On June 17, Gopal’s Garden Homeschool Co-op held its end-of-the-year celebration. “This year we had five full-time students in grades 1, 2 and 3,” said Ruci devi dasi, tutor at Gopal’s Garden. “Next year, we will be expanding. We will have at least nine students, and possibly more.”

Gopal’s Garden will also be expanding its teaching staff for the 2011 – 2012 school year. New Vrindaban will welcome back Lila Suka devi dasi as an additional full-time tutor.

“Lila Suka and I were teachers at New Vrindaban’s former Nandagram School, which had a K standing (a religious school) from the state of West Virginia. And during the last ten years of the school’s existence, we ran it together as co-principals. Nandagram School ceased to function in 1999,” said Ruci. “Although Lila Suka moved to the Pittsburgh area shortly after the school closed, she has always visited New Vrindaban frequently. The parents and children at Gopal’s Garden all know Lila Suka and everyone is excited to have her back.”

Gopal’s Garden is a safe place for children to receive a Krishna conscious education. This year, the students memorized 25 Bhagavad-Gita verses in Sanskrit as well as their English translations.

At the same time, the students receive a well-rounded education in secular subjects including math and geography. Moreover, this past year, the students spent at least one hour each day on reading and another hour on writing. At the end-of-the-year celebration, each student received a spiral-bound book with his or her writing inside. “The students are all now self-published authors,” said Ruci. “They went through all the steps of publication including revising, editing, and formatting their books. It was a vey productive year, and next year is set to be even better.”

An organizational meeting and registration for the 2011 — 2012 school year will take place at the end of July. For more information regarding Gopal’s Garden Homeschool Co-op, please contact story108@juno.com or call 304-845-6840.