OHBA | Organic Educators

For Emily, there was no escape.

Preschool was conscription.

Every day that I was in the field with Emily, it was right in front of me.

The adults control, the child agency tangling with each other in the classroom.

The market will go to whatever makes sense to it right usually the reason why a market and an audience or whatever you want to call it won't come to you as a as a vendor or as a service provider or whatever you want to call yourself is because of something you're doing that the market doesn't want or doesn't like otherwise typically they're going to come because there is a lot of mums with little kids That want to go somewhere and do something.

And I know the excuse for that gym owner at the time was, well, in our state, we have early learning things where it's free or heavily subsidized to go to preschool.

said well how about the mummy and me classes because you know a kid who's just learned to walk a one and two year old or maybe you know almost three year old is not going to preschool but that mom desperately probably wants to get out of the house and that kid probably needs to be running around somewhere so looking at opportunities right

i sought them out when my kids were little i was like i've got to have something to go do

But I love that capacity utilization.

Kindergartens.

And we have another term for kindergartens, right? Some people call it preschools, don't they? Preschool, yeah.

Yes.

I mean, technically it's daycare, right? Another term is daycare.

Okay, so we got these two words.

And I checked them up on the dictionary.

Preschool is a nursery school for kids ages 2 to 4.

Okay.

I'm still in touch with the one.

We moved towns when my third kid was in Preschool.

And so we switched preschool and he was in the TK program, the sort of pre-K program last year of preschool.

And we went and this is when kids are sort of starting to read.

In the 1960s, there was a huge amount of hope about the power of education, a belief that school could change a child's future, especially a child from a poor family, and preschool was the new frontier.

There were nursery schools at the time, but they were mostly for middle-class kids, and they were mostly about play.

Preschool was for a different purpose.

Preschool was to prepare kids for school.

Across the country, people were starting experimental preschools.

They became places to test new ideas about teaching and learning.

They have four preschool classrooms in that building too.

And so it's become an early childhood center and it's, almost full at this point, which is really fun to see.

Well, it's really important, right? Because the earlier kids get a firm start in their education and the joy of learning, right?

Yeah.

Today, Disney Junior has launched the latest addition to its lineup of learning-focused programming on Disney+.

So it's a new series called Megan and Cupcake Ready for Preschool.

The show stars Emmy Award-winning producer, puppeteer, ventriloquist, and children's book author Megan Bantus, who you might know her work from Sesame Street, alongside her irresistibly huggable new sidekick, Cupcake.

Together, they will lead kids at home on playful, hands-on adventures designed to help them feel confident, curious, and ready to take on preschool.

The hybrid live action and animated series is an extension of Disney Junior's popular Ready for Preschool shorts, and it's available now on Disney+.

I have so many nieces and nephews, many of whom were really nervous to start preschool, so something like this is really perfect.

I just want a little cupcake.

Recent hi- headlines here in the Ohio Valley and across the nation have, completely understandable, put a lot of parents on high alert when it comes to making these choices.

Joining us now from Creative Learning Childcare and Preschool right here in Saint Clairsville, Jasmine Greene.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Well first of all, don't want to really put you on the spot, but, but as I said opening this conversation with you, recent news stories across the Ohio Valley and across our nation involving young children, teenagers, have put a lot of concern on parents.

Sure.

So with your history with, with Creative Learning s- uh, Childcare and Preschool, what should parents know before trusting somebody with their child? What should they look for?

Well, I think a lot of parents have great instincts, so of course that's always your first to go with.