Seton Ridge Children's Center

We fundamentally believe that children are entitled to a childhood that is rich in wonder and discovery. That is after all what childhood is for! Never again in life will a bug a tar bubble a blob of paint on paper be the source of such profound fascination and endless possibility.

At Seton Ridge Children’s Center we respect the child’s right to be exactly who he or she is at exactly this moment in time -with all the limits and possibilities his or her age and developmental level impose and anticipate. We try not to make sweeping generalizations about the “shoulds” and “can’ts”; we look instead at the little individuals we have in front of us and set about opening doors.

These early childhood years are ones in which the world is being absorbed through every pore. Everything is new and so we provide as many experiences as possible in which children can discover test re-invent and reconstruct their knowledge until they own it. These are the experiences that reading math science -all the traditional Academic skills -will build upon as a foundation. But first children must glob pour line up smush sing dance invent —and do it all again.

In early childhood experience is the teacher; the process hardly ever the product is what has meaning. “How does it work??” is the question. (And they will find 10 different ways to answer it if we let them.) Within reason they must be allowed to try things they think up (they’re testing a hypothesis) and have "stuff’ in sufficient quantities to really see how it works. Activities need to be open-ended allowing for all sorts of possibilities and facilitated by a skillful teacher who knows how to ask the right question or get out the right stepping stone. (These are principles of famous educators and psychologists such as Piaget Gardner Fraiberg Katz . . . and are the fundamentals of a developmentally appropriate curriculum.)

Our children are learning how to take risks and learning to trust themselves (they are becoming competent.) They are learning about responsibility (clean-up is after all part of the process.) They are learning conversation negotiation storytelling and making needs known: they are learning the power of the word. (They will want to read.) They are learning about more and less and big and small and too much and not enough and how many. They are learning that if you leave that flour and water mixture on that table too long in the sun why you’ve invented cement!

Pure academic skills will come in their own time and there will be a lifetime of “school” in which to learn them. But to learn to expect wonder around every corner and stars upon which to swing— that is something only a little child can do.

We are after all acquainted with a parrot who can say it’s A B C’s.