Learning the ABCs of Preschool Philosophy

The search for a childcare center for Anne Brock’s infant daughter was intense as she neared the end of her maternity leave and prepared to return to work, the local mother told Patch.

After visiting several childcare centers and preschools, she had already put down a deposit at one place and was preparing for her daughter to stay there when she had second thoughts, and quickly changed her mind.

“Safety was my first concern and I was looking for an environment that was stimulating and loving,” Brock said. She decided to look elsewhere. 

“I wanted a place that was safe and secure,” she added. “I’m a nurse so I take care of people all the time… And I wanted them to show that care toward my daughter.”

Brock eventually discovered the on 25th Street for her now 17-month-old daughter McKenzie to attend.

When Brock left her child at childcare for the first time, the 33-year-old mother was reminded of the difficulties in letting go. 

“She did great,” Brock said of her daughter. “I was crying. I was a wreck. It was much harder on me than it was on her.”

Five years ago, Annie Becker was on a similar quest as she used the Internet to help her sift through local childcare choices. 

She also landed at Children’s Journey—or Seasprites as it was known at the time—which is located at the site of the former North Elementary School.

Becker made her decision as she toured the school grounds and noted how the teachers and staff made children feel comfortable, she told Patch. 

“I fell in love with the place,” said Becker, who now has her sons, 6-year-old Nicky and 5-year-old Noah, enrolled at the center and its preschool program.

The hunt for a childcare center, preschool or after-school facility can be an exhaustive and sometimes a frustrating task for families like the Beckers and the Brocks. The decision is one of the most important choices parents will make. 

In pondering their selections, parents will consider the needs of an individual child and the circumstances of a particular family. 

They also will balance a mixture of concerns ranging from educational philosophies and child-rearing beliefs to sheer logistics and financial costs.

And through it all, the fundamental questions remain: What is best for my child? What is doable for the family? 

A Look at the Programs

For many Beach Cities parents, the answers to those questions have not only brought them to the Children’s Journey program here in Hermosa Beach, but also to other childcare programs in the city, such as on Longfellow Avenue and the Starfish developmental activity center on Hermosa Avenue. 

Their quest also has taken them to nearby preschools such as the in Manhattan Beach, a faith-based school that emphasizes, “play is the primary vehicle through which a child’s cognitive, physical, social-emotional and language development occurs.”

Meanwhile others have looked at the Montessori preschools nearby in Manhattan Beach and Rancho Palos Verdes for their teaching methods, as well as similar programs such as the Manhattan Beach Nursery School, which has served as a parent participation cooperative preschool since 1950.

“I encourage parents to look around to different schools,” said Juli Beck, director and CEO of the O.K. Corral Child Care Center. “What may be right for your neighbor’s child may not be right for yours.”

Bringing in Answers

Beck advises parents to look for schools that are certified by the state and, in her case, by the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs. This professional organization promotes excellence in early childhood education, and also accredited Beck’s preschool program, she said.

Beck founded O.K. Corral nearly 19 years ago and now has 26 children a day in her 2-year-old to 5-year-old group, she said. When searching for a preschool, she recommends that parents acquaint themselves with an institution’s philosophy and its attitude toward children.

“I tell them to look at the employees and the staff and the children and see if they’re happy,” she said. “And come a couple of times. Come back on another day and see if they still have that good feeling and how people are then.”

Parents should pay attention to the discipline policy at a given preschool, Beck added.

“Some parents may overlook [the] discipline issue, but listen to the way the staff talks to children. Are the children respected? You can talk to children in a positive way,” she said. “Our discipline is positive reinforcement. We try to tell them not what they cannot do but what they can do.”

Elaine Wikkramatilleke, director of Children’s Journey Learning Center, has similar advice to parents looking for a preschool or childcare center: Talk to people, visit schools and familiarize yourself with a center’s philosophy on child development, academics and socialization, she said.

Wikkramatilleke took over the Seasprites program more than 18 months ago and not only renamed it but also upgraded the facilities, bolstered the curriculum and added activities. 

“We do a developmental program with age-appropriate curriculum,” she said of her center’s philosophy. 

With licenses to handle infant care, toddler and preschool children, the center has 138 children enrolled and also offers extra programs that include sports and athletics as well as after-school activities.

Caretaker Philosophies

On the large campus at Children’s Journey, students are divided by age groups into different rooms and activity sites—ranging from quiet rooms where infants are in cribs cared for by staff to the toddlers’ activity areas or classrooms where teachers like Teresa Larson work with pre-kindergarten students.

In the toddlers age group, “we do a lot of sensory things,” Wikkramatilleke said, pointing to the youngsters. “We do a lot of painting, working with water, learning to take turns, socializing. They’re not used to interacting at this age.”

She pointed to a room of older children. “With older groups, we do theme-based activities, circle time and for Valentine’s Day we talked about love, friendship and sharing,” she said.

In Larson, the center has a veteran teacher with a background in Montessori and other teaching methods. She works with the pre-kindergarten students as they prepare to enter the school system. 

The center has a Kids Club director in Dan Auton, who takes students to the nearby beach and park for field trips and also ferries students between local Hermosa public schools and the center.

“I like doing what we do,” Wikkramatilleke said. “We try to balance the practical side and the academic side in the classrooms and make sure that the safety of our children is also important.”

Unlike Children’s Journey and the O.K. Corral Center, the local Starfish activity center is not formally a preschool, but has programs for young children including those in a pre-kindergarten class. 

Located in a small shopping complex next to a nail salon and restaurants, the center uses rooms that were once a dance and yoga studio but has the open-air feel of being near the beach.

Jody Leventhal founded Starfish six years ago, and now there are 32 students enrolled in the school in the 2-year-old to 5-year-old age group.

“We are intimate enough,” Leventhal said. “Small enough so we are able to have closer interaction with students. We can work with individual children... We have a developmental program that is whole child and language-based,” but one that also incorporates “music, art and creative expressions,” she added.

“We are a Waldorf-inspired program,” Leventhal said, describing “a connection to nature and seasons, which is very fulfilling to children.”

Her program’s philosophy also taps the Emilia-Reggio approach to education and childhood development as part of “a creative interaction between language and academics,” Leventhal said.

Parents of preschool-age children are looking for that balance between academics and socialization in hopes of best preparing their child for kindergarten and beyond, she said.

“I think young parents worry about the bridge from early child play to the academic expectations of public school,” Leventhal said. “We are that transition for children.”