PROGRAMS

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All students at the Children’s House are enrolled five days per week. We offer both full and part time enrollment options and before and after school programs.

• Full time is five days per week from 8:30-3:30
• Part time is 5 days per week with students attending 8:30-11:30 two days/week and 8:30-3:30 three days/week.
• Extra afternoons may be added for an additional fee.
• Early Care: 7:30-8:30 available by the day, week or month for an additional fee
• Extended Care: 3:30-5:30 available by the day, week or month for an additional fee
• Summer Camp: available for students currently enrolled or who will be enrolling in the fall and who are at least three years old by June 1. Camp is open 4 weeks in June and July. Campers may enroll for any number of weeks desired, either full time or part time.

The Children’s House does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies and other school administered programs.

CURRICULUM

Our curriculum is based on the philosophy and educational teachings of Maria Montesssori. At The heart of this approach are the beliefs that:

• children are unique learners
• children will best reach their potential by having the freedom to interact in a classroom especially prepared for exploring concrete materials, under the careful guidance of a specially trained teacher.

At the Children’s House our classrooms are designed to facilitate learning in a three year program with children remaining in the same mixed age classroom from age three through the kindergarten year. The school is licensed by the Tennessee Department of Education as a child care center and as a state approved Kindergarten.  Tennessee Department of Education standards are met in our daily classroom activities. 

The Children’s House is affiliated with the American Montessori Society (AMS)
The American Montessori Society is committed to promoting quality Montessori education based on these key concepts (copied here from the AMS website):

• The aim of Montessori education is to foster competent, responsible, adaptive citizens who are lifelong learners and problem solvers.
• Learning occurs in an inquiring, cooperative, nurturing atmosphere. Students increase their own knowledge through self- and teacher-initiated experiences.
• Learning takes place through the senses. Students learn by manipulating materials and interacting with others. These meaningful experiences are precursors to the abstract understanding of ideas.
• The individual is considered as a whole. The physical, emotional, social, aesthetic, spiritual, and cognitive needs and interests are inseparable and equally important.
• Respect and caring attitudes for oneself, others, the environment, and all life are necessary.

A Montessori classroom must have these basic characteristics:

• Teachers educated in the Montessori philosophy and methodology appropriate to the age level they are teaching, who have the ability and dedication to put the key concepts into practice.
• A partnership with the family. The family is considered an integral part of the individual's total development.
• A multi-aged, multi-graded, heterogeneous group of students.
• A diverse set of Montessori materials, activities, and experiences, which are designed to foster physical, intellectual, creative and social independence.
• A schedule that allows large blocks of uninterrupted time to problem solve, to see the interdisciplinary connections of knowledge, and to create new ideas.
• A classroom atmosphere that encourages social interaction for cooperative learning, peer teaching, and emotional development.
  

An exemplary art program is a component of the curriculum at the Children's House. Early art education is valued as a highly effective method in helping children achieve a better understanding of themselves and their world.  Children are offered many opportunities to create art, to look at and talk about art and to become aware of art in their everyday lives.  Children's canvases and framed paintings are displayed in  galleries throughout the building.