This story is sponsored by Knox County Head Start.
Picking the best education for a child where they will learn, thrive and experience new people and environments can be overwhelming for a parent when it seems like the options are endless.
Head Start makes the decision easy by providing the community with many different programs to enroll in including the Early Head Start and Head Start Home-Based programs.
“The Home-Based program was created to help children and their parents reach their children’s goals,” Home Educator April Duncan said.
This unique program gives parents the opportunity to help their child grow and prepare them for their future years in a classroom. According to Duncan, there are five home educators who help up to 60 pregnant moms, infants, toddlers and preschoolers and their parents with goals they set in their first visit.
“When we go into a home we might ask, What do you want for your child? What would you like your child to learn? What kind of person do you want your child to be? Then we set goals based on those answers,” she said.
A Home Educator visits once a week for an hour and a half, where they will work with the parent and the child to achieve set goals. Socialization events, known as Parent and Child Time, or PAC-Time, are offered twice monthly for enrolled children and families.
Goals can vary depending on the age a parent decides to enroll their child in the program. When Ashley and Nathan Hill enrolled their two daughters in the Home-Based program, they had specific goals for each child they hoped to reach before they attended preschool.
“For both girls, classroom preparation has been our main goal. Not only for them to learn how to count and hold crayons and scissors, but also to learn that there are some other adults they can trust outside of close family members, and, with that, hopefully they’ll learn more easily that there is a level of safety in some places away from home,” Ashley Hill said.
One of the biggest goals Home Educators at Head Start teach families is parents are their child’s first and best teacher. This motto is incorporated in the parents-as-teacher curriculum the Home-Based program uses.
Handouts are given to parents during visits in different areas of development such as nutrition, safety and health. Weekly activities are also a part of sessions to help parents become involved in a child’s learning.
“I didn’t know until we really started receiving more information and resources from the weekly packets the teachers provide that an important goal to have (and a core value of Head Start) is for the parents/caregivers to be the first and most important teachers in their child’s life. Not just to help teach them their ABCs and 123s but to actually teach them how to be a healthy individual, emotionally and physically,” Hill said.
The Head Start Home-Based program recommends applying for the program during pregnancy. After the child is born they can learn and grow with parents and their Home Educator. Knox County Head Start’s home-based options continue through preschool, but children may transfer into a Head Start classroom at age three or once a classroom slot is available.
Knox County Head Start receives federal funding for Head Start and Early Head Start services from the Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. Locally, the program benefits from generous funding support from the Knox County Foundation and the United Way of Knox County.
For more information or to apply for the Home-Based program, visit the website or call (740) 397-2768. KCHS has multiple employment opportunities, including classroom based and one home educator position available. To review open positions and apply for employment, visit https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Knox-County-Head-Start or http://knoxheadstart.org/employment-application/.
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