Heatherbrook Educational Child Care, Fairfax

Welcome to Heatherbrook Educational Child Care, our home-based child care and preschool program in Fairfax, VA! I’m the owner and main caregiver and I have 17 years of experience. I run the daycare with my 2 assistants who have 10 years of combined experience. All of us are CPR & First-aid certified, as well as MAT trained so we can administer medication to all children in our care. In addition to my child care credentials, I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Art and a Child Development Associate's Degree. I'm a passionate provider, and I embark on continuing my education, thus I'm getting my Master's degree. Before opening my own daycare, I worked at another licensed center for a year. I’m certified for School Readiness Program through Fairfax County’s School Readiness Certificate Program. I’m also fully trained to do an assessment by using the Early Learning Guidelines Chart of Domains for infant to pre-K age We are parents like you and we understand your concerns when it comes to finding a safe and loving “second home” for your little one.

Our daycare and preschool is open year-round from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday. We offer full-time care for infants as young as 3 months, as well as toddlers up to 3 years old. We cook fresh, organic and healthy meals and serve them to all kids attending our program (breakfast, lunch, and snacks are all included in the tuition). We created a structured program and follow a specific schedule everyday, then update the parents about the activities we had throughout the day (e.g. sharing pictures with parents, so they do get a glimpse of their child’s day to day activities and play time). If weather permits, we go outside, play and introduce them to different sports such as badminton, soccer, basketball, baseball, catch & throw. We also teach them how to plant seeds, flowers, and vegetables, which they really enjoyed doing.

The children learn our basic rules through, love, patience, and consistency. We follow the Montessori philosophy and use a curriculum appropriate to their age in which we have a weekly theme and activities related to the theme for each day. We also follow the Play-based learning approach. We provide lots of opportunities to play dramatic/open-ended and pretend play. My staff and I are involved in these activities which give us the opportunity to learn about each child's socio-emotional development and problem-solving skills which is key to future learning abilities. Our goal is to keep every child happy first and teach them that learning is fun. In addition, we have extra-curricular activities including Water Play (Summertime), Cooking Classes, Yoga, Dance and Movement, and Subject workshops to develop their learning skills such as Math, Language, Science, Geography, Culture, Sensorial, and Practical Life. We also read one book everyday and we are part of the Fairfax county reading program (a county officer visits our facility once a month to give each child a book). We also use the Creative Curriculum and we incorporated our own activities and crafts. This curriculum focuses on developmental milestones to ensure children are at the tight level when they enter school and our creative activities encourage fine motor skills and coordination. We also use holidays to have theme-based activities and studies. For instance, for Black History month, we did an activity with children where they sit in chairs and pretend that they are getting on the bus. One child getting on the bus is told that they have to sit at the back of the bus or that they can't get on, and then reflect on our history. This is a valuable history lesson for children and we make sure that our students learn that no matter what someone looks like, everyone's heart is the same. Aside from the English language, we teach our students basic Spanish and Hindi, as well as the American Sign Language.

Heatherbrook Educational Child Care is in the Heatherbrook neighborhood in Fairfax, VA. Our home is right off Stringfellow Rd (route 645), near Arrowhead Park and Stringfellow Soccer Park. Your commute to work will be fast and convenient since we have easy access to these major roads: I-66, Fairfax County Pkwy (route 286) and Lee Hwy (US-29). Please call or send us an email through CareLuLu to schedule a visit and get your registration fee waived :)