The Program

The Children's Center Philosophy

The philosophy at the Children's Center is that the best care comes from a loving, nurturing home, and we try at the Center to duplicate the feeling that comes from a comforting environment. By involving the children in activities much like they do at home, we are helping the children to feel successful in activities that are familiar to them. The number of adults to children at the center offers comfort and one-on-one attention and interaction. There is usually an adult to listen to a child, play with a child, read a story to a child, hold a child, etc. much like there is in a caring home. Just as parents do at home, we also encourage the children to become independent. We encourage the children to work out problems, take chances, try new things, become involved, experiment, etc. We also try to help the children trust themselves and their abilities while they meet the challenges of being part of a group each day.

We do not teach pre-academics or academics in a way that is familiar to most people. Instead we hope to plant the seeds of wonder so that when the children are ready to learn academic skills, they will have the desire. Through positive experiences in which the children are able to feel success, the children will later recall these positive feelings and generalize these feelings to academic skills when their minds and bodies are ready. We hope to be a part of nurturing young, inquisitive minds that question rather then trying to teach rote memorization skills to children too young to understand the meaning of such an activity.

What is an accredited center?

The Children's Center is a state-licensed program that is also accredited by the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs. The Children's Center has been accredited since 1989. We are proud to be re- accredited by NAEYC in the Spring of 2003 for the fifth time. Accreditation is a "voluntary, comprehensive process of internal self-study, with invited external professional review to verify compliance with the Academy's Criteria for High Quality Early Childhood Programs, and a compliance with the criteria" (NAYEC, 1991). The standards for accreditation are more difficult to achieve than the standards for state licensing. Ratios of teachers to children must be lower, group size smaller, educational level of teachers higher, and there is a much greater emphasis on the interactions between the staff, parents, and the children. If parents are interested in reviewing the state standards of the criteria for accreditation, please stop in the office to peruse the materials.