Education From the Cradle: Choosing Quality Childcare

By B.E. Harvey

As a childcare center director with a MA in Early Childhood Education. She has seen both quality and not so quality centers, this short book has been written to help working Parents every where know what she would look for as a professional. There is nothing more scary for a new working parent especially a Mom than to leave her infant in the care of strangers. Ms. Harvey wants to share information which will make the choice easier. She wants parents to know not only what to look for, but also what questions to ask,. what professional jargon is used and what it means. She shares some of her experiences and stories along the way to give parents some deeper ideas of what she means and has seen over the years. Also included are some tips on what parents can do to support the education of their young children.

• Language: English
• Publisher: B.E. Harvey
• Release date: Jun 8, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370408733

B.E. Harvey

Barbara E. Harvey and has been working with kids since she was 13 years old. As an elementary, middle, and high school teacher, babysitter, camp counselor, house parent and mentor to kids she has had many years to perfect her craft. Her combination of education and experience has given her a unique view of children and how they think, feel and believe. She started her teaching career after graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science from Harris-Stowe University in Elementary Education. She obtained her Masters of Arts in May in Early Childhood Education from Oral Roberts University. In July 1995, Harvey was hired to develop the Early Childhood Development Program at Ozarks Technical Community College (OTC) in Springfield, Missouri. This opportunity afforded several honors. She became a part of the Missouri Teachers of Family and Consumer Sciences Board where she was the chairperson of two separate committees from 1995-1997. This Board worked with state legislators and the Missouri Department of Education to help them set and design a policy geared toward working with students on issues that related to family and consumer sciences. Harvey was also the keynote address speaker to the Springfield Home Daycare Association in May 1996 where she discussed professionalism in childcare. This 45 minute speech encouraged Home Child Care Providers to see themselves as professionals who offer a service to parents and their expertise in child care to the children. While at OTC, she was a co-leader of the Business and Technology Academic Advisement Team, she participated in a leadership-training program. This program involved nine faculty members participating in a team building and team facilitation class, which focused on Joiner’s Seven Step method of teambuilding. Upon completion of this class, she was paired with another faculty classmate and became the co-leader of the Business and Humanities Team at OTC. This group focused on helping to streamline processes and to improve the coordination of student advisement. Harvey currently lives in Atlanta, GA where she heads a parent development group called Parents, Teachers, and Advocates. The agency has trained over 3500 parents since 2006. She has been a radio guest and has spoken to a variety of agencies on the importance of parent development.

Book preview

Introduction

I have never met a Mom or Dad who liked the idea of leaving their child in a center. In fact, as a center director I have hugged a crying Mom leaving her baby with us more times than I care to count. It is hard leaving your small, helpless child in the care of strangers. I know this and I have great compassion on the millions of Parents’ who live the reality daily. It is one reason why I wrote this short manual! Let me tell you a story about the main reason.

In 1993 after I left grad school, I got a job at a government installation running their child care center. I was the employee of a Non-Governmental Organization who ran centers all over the country. This company had an extremely high quality of care. I wanted to work with people who were as dedicated to the growth and development of young children as I was. As a director, I spent 40 hours a week working with and supporting staff. While also taking care of center logistics. I also worked between 15-20 hours a month after hours doing things like ordering supplies and payroll kinds of work. A year later the company lost the contract. I applied with the new company. I did not get the job. It was about three years later when one of the staff called me and asked me for a reference. I swung by the center to give it to her. As I entered my heart sank. The center was more than half empty. What was once a bustling center with 145 children and 50 staff members had severely shrunk. I am being generous when I say I saw about 70 children and 15 staff. After giving my former employee her reference. I stepped into the directors’ office. She said, You are Barb Harvey, right? You used to be director, here? I said, Yes, what happened this place seems a little empty. Her reply stunned me then and even now I have tears in my eyes remembering her response. It was this: I was on the original committee who was examining candidates. They gave you a courtesy interview. But, before you even entered the room it was decided they could not hire you. Your standard of care was way too high. Now, let me tell you, what I heard? The company was only willing to do just so much for the children in their care. The results were obvious, the parents had sought out other places for their children.

I do not ever want to see a parent or child end up with a group of people who are only willing to go so far in educating the children in their care. You and your child deserve better. This guide is here to help you avoid centers who are doing just enough.

This book gives you my view into what it means to have quality in early education. I also provide exercises, tips, and information about education in general. This will give you the information you need to help your children to succeed.

Table of Contents

Section 1: Talking about Quality in Childcare

Chapter 1: What is Early Childhood Education?

Chapter 2: Developmentally Appropriate Practices

Chapter 3: Nutrition

Chapter 4: Parent and Community Involvement

Chapter 5: Professional Development

Section 2: School Readiness

Chapter 6: Components of School Readiness

Chapter 7: Pre-skills

Appendix A: Childcare Agencies (by state)

Appendix B: Looking at Lesson Plans

References

About the Author

-Shows curiosity

-Recognizes that things can change forms (liquid, gas, and solid)

-Recognizes colors

-Recognizes textures (Soft, hard, tickle, cold, hot)

-Recognizes taste (sweet, sour, bitter, hot, salty)

-Names animals

Section One:

Talking about Quality Childcare

Chapter One What is Early Childhood Education?

The goal of this Chapter is to look at the first stages of early education. According to the definition of early childhood education, this period of learning extends from birth until 8 years old.

I love this stage of life as a 13-year-old teen I started working with infants in the nursery of the Baptist Church we attended I should have known it was my future! Holding, loving, and caring for young children has been my passion for as long as I can remember. It was not until I went to grad school when I started to appreciate all the science which comes along with it. I will try not to bore you too much but understanding it will help you to get all the information you need to make a great child care decision.

Much of the current research points to the fact that children are growing and changing a lot in their first five years. Many experts say that this is the prime time for children to learn a variety of things. However, what many experts fail to understand is that children are born learners and the first five years need to be dedicated to learning about themselves and their immediate world. A child who lives in China needs to learn Chinese, a child who lives in America needs to learn English. If a child learns information they do not need they often discard it. I am a primary example of this! My parents moved to Germany when I was 18 months old. We did not live on a base. Instead we lived in a German apartment building. I learned both English and German and when we left Germany I spoke both fluently. Well, as fluently as any four-year-old can speak a language. Now? I could not speak German to save my life! That’s simply how the brain works. In this first Chapter, we are going to discuss how early educators help children to learn what they need to understand.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

This Chapter will be challenging for many people. Early education is not the education many of us remember from school. In fact, in order to really understand early childhood, I needed to set aside my degree in Elementary Education.

Here is a startling fact: the difference between a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and Early Childhood Education is 90 semester hours. This means the only coursework they share are the General Education Requirements. BIG DIFFERENCE!!

I often say parenting is the toughest job you will ever love and hate. A big part of hating it includes the choosing of a place to leave your child in the care of another person or group of people. It can be daunting and often overwhelming responsibility. I was working as an intern with a large daycare center in Tulsa when I first encountered this. The center had a large one room play area for the kids to play on cold or rainy days. The room was empty except for my boss and a sobbing woman. Though, I noticed I went on to do what I