Skip To Main Content

Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE)

Early Childhood Family Education is a MN State funded educational program for families with children from birth to 5 (not yet in kindergarten). ECFE helps parents support their child's growth and development. Classes are taught by licensed early childhood teachers and licensed parent educators. 

Fall ECFE Registration

We are no longer taking registrations for the Winter/Spring semester. The lottery for early bird registration for fall 2022 classes will take place June 6-17. Lottery placement will be conducted on Monday, June 20. After that time, we will continue to take registrations on a first-come, first-served basis.

Register  View Catalog EARLY LEARNING FALL 2022 CATALOG PDF

Contact

Sharon Griffiths
Enrollment
651-425-7181

sgriffit2@sowashco.org

Beth Quist
Site Coordinator
Liberty Ridge Site 2
651-425-7163

bquist@sowashco.org

Ann Mockenhaupt
Site Coordinator
District Program Center
651-425-6636

amockenh@sowashco.org

Joyce Beaird
Early Learning Family
Services Manager
651-425-6625

jbeaird@sowashco.org

Office Hours:
7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

ECFE Classes and Activities

There are no events to display

Early Learning Blog

Along with the joy of becoming a parent comes a lot of questions about raising a child. It can be hard to find answers and information. Our Early Learning blog can provide the information you seek. Written by one of our own ECFE Licensed Parent Educators, each blog offers insight into child development, parenting strategies, and other important topics that can support parents during their parenting journey. View our extensive blog library of topics as well as our most recent post below:

June has been a big month around my house. My middle daughter graduated from high school, and we are in the midst of preparing for her graduation party. Part of this preparation was to print out pictures of her over the years. Needless to say, this was a project I embraced whole heartedly, printing off over 200 photos. As I looked at all the pictures of my precious girl, I enjoyed watching how she has grown and changed over the years. I also spent time remembering what she was like in each of these different stages. The old adage, “the days are long, but the years are short”, has never felt so true!

The school year has come to an end and summer vacation has started. Many families might be looking for fun ideas to keep their kids busy this summer. Have no fear! South Washington County Schools Early Learning has you covered. Keep reading to learn more about fun, family-friendly activities in our community.

So why am I telling you about my epic soup failure? Failure is part of life. In fact, learning to fail can help kids learn how to be successful. All too often, parents focus on doing everything they can to help their child succeed. Whether it is helping their preschooler complete a craft project, so it looks like the example or bringing their child’s forgotten lunchbox to school or packing their sports equipment, so nothing is forgotten, parents rescue their children from failure.

A lot is said about the negative impacts of screens, technology, and media on children. The reality is these technology and screens aren’t going anywhere. Our children are growing up in a time when technology is literally at the touch of their fingertips. Kids are savvy digital natives. All of this can make it difficult for parents to manage their child’s use of screens, technology, and media. Now I am not suggesting that just because technology is so readily available that we should disregard screen time recommendations. I would like to suggest that instead focusing on screen time, we follow Common Sense Media’s advice and shift our focus to creating a healthy, balanced screen diet. Just like how we want to have balanced meals, we can also create a balanced screen diet.

Parent Resources