joins us for Zoom tefillah at 4:30. At 5:00, I will dismiss virtual students with a direct link into their next activity -- either their chosen Judaics elective or Hebrew tutoring. If they don't have Hebrew or Judaics scheduled at 5:00, they can take a break from screens and come back online when their next class starts.
- Amy, the Director of Lifelong Learning, will be in the main Zoom room the entire time. Any student or parent who is unsure where to go or what to do next can always find her there, and she can link you to wherever you need to be.
- Shabbat mornings: Similarly, our main program will be running from 9:30 until 12:30, but no student will be in a Zoom classroom that entire time.
- Everyone joins us for Zoom tefillah at 9:30. At 10:00, I will dismiss students with a direct link into their next activity -- either their chosen Judaics elective or Hebrew tutoring. If they don't have Hebrew or Judaics scheduled at 10:00, they can take a break from screens and come back online when their next class starts or join a group of Machon Hadash students in the main Shabbat morning.
- Amy, the Director of Lifelong Learning, will be in the main Zoom room the entire time. Any student or parent who is unsure where to go or what to do next can always find her there, and she can link you to wherever you need to be.
- Need more information? Find our FAQs here.
- Wednesdays: Our main program will be running from 4:30pm until about 6:45pm - but don't worry, children do not need to be in class this entire time!
