Welcome to my very first blog for Garland of Grace! It’s been an intense journey to get everything prepared in starting my very first family child care program - it’s not as simple as submitting an application to get licensed, installing a few child resistant locks, and then opening the doors. Coming from a job position where all we did was coach early childhood programs through the quality improvement process (with the goal largely being to reach national accreditation through NAEYC or NAFCC), I find myself checking what my goals will be, what will be in my environment, what my first investments will be in to improve the program, policies, etc… It’s a process - a challenging and rewarding process.
I grew up in a family child care home myself - my mother ran one for many years in the Bay Area, and when I was old enough, I became her assistant. I didn’t know then that my husband and I would take that leap of faith, and that I would find myself starting one as well - one that our own girls (ages 2 & 4) would get to participate in.
I have many lofty goals, but the main part is that I want children to learn to love to learn… did that make sense? Kids ought to love learning. In the first 5 years of life, learning is intrinsic, it’s what drives development - they are MOTIVATED to learn! Yet, more and more, kids are starting off in kindergarten unprepared, and sometimes, this means that children face so many challenges their first year of school that school becomes “hard” and they “aren’t good at it.” This should not be what children are feeling when they start school - they should feel capable, accomplished, talented. Much of this comes from the experiences they have in these early years. So goal number one is offering hands-on, fun learning experiences that are appropriate for each child - appropriate for their age and stage of development.
Every child deserves to have quality experiences early in life that will prepare them for being thriving, caring adults. My hope is that this program offers nothing less than that.
