Enroll Your Child
We’re always accepting applications for early care and education services as well as maintaining an on-going waiting list. Wait times for enrollment vary based on the time of year, the need in the community, and the particular site requested.
We would like to take a minute to share some things to consider when choosing Early Development Services to care for your child.
We respect the children in our care and demonstrate our respect in all our interactions with them. Respecting a child means treating even the youngest of infants as a unique human being not as an object. We do not do things to them, we do things with them. It is not just a matter of being nice but of being constantly aware that all children are sensitive to everything done to them and should not be treated to suit the adults’ agendas.
Our beliefs:
- We value the ability of all children to participate in routines that affect them and their independent activity.
- We value significant, authentic but consciously conducted relationships in which the adults, do not burden the children with their own expectations and the importance of giving this relationship a form suitable to a group care setting. We encourage attachment but not dependency.
- We value the necessity of fostering the child’s awareness of himself and his environment so that the child can grasp as soon as possible and know: who he is, what is happening to him, what he is doing, and what is being done to him, who takes care of him, what kind of environment he is in, what his situation is, and what will happen to him both now and in the future.
There are also some specific house guidelines that we follow:
- Our role is to create an environment in which the child can do all the things the child would do naturally. We do not interrupt when a child is actively involved in play as that is how children learn. When a child is working on a skill, we support them in the acquisition of that skill by being observant and determining what assistance theyneed if any. For example, when a child is learning how to put on their own shoes and they get them on the wrong feet, we encourage their skill by avoiding telling them they are wrong. We will instead ask if their feet are comfortable. If the child is comfortable, we celebrate their success with them. If they are uncomfortable, we facilitate by asking prompting questions such as “What can you do to make your feet more comfortable?”
- We do not force children to share. Trying to get children to share before they have developed the cognitive and emotional ability to do so is not realistic. If we sense that the situation might escalate, we intervene in the smallest way possible. Initially, this may be to move closer in a gentle, peaceful way. We do not try to find out who had the object first or to dictate the result but will keep the child safe through the stages of moral development. If a child takes away a toy from another child and the other child does not protest, the adult does not try to impose her/his values on young children by rescuing or returning the object.
- We believe that children learn more genuinely from open ended experiences facilitated by the entire community of the school than by sit down adult focused directives. In our program, children will interact with other children, adults and a carefully developed environment to create a curriculum that will emphasize the development of the whole child socially, physically, and intellectually.
- We provide sensory based experiences. Our children are provided opportunities daily to play that include water, sand, dirt, paint, glue, and the list goes on and on. These experiences help them grow and master skills emotionally, physically, and creatively. They also provide encounters with math, science, and social studies.
Because we offer these activities, you can expect your child to come home messy!
- We close early the third Wednesday of each month. During this time, we participate in comprehensive in-service trainings to continue to develop our skills. Additionally, EDS is closed for one week between Christmas Eve. and New Year’s.
Thank you for your interest in our program! We look forward to getting to know you and your children!
