Day-care centers aren't just for napping and storytime anymore.
The Academy at Julington Creek, which promotes healthy eating, active children and high academics, opened on Oct. 13, and just like its students, the staff is learning, growing and beaming with confidence about the new learning institution.
Lucinda Chapin, the owner of the day-care center, said she saw a need for an academic-centric learning center in Julington Creek. After a friend informed her of the plot of land for sale, she decided to take on the challenge.
"I want to give the opportunity for children to be somewhere where learning is fun," she said.
Chapin is also the owner of Children's Lighthouse, a similar center in Jacksonville.
The businesswoman grew up in a household where reading was a top priority; her mother was a reading teacher who taught her phonics early in life.
"Because I had that background, it was important for me to bring it into my business," she said.
Teachers at the center use a combination of different teaching methods, including A Beka, a phonics-based reading system founded in Pensacola, and "Read, Play, Learn," which allows children to learn at their own pace.
Chapin said she chose the best parts of each system and put them together to form the learning style teachers use in the classrooms.
A Beka starts when children are 2 years old, Chapin said. The program facilitates learning and allows the children to learn to read by the time they're 4. She said this increases a child's confidence and gets children ready for success when they enter elementary school.
And a Montessori-type learning environment, in which the learning is child-directed rather than educator-directed, is also practiced at the center.
Teachers also use sign language with babies and include cultural aspects into their lessons, including art and music lessons for all ages.
"Babies are sponges," Chapin said. "That first year of growth is phenomenal."
And the learning continues beyond toddlers.
The Academy at Julington Creek also plays host to an after-school program. Students from Julington Creek and Durbin Creek are bused from school to the center once school concludes for the day.
At the center, the children could have tutoring sessions, have a snack and maybe participate in organized activities, such as dance, in the future.
"We wanted to create somewhere that's kind of an oasis," Chapin said of the center. "And as time goes on, we'll develop a culture and a 'feel' to [the center and its activities]."
For now, all the kids can enjoy the aspects of the center that make it so different from others in the area: a building with the latest green technology, several different playgrounds for different age groups and nearly all-organic meals.
"The center reflects what I would want for my child," Chapin said.
So, the center has nearly 65 children enrolled in its early-learning and after-school programs. Chapin said she hopes to be near 100 by January. When completed, the center could hold about 300 students.
She said also hopes to get the center involved in the community later on. For now, she wants to see the fruits of hard work bloom.
"Children are just like little flowers," she said. "If they are loved and safe and given the chance to learn, they just flourish. I absolutely love that."