In 2005, voters in the state of Florida approved an important amendment, one that provided free access to voluntary pre-kindergarten (VPF) education for all of the state’s 4- and 5-year-olds. The measure allowed the parents of every pre-school aged child to enroll their sons and daughters into either public or private schools or day care centers where they would learn valuable skills including how to identify shapes and colors, write their own names, and recognize patterns and letters. The purpose of providing free VPK for every pre-school aged child in Florida was to give them the foundation for a lifetime
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The state of Florida is making a huge investment in its future and your children are the prime beneficiaries. The state’s Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) program pays the tuition for every 4-year-old participating in a qualified pre-kindergarten school. VPK provides children a top-quality early learning experience at participating private and faith-based child care centers, many public schools, and Head Start sites, as well as licensed family child care homes. LAKE NONA Private School — Give Your Children the Best Florida’s VPK program is completely free to all of the state’s residents, regardless of their income level. Parents can enroll their children
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If you have been paying attention to the world of education and child care, you may have heard references to the STEAM curriculum. No, it has nothing to do with boiling water or evaporation. The STEAM curriculum is the cutting edge education concept that focuses on five distinct elements: Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics. Put them all together and you get STEAM! LAKE NONA — Your Child and STEAM You might think that these subjects would be too advanced for young, preschool-aged children. But, the truth is that exposing children early to these concepts can help create learning habits
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Parents today are busier than ever before. In many households, both parents work or both wear many hats and have many commitments that make their lives hectic. While it’s very important to provide for your family, it’s also important to prepare your children for the future. So, if you already need to put your kids in daycare to accommodate the other necessities of your life, why not enroll them in a day care program that will give them the biggest leg up for the future? And why not take advantage of the state’s VPK program, which entitles every child aged
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There’s a tendency to believe that the STEAM curriculum — which stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics — is highly technical and science-based. While students at The Amazing Explorers Academy certainly do get more exposure to science and analytical thinking than children at many other daycare and early childhood education programs, there is another element powering the STEAM curriculum: Creativity. LAKE NONA Pre-School — The Benefits of Creativity Creativity is an essential part of the Amazing Explorers STEAM-based curriculum. Recent educational studies have found that incorporating play into learning is critical to promoting productive thought. Playing encourages critical thinking
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There’s a lot of talk in education circles about the benefits of a STEM curriculum. But there’s also a lot of discussion about the STEAM curriculum. So what’s the difference? And is one better than the other? Let’s take a closer look. LAKE NONA Private School — What Is STEM? There has been a push in recent years to promote the STEM curriculum, not only in schools but also in preschool, day care and early childhood education. STEM is an acronym that stands for “Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics”. The concept is that introducing children to these ideas at an
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Like many towns in Florida, LAKE NONA began as a tourist destination. But, because it is not located in close proximity to the state’s many beaches, the town’s founders had to develop another way to attract Northerners to their community. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, LAKE NONA was promoted as a resort community to business magnates from the country’s biggest Northeastern cities. LAKE NONA — An Unlikely Early Promoter One of the first people to put LAKE NONA on the map came from one of the unlikeliest of places: The White House. After visiting the sleepy backwater town in
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The new Amazing Explorers Academy location in LAKE NONA will offer local residents the opportunity to provide their children with top-quality day care and pre-school services. Amazing Explorers emphasizes the STEAM (science, technology, engineering arts, and mathematics) curriculum, even among its youngest students. Numerous studies have shown that the younger children are exposed to these subjects, the more retention they have throughout the rest of their academic and professional careers. LAKE NONA Pre-School — Instilling a Love for Science When children are very young, their minds are establishing the patterns they will follow the rest of their lives. So when
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Traditional childhood education usually begins at about age 6, when most children are enrolled in first grade. This is when ideas such as the alphabet and reading are first introduced. But a child’s mind actually starts learning much, much earlier than that. In fact, learning itself actually begins while the child is still in the womb. LAKE NONA Preschool — Early Learning Educators use general milestones for measuring children’s learning progress. For example, when most children are aged 4 to 5, they typically start learning how to substitute words in rhyming patterns, writing letters, pronouncing simple words and developing vocabulary.
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Florida’s Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program, known as VPK, is a free educational program designed to prepare 4-year-old children for kindergarten and beyond. Parents of young children who qualify for the program can enroll their children in either private child care centers or public schools. Parents can also choose from school year or summer programs. In addition, parents of children with special needs have another option outside of the traditional classroom setting. LAKE NONA — Who Qualifies for VPK? Florida was one of the first states in the US to offer free kindergarten to all of the state’s 4-year-olds. The only
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