Growing up in a large family of ten, I have always been around children.  At the age of ten, my mother had me baby-sit my three younger siblings five days a week.  Naturally, I become very good at understanding, comforting, training, and bonding with them.  At a very young age, I had to decipher how to adapt to different situations that may arise when caring for children.  I learned that patience, understanding, and being a good role model were vital to helping raise a harmonious group of kids. When I was fourteen, I moved in with my sister Sara to help her take care of her newborn twin girls and her three-year old son.  I absolutely loved mentoring, training, and spending time with the kids.  Sara and I would share ideas with each other as to what was working well and what we had to improve on when caring for her kids.  More than anything, we always concluded that their well-being and safety was of the utmost importance, followed by eating healthy and kind/firm positive parenting. Sara would always receive compliments on how well-behaved and respectful her kids were.  Naturally, I felt a sense of pride and confidence in contributing to their success.  It was remarkable how simple philosophical adjustments in communicating with children helped them grow mentally, spiritually, and emotionally.   When I started college, I wanted to have a career where I could help develop kids into the best versions of themselves.  I choose Early Childhood Development as my major, and Social Psychology as my minor.  In my mind, I saw myself as a child psychologist. To help subsidize my college tuition and gain more experience, I took a job as a teacher at a daycare where I was responsible for 12 toddlers.  The following year, I started a job as a teacher with Bright Horizon, a world-class childcare center with over 1100 locations.  At BH, I learned crucial teaching concepts, such as the importance of learning through play, the role of social interaction, the benefits of daily routines, independence, and social interaction. One day, a family friend and I were having lunch.  She knew how passionate I was about teaching kids and how excited I would get when they succeeded.  She asked me a question that didn’t fully sync in until later that night:  Why didn’t I open my own childcare academic center? Later that night, Sara and I talked about the benefits of opening up our own childcare center, where we could provide top-tier curriculum but at a fraction of the cost.  Due to state rules and regulations, we knew we had to first start out providing that service at our home, and plan to move into a large center in 2-3 years.  LittleStanford was born!


Core Values:
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‍We have three core philosophies that help dictate and structure our curriculum:
·             Child Safety:
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‍We understand that when parents leave their children at a daycare, their child’s well-being is the top priority in their minds.  We take all necessary precautions in our power to ensure that your child is as safe as possible. Rest assured that your child is in good hands!
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·             Eating Healthy:

‍In today’s hectic society where everything is happening at lightening-fast speed, it is easy for parents to fall into the trap of feeding children fast food or microwave meals.  It’s quick, convenient, and children love the taste.  Unfortunately, it is also very unhealthy as it leads to obesity and other childhood diseases.  We at LittleStanford strive to combat this by making healthy and nutritious meals.  Indubitably, it will take some kids time to get adjusted to eating healthy foods.  But in the long run, there are countless benefits.

·             Vital period of development:

‍According to the Australian Early Development Census, “Evidence tells us that a person’s life successes, health and emotional well-being have their roots in early childhood. We know that if we get it right in the early years, we can expect to see children thrive throughout school and their adult lives. Both nature and nurture (genes and environment) influence children’s development. The quality of a child’s earliest environments and the availability of appropriate experiences at the right stages of development are crucial determinants of the way each child’s brain architecture develops.  Caring and supportive environments that promote optimal early childhood development greatly increase children’s chances of a successful transition to school. This, in turn, promotes children’s chances of achieving better learning outcomes while at school and better education, employment and health after they have finished school.” We like to compare a child’s mind to a sponge, soaking in a tremendous amount of information.  According to “The Absorbent Mind”, it would take sixty years for an adult to achieve what a child achieves in just three years!  We understand that certain parts of the brain will NOT develop without stimulation during this critical period.  We offer immersive age-appropriate learning experiences.
     
Emergent Curriculum:

‍According to neurological research, early years play a key role in a child’s brain development.  Their early experiences deeply affect their future physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development.  Therefore, “optimizing the early years of children’s lives is the best investment we can make as a society in ensuring their future success.  The early years [help] establish the basic architecture and function of the brain.” – J. Fraser Mustard

There are varying schools of thoughts with regards to child development, including B. F. Skinner’s Behavior Theory and Freud’s Psychoanalytical Theory.  But the latest research indicates that Emergent Theory is by far the most superior.

Not surprisingly, our classes heavily rely on Emergent Curriculum, which contends that children don’t necessarily learn what they are taught, but rather “learn as a result of their own doing”.   The theory states that curriculum should be developed “based on the emerging interests of children”.   Here at LittleStanford, children will learn about Science, Technology, Math, and Arts (including reading, writing, and drawing).  

·             Listeningo  
Following simple directions 
Helping vocabulary

·             Speaking  
Social development

·             Reading 
Absorbing information

·             Drawing  
Creativity  
Sensory skills  
Fine motor skills

·             Music  
Investigating the world through sense

·             Math  
Numerical understanding 
Spatial understanding

·             Science 
Exploring early scientific concepts  
Cause and Effect

·             Arto   Creativityo   Exploring senses

·             Physical Activities  
Gross motor skills  
Fine motor skills  
General health

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