“With the help of a frilly dress, tiara and magic wand, your 3-year-old is transformed into the queen of a magical universe where her hobby horse is a winged unicorn. When you're asked to taste the pink clouds, you agree that they're a lot like bubblegum.” (KidsHealth.org)

The preschool years have also been called the “magic years” of a child’s life. That’s because his or her brain has developed to the degree that amazing stories can be imagined during pretend play — but the child hasn’t yet reached the stage where he or she might wonder if such a story could really happen.

The imagination of preschool children can help them test out scenarios — what would it be like to be a lion? — while also helping them learn problem-solving techniques. This type of play helps kids discover how to handle intense emotions, as well, and more.

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Children can experience fear and anxiety after going to bed or when waking up in the middle of the night. It isn’t unusual, for example, for youngsters to be afraid of the dark in general — or to have a more specific fear, such as a monster lurking beneath the bed. What’s most important is how you respond to these fears and how you reassure your child.

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Overall, early childhood experts consider preschool to be the period of time that starts two years before a child begins kindergarten. Many preschools make 3 the minimum age, with others willing to accept 2-year-old toddlers. So, before you begin preparing your child for preschool, make sure that he or she is—or soon will be—an acceptable age for preschool programs of choice. 

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Phonics is at the very heart of how children learn to read. More specifically, the concept of phonics involves learning how letters have certain sounds — for example that the letter “F” has the sound that starts the word “fish.” Armed with this knowledge, your child can begin to sound out words and start to comprehend the relationship between the written and spoken word.

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The Developmental Assets Profile (DAP) is a widely used survey that assesses the strengths, supports and noncognitive factors essential for young people’s success in school and life.

The DAP is based on Search Institute’s framework of Developmental Assets and grows out of 20 years of research with millions of young people. The Search Institute is a nonprofit organization that studies and aims to strengthen youth success in schools, coalitions, youth and family organizations, and the faith community.

In order to provide the best programs to its school-aged students, Horizon Education Centers uses data from its DAP surveys to create program curriculum and assess our students’ internal strengths and external supports.

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The Sit Together and Read program is now called the STAR Read-Aloud Practices. No matter which name you use, though, this program is helping young children in Ohio to reap the proven benefits of shared book reading.

At a high level, these practices were created for educators and caregivers to help them encourage young children to develop their reading skills. They follow evidence-based reading best practices and are in fact the practices we now follow at Horizon Education Centers.

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It’s natural to want to protect your child, and this is especially true when a traumatic event occurs. This event can be something personal, like the death of a beloved pet, cherished grandparent or relative, or it can be scary news coverage. In either case, it can be challenging to know how to respond, so this post will offer tips to consider.

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As children throughout Ohio head to kindergarten, each of them begins this important school year with different experiences and differing degrees of growth and development in the various aspects of learning and life. To help teachers understand where each of these young children is in their unique learning and social experiences, the state of Ohio has partnered with Maryland to create the Early Learning Assessment.

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As summer break winds down and the school year begins, it’s important to make sure your child is on a good sleep schedule, getting the amount of rest that he or she needs to be productive and focused.

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