August 17th, 2026
August 17th, 2026
Good afternoon!
As we shift into a new school year and a near area of growth for Creekside Cottage School, we have had some openings on our Board of Directors. We are currently meeting 3-4 times a year. If you are interested in joining our board, please fill out this application!
Academic Highlight
Writing- With our Saplings and Scouts, we use a program called the Institute for Excellence in Writing. We integrate it with what we are learning in History and Science each term as well as with what we are reading with our book studies. It is a very strong writing program that can be adapted to each individual Explorer while giving them a sense of ownership in their own writing. Having used this program for over a decade, I have never seen students fully understand the writing process (especially editing and revising) until being introduced to this program- and once they are introduced and practice it, they feel so much more confident in their writing abilities.
Staff Highlight
We are so excited to share that our new classroom assistant will be Megan Stallard. Megan joined the CCS family last year as a parent and over the year, grew to love what we stand for and how our school operates. We are so excited to bring her skill set to our school. Here is her bio from our website:
Hi, I’m Megan! I am so excited to be joining Creekside Cottage School as an assistant teacher this year. I have always known since 3rd grade that I wanted to be a teacher and I have had the great honor of working with students of all ages. I have been in education in both public and private settings since earning my Bachelor of Music: Music Education in 2007 from Capital University. I went on to earn my Master of Education from Ashland University in 2013. As a CCS parent during the school’s founding year I had the pleasure of watching the school develop and seeing its impact on my own family. Shinichi Suzuki, an educator I greatly admire, once said, “If love is deep, much can be accomplished.” I witness this in how the staff at CCS interact with the explorers every day and I am thrilled to be part of a team with so much heart! When I’m not teaching I love to be with my family, read, drink coffee, and hang out by creeks.
Nature Highlight
Daily nature study can be such a highlight of the day and a good way to take a deep breath during your day. It is as simple as bringing a notebook and pencil outside and observing- followed by drawing or writing about what you see and hear. Returning to the same spot day after day can allow you to become the “expert” of that viewing point and you can really notice the changes that occur throughout the weeks, months, and seasons.
Enrollment Update
We currently have no spots for the 2026-2027 school year. We are fine tuning our enrollment process for the 2027-2028 school year and will start sending out information about it in the fall. If you are interested in that process, please join our waitlist for those specific emails.
Community Update
While there are so many great metroparks around Columbus for hiking, you can go slightly further for even better hiking. Our family lived in Colorado Springs for 5 years and hiking became what we did on the weekend. When we moved back to Ohio, we had to adjust to the level of hiking we had been doing but we have been able to find some great hikes! Currently our favorite places to hike are Hocking Hills (obviously!) and Mohican. We feel like Mohican is a great secret because most Columbus area people go to Hocking Hills- Mohican can be just as beautiful and less crowded at the same time!
