Intellichildren of San Marcos

The philosophy of intellichildren is to provide a developmentally appropriate program for young children that fosters the whole child concept respects each child as an individual and stimulates a childs natural interest in and enjoyment of learning.

Our long-term program goals include helping children:

1. To become creative independent thinkers; 2. To feel competent productive and self-reliant as well as fostering good self-esteem and a sense of self worth; 3. To develop a sense of responsibility for their own mental and physical health; 4. To understand that they are a part of a diverse multicultural global community and that their actions influence the quality of that community; 5. To foster the value that many kinds of intelligence linguistic logical/mathematical musical physical spatial and personal are valuable and important to our community; and 6. To encourage the development of higher moral reasoning helping children to develop into adults with an internalized code of ethics and principles.

intellichildrens daily classroom practice and programming objectives will be designed to support the programs philosophy and the established long-term goals. A programs educational philosophy is supported not only through its curriculum but also by the teachers families and parents involved in the program that provides role models for children. It is critical then for parents to choose a program with an educational philosophy that matches and supports their family values and their goals for their child.

We respect and believe in each child as a unique individual with the ability to construct knowledge about themselves others and the world around them through active learning.

We are committed to lower child-to-teacher ratios and smaller class sizes to enable teachers to:

1. Spend more time with each child developing closer teacher-child bonds of affection trust and respect; 2. Assess carefully each childs social emotional cognitive and physical growth and progress to individualize the program accordingly; 3. Work with children in small groups.

The program at intellichildren is based on early childhood theory and accepted practices developed historically within the field of early childhood education by educators and researchers such as Froebel Montessori Piaget Brazelton and White. Each of these and many other theorists and practitioners has contributed to the body or knowledge that early childhood teachers use to guide a young childs growth and development. Jean Piaget for example is recognized as a leader in the field of early childhood education in the research and understanding of a childs cognitive (intellectual) development. Based on his findings we are greatly concerned with the process of learning. From ages two through seven years a child is developing many of the cognitive skills that are critical to the foundation of formal learning. Piagets research documents; that the cognitive stages of development which a child experiences as s/he grows cannot be skipped nor is it possible for the child to speed through them. Most children even at the youngest ages are able to memorize and recite. But memorization and recitation are not the most meaningful learning activities at this stage. Our goal is to help foster the development of a young childs creative thinking skills by giving them meaningful opportunities using play to experiment explore question and discover.