General Updates Archives

Before and After School Child Care

June 3, 2016 by Admin 2 Comments

While most child care centers operate during traditional working hours, a lot of childcare needs arise in the evening and after hours too. For many of us, life doesn’t run on a 9 to 5 schedule anymore. Our increasingly 24 hours a day economy requires workers to put in odd hours and overtime. You may work the night shift or have a shift that runs over the strict 5 pm workday cutoff. If you work in the service industry, your hours can vary from season to season, month to month and even day to day. And you need childcare that can accommodate your modern, busy lifestyle. Let’s take a look at how after hours childcare can help you and your family balance your busy life and work needs with you quality after hours child care.

Evening Child Care

After hours child care is designed to help parents care for their children at all hours of the day. Some after hour child care centers offer 24 hour daycare. Others offer extended hours childcare that last long into the night and morning. But the most crucial times for many parents are the hours after normal workday hours, typically around 5pm to midnight. Evening child care is great for parents who have jobs that require them to stay late or work shifts that are non-traditional. A quality evening child care provider will provide the children activities, snack and meals to get them settled into the nighttime hours.

Early Child Care

On the opposite end of the clock, some workdays begin in the wee hours of the morning. If you have to leave for work at an early time, it can be difficult to find someone to watch your child, especially if it is before 6am. That’s where early morning child care comes in. Early child care allows you to get to work on time and ensure that your child is well cared for. A quality early morning child care provider will ensure that your child is rested, nourished and ready for the school day or other activities.

Before and After School Child Care

Before and after school care is a type of extended hours child care for school age children. A before and after school program offers activities, meals and fun for older children. A quality child care center will also provide transportation to and from school for before and after school programs.

After Hours Child Care with Young Scholars Academy

Young Scholars Academy of Colorado Springs offers before and after school programs for children attending public schools. The Young Scholars Academy after school program combines exercise, play and homework time to fully occupy the child’s afternoon. After a day at school, the playground at our daycare provides activities that are fun and stimulating, while helping them develop their large and small muscle groups.

Best of the Springs 2016 Winner!

April 28, 2016 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

Young Scholars Academy
Best of the Springs Winner 2016!

At Young Scholars Academy, we are so thankful that we are able to claim the Gazette’s Best of the Springs 2016 award again this year! (We won in 2015 also!!)

Every year the Gazette takes in nominations from the best restaurant, nail salon, gym, etc. We were not only nominated for the best child care center- we were voted GOLD!

It is so awesome to be able to show all the hard work of our YSA team members and the families that this family-run business is really here for the children and their families, and how we are striving each day to be the best example of quality child care in Colorado Springs!

So again, THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who consistently supports us! We encourage you to go take a look and support the other businesses who’ve won! Check them out here: The Best of The Springs!

Starting Preschool Tips

March 31, 2016 by Young Scholars Academy 1 Comment

For a little one starting preschool, there can be a lot of nerves. In many cases, the first day of preschool is the first time that your little one has been under the supervision of a stranger. This can create separation anxiety.

It can be hard for parents too. Your child’s nerves can induce nerves in you, the parent. You may worry about whether your little one will have separation anxiety, creating a circle of jitters that can be hard to break once started. To help both you and your child deal with the big day, here are some tips for starting preschool.

Get to Know Your Preschool Teacher/Provider

Starting Preschool Tips — Start preschool with smiles, not tears!

Even a little bit of knowledge can help to calm your nerves. This is why it is so important to get to know who is going to be taking care of your children. Make sure you thoroughly research the child care facility your child will be attending. Get to know the staff and ask about their history and training. Most childcare professionals are naturally approachable and would be happy to open up to you. You will be surprised how this can help reduce your concerns.

Now that you are reasonably calm, you can better help your child negotiate any nerves that might come up.

Arrange a Playdate

To help make the first day more familiar for your child, arrange a playdate for your child and another child in the classroom. Even better, enroll your child in a preschool program one of their friends attends.

For children, the playdate exposes them to new children from their class and makes the first day a little more familiar because they already have a buddy –or even a group of buddies- in the class now. This can cut down on the separation anxiety.

Make the whole process fun

Take your child shopping for school supplies and let them pick out a new backpack and their favorite school supplies. While shopping, you can talk to your little one about your first preschool experience and all the fun things they can expect to learn and experience.

Don’t make goodbye too long

This one can be really hard, especially if your little one is upset and bawling as you try to leave on the first day. Your natural instinct is to comfort them. Definitely do this, but don’t drag it out too long. Most children who have fits of tears snap out of it when their parents actually leave. If you stick around too long, you are reinforcing the idea that separation anxiety will only be alleviated by your presence, when the opposite should be the case. And a good childcare provider knows exactly how to get children to calm down by directing their attention to something else.

Starting Preschool at Young Scholars Academy

Young Scholars Academy in Colorado Springs is committed to making the transition for you and your child into preschool life and learning a fun and positive experience. Our professional and caring staff will help your child calm the nerves that can come with such a new experience. Young Scholars Academy encourages parental involvement in all our programs and we welcome you to engage your child’s learning to help ease the anxiety that you both may experience. Come check out our programs and contact us today! We look forward to hearing from you!

Kindergarten Readiness

March 4, 2016 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

Since that precious moment they were born, your child has been soaking up a lot of knowledge. Much of this knowledge isn’t taught in schools. Though we may not think of it in these terms, something as seemingly simple as learning to crawl and then taking those first steps requires both a tremendous amount of biological development and growth and cognitive acquisition.

By the time a your child reaches three years of age, they are likely talking and interacting with the world and others in ways that are going to have profound effects later in life. At around this stage, you may start thinking about the exciting day that they start their first day of kindergarten. But you may have some concerns about kindergarten readiness. Is your child ready for kindergarten? Below we will examine some of the kindergarten readiness indicators.

Is My Child Ready for Kindergarten?

The question can cause many parents anxiety, especially if this is their first child to go kindergarten. There are both social and cognitive benchmarks that indicate kindergarten readiness. The social indicators include the ability to play and interact with other children in an appropriate way, an awareness of sharing and taking turns, handling toys and other materials properly and putting them in their proper place. Other behavior indicators include an understanding of basic safety and asking for help when it is needed.

Cognitive and intellectual indicators of kindergarten readiness include the ability to sustain engagement with an activity and a genuine interest in learning. The ability to follow along with the words of a song, form complete sentences most of the time, and has little difficulty with simple puzzles.

For a detailed list of kindergarten readiness indicators, check out this great kindergarten readiness checklist. It will help you track and document your child’s progress towards that first day of school!

Kindergarten Readiness Programs

Kindergarten Readiness programs are a great way to ensure that any gaps in our child’s readiness are filled. Preschool is a great way to prepare your child for kindergarten. Preschool programs have been shown to give kids the social and intellectual skills they need to have a successful kindergarten experience.

Choosing a preschool is not an easy task and it is important that you ensure that you are enrolling your little scholar in a quality preschool experience. Make sure you consider the things that indicate a quality kindergarten readiness program. Here is an article that can help you to choose a good preschool or kindergarten readiness program.

Kindergarten Readiness Programs at Young Scholars Academy

Young Scholars Academy of Colorado Springs is dedicated to providing quality childcare programs with a focus on kindergarten readiness. With a comprehensive set of daycare and childcare programs for infants to school age children, Young Scholars Academy is the place for all your childcare and early childcare education needs. Come check out our kindergarten readiness programs and contact us today! We look forward to hearing from you!

Benefits of Preschool Education

February 29, 2016 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

Preschool is a unique opportunity for children to learn in ways that they may not ever be able to again. The brain of a preschool age child is at a stage of development where it is structured to quickly adopt new information and utilize it. There is more learning going on in a preschool age child than there is in college students. They are literally absorbing the world around them.

As parents, you want to make sure that you are offering your child the best opportunities for a successful academic future. The first step to giving your children a boost is to enroll them in a quality preschool education program. A quality preschool education program will ignite your child’s curiosity and fuel their life long pursuit of learning. Here’s how:

The Transition: Preschool Education

As the name suggests, “pre” school is supposed to be a training ground for real school. It’s kind of like a bike with training wheels. It has all the parts of a bike. It looks like a bike. But it also has extra supports in case something goes wrong or the rider needs a little balance. Preschool provides the balance and support children need before they are thrown into formal learning.

Without an introduction to formal learning in preschool education, the abrupt beginning of kindergarten can shock and overwhelm a child. Preschool education offers the perfect transition between informal play and formal learning, which will give your child a leg up when they get to kindergarten.

Academic Benefits of Preschool Education

The academic benefits of preschool programs have been well studied and documented. According to a report on the effectiveness of New Mexico’s pre-K initiative released by the National Institute for Early Education Research, four year old participants showed increases in math, early language and literacy skills.

Another study of Oklahoma’s preschool initiative reported that the study results “provide solid support for the benefits that such a program can have on the test scores of young children of differing ethnic and racial groups and from differing socioeconomic backgrounds.” The authors of the study go on to say that “the program appears to have its largest effects on the Letter– Word Identification subtest, which assesses pre-reading abilities; followed by the Spelling subtest, and finally the Applied Problems subtest.” Because of these statistically solid results, the authors conclude that “our research supports the proposition that a universal pre-K program financed by state government and implemented by the public schools can improve pre-reading, prewriting, and pre-numeracy skills for a diverse cross-section of young children.”

Preschool Education at Young Scholars Academy

The preschool programs at Young Scholars Academy in Colorado Springs are both fun and educational! Our goal here at Young Scholars Academy is to challenge the kids but do so in a way that is going to make the most impact (they’re only kids once!) Come check out our preschool program and contact us today! We look forward to hearing from you!