As a teacher, without a doubt, my favorite age to work with has always been the kids on the road to Kindergarten. This is the most amazing window of opportunity to teach a young mind the skills they will need and use for the rest of their lives. It's not just about ABC's and 123's either. This is the age where every aspect of their development is a work in progress, and they are ready, eager and excited to learn!!
"Experts tell us that 90% of all brain development
occurs by the age of five.
If we don't begin thinking about education in the early years,
our children are at risk of falling behind by the time they start kindergarten."
-Robert L. Ehrlich
As a stay at home mom in Maricopa, AZ I have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of other mommy's on the playgrounds, at the Park, and sometimes just chasing our children around the produce section at Fry's Supermarket. I have met mom's who stay at home, mom's who work from home, and mom's who leave home to work. Mom's who have five kids, mom's who take care of other people's kids and mom's who want more kids. There is one thing we all have in common, we want our children to succeed. We want them to learn, grow and become successful in whatever it is they decide to do with their lives, and we all know that the learning starts to take place far before we can enroll them in Kindergarten.
As someone who has taught preschool aged children since long before I ever had one of my own, I have been asked many questions by these mom's. The most common question always being, "How?"
How do I get my child to sit still long enough to learn?
How do I make learning fun?
How do I even start?
Enter the Fit Kids Clubhouse. Now don't get me wrong, I am aware that there are a few local Preschools and that some have Kindergarten prep programs. I know because most of these programs are full and many parents have their children on waiting lists. This town may still be relatively small, but there are so many young minds running around Maricopa, could there ever be too many options on where to educate them? I didn't think so.
So here we are. Actually we have been here over a year and this Fall we decided we are ready to expand. We have added more days, more hours, and more classroom materials. We are still going to keep our classroom attendance small, with only 5 kids learning at any given time. This makes it easier for each child to receive the attention and guidance they need.
That being said, you may wonder.. why the blog?
The way I see it, the mom's that have asked me questions are the same kind of mom's who want to be a part of the learning process, they just aren't always sure how. So no matter which Preschool you choose, it's still always nice to know what you can do from home. Truth is, teaching always begins at home, and it's up to the parent's to decide what is being learned there.
So if you want to know how to take a couple simple items from your pantry and turn them into a lesson in Math, Science, cause and effect, our five senses, and following directions, we'll be blogging all about it next week when we make our first Fall batch of Pumpkin play-doh.
Wonder how to properly make a learning space at home for your child? See the Clubhouse Classroom, Adventures in Space blog posted earlier this week.
Curious about Preschoolers and Yoga? Coming soon!
Live locally and don't want to miss out on family events like the Clubhouse Fall Carnival? All Clubhouse events will be listed as soon as the times and dates are set.
Have a specific question? Send me an email, post a comment... I promise to blog all about it.
Stay tuned and follow us along on our Clubhouse adventures!
Clubhouse Blogger,
Ms. Liz
