

Welcome to


Shelley

Director
Shelley has a passion for children that stems from her youth. As a child herself, she
started working with kids and has never looked back. She is particularly drawn to age
1-3 year olds because of their curiosity about the world around them and how eager they are to
learn new things! Shelley understands how important education can be for a child at any stage in their life.
It’s her goal to make sure each child who attends her preschool has an engaging curriculum with plenty of opportunities for exploration and discovery; and to have fun while learning, too.
Shelley has a wealth of experience caring for children. She started working as an assistant in a 2-year old program, and as a caregiver to special needs children when she was just 17 years old. Since then, Shelley moved to the Washington D.C area where she spent 5 ½ years as a professional nanny caring for children 8 weeks - 9 years old, while also working at Kenwood Learn & Play in Maryland. She currently raises her own five children, plus fosters children from the area.
It's not only her extensive knowledge that sets her apart from other child caregivers; it is all the experiences with different age groups, backgrounds, and levels of development, which have helped make her such an adept caregiver.
Shelley is CPR, First Aid, and EMAT certified. She continues to build upon her child development skills through classes yearly while spending time with family and friends.
She loves cooking, reading, hiking, as well as being an active member at church. Shelley enjoys volunteering around her community, and finding ways to get her family involved, too.

Mary Ellen

Teacher

Mary Ellen is excited about working at Freetown Friends School. She's lived in Reston since 2007 and brought her three children to Ms. Shelley's when they were young. Now that they are older it's fun to be around 18 month- 3 year olds again!
Although her background is not in education, Mary Ellen loves being around children and watching the energy and excitement they bring to discovering the world around them.
In her free time Mary Ellen enjoys walking around in the woods with her hound dog, reading, cooking, being a co-leader of her youngest daughter's Girl Scout troop, being part of the middle school PTA, volunteering, watching movies and trying new things.
