Fairmount Hill Child Care is a licensed home daycare and microschool. We offer quality infant and toddler care with excellent ratios - typically 3 adults for 10 children. We offer preschool starting at 18 months, a dynamic, hands-on pre-k program for 4-year-olds, and we follow a secular, literature-based curriculum for grades K-4, where we dive deep into world culture, history, and science, and offer a wealth of hands-on experiences.
We make learning fun, with plenty of opportunities for free and guided play. Your child will be exposed to music, dance, imaginative play, cross-cultural learning, baby sign language, books, books, and more books! Toddlers enjoy daily sensory learning activities, and special, age-appropriate activities, working hands-on with art, science, cognitive learning, fine motor manipulatives, reading and math readiness.
Our students receive focused instruction in their academics, working up to their full potential in very small groups. But the unique advantage of our microschool environment is the opportunity for group experiences every day during learning activities, free play, art workshops, and collaborative projects designed for students 3 and up, 4 and up, school age, or sometimes truly for the whole school. Rather than learning in isolation, we learn as a tight-knit community. And thanks to our small size, we can tailor our learning deep dives to our students’ interests.
We offer full days, 8am-6pm, half days 8am-1pm or 1pm-6pm, and depending on availability, we can offer a more traditional school day of 8am-3pm, or aftercare 3pm-6pm. Whether you’re in need of full-time, half-time, or even very part-time as you transition back to work, or as you begin to think about offering your young child regular opportunities for socialization, or if you’re looking for ways to expand and enrich your own homeschool experience with your child, we are happy to find a solution that works best for you.
You can download a PDF copy of this handbook here
| Nov. 11 | Veterans Day |
| Nov. 25-27 | Thanksgiving Break |
| Dec. 23-Jan. 3 | Holiday Break |
| Jan. 20 | Martin Luther King Day |
| Feb. 17-21 | Winter Break |
| April 18 | Good Friday |
| April 21-25 | Spring Break |
| May 26 | Memorial Day |
| June 19 | Juneteenth |
| July 4 | Independence Day |
| Aug. 3-7 | Summer Break |
| Sept. 1 | Labor Day |
| Oct. 13 | Indigenous People's Day |
You can download a PDF copy of this sample schedule here
Young infants maintain their own personal schedule and are constantly supervised during nap time for the first six weeks. They move gradually to the infant schedule when they are ready. Diapers are changed when needed, but no less than three times per day. We provide all the diapers, wipes, and formula, unless parents wish to supply their own breast milk.
| 8am | infants are fed as they arrive, then have time to explore the playroom |
| 8:45 | circle time: songs, sign language word of the day, book of the day |
| 9am | free play |
| 9:30 | nap time |
| 11am | diaper change. Lunch time. |
| 11:30 | outside time |
| 12:30 | individualized play and age-appropriate learning activities |
| 1:30 | storytime |
| 1:45 | diaper change. Milk |
| 2pm | nap time |
| 4pm | individualized play and age-appropriate learning activities |
| 5pm | diaper change. Dinner time. |
| 5:30 | free play and clean-up |
| 6pm | end of day |
You can download a PDF copy of this sample schedule here
Young toddlers are encouraged to take a morning nap at 9:30, but drop it generally around 18 months, when they’re ready to join us for morning learning activities. Diapers are changed when needed, but no less than three times per day. We provide all the diapers, wipes, and milk.
| 8am | Arrival and free play, listen to our classical composer of the month |
| 8:45 | circle time: songs, sign language word of the day, book of the day |
| 9am | breakfast |
| 9:30 | toddler library – here we work on fine motor skills, art, science, or cooking projects, and review our book of the day. When feasible, we borrow activity ideas from the book, and eat the foods that appear in the book at meal and snack times as a way of bringing the book to life. |
| 10am | guided learning – gross motor play, dance, imaginative play, etc. |
| 10:30 | diaper change. Outside play |
| 11:30 | free play |
| 12pm | lunch time |
| 12:30 | free play |
| 1pm | sensory learning – painting, water table, bubbles, etc. |
| 1:30 | flash cards, storytime |
| 1:45 | diaper change. Milk for young toddlers. Tooth brushing for all |
| 2pm | nap time |
| 4pm | snack time. At least once a week, we use this time for cultural learning. We learn about one country per month, and at this time we’ll find it on our globe, listen to popular music from the country, read a picture book, watch a short video of kids dancing, play games, eat snacks, etc. |
| 4:30 | guided learning – imaginative play, fine motor, counting activities, sorting, categorizing etc. |
| 5pm | diaper change. Free play |
| 5:30 | clean-up |
| 6pm | end of day |
You can download a PDF copy of this sample schedule here
| 8am | Arrival and free play, listen to our classical composer of the month |
| 8:45 | Circle time: songs, days of the week/months of the year videos or quick video about the country we’re learning about, book of the day |
| 9am | Breakfast outside |
| 9:15 | Big Kid School: kids 3 and up work for 15 minutes on higher level skills such as writing, reading, math, and exploratory learning; we do a deep dive each month on a new topic. |
| 9:30 | Activity Time: we read a selection of books on each of two learning themes, and do tie-in activities such as crafts, cooking, fine-motor and gross-motor work, imaginative play, etc. |
| 10:45 | Bathroom break. Independent learning stations for kids 3 and under. Pre-k/Kindergarten curriculum for kids 4 and up. |
| 11:15 | Brain break: all the kids meet in the playroom for songs and free dancing. Then depending on the weather we may head outside or return to learning stations, and finish up any Kindergarten work before lunch. |
| 12pm | Lunch time and free play outside. |
| 12:30 | Learning games - ABCs for the under 3s, 3YO games, 4YO games |
| 1pm | Electives - at the start of the week, the kids vote on the group activities they’d like in the afternoon. Sensory play, dramatic play, music class, etc. |
| 1:30 | Bathroom break and story time. |
| 1:45 | Tooth brushing for all. |
| 2pm | Nap time. |
| 4pm | Snack time. |
| 4:30 | Guided learning – we have ideas for each age level and choose the activities that fit the group. Kids 4 and up work separately on a more advanced project each day. |
| 5pm | Group activity - one last offering to bring the whole group together. |
| 5:30 | Clean-up. Kindergarten learning expansion activity for kids 4 and up.. |
| 6pm | End of day. |
Fairmount Hill Child Care
272 Fairmount Avenue
Hyde Park, MA 02136
206-702-5345
GurYvmVafgvghgr@tznvy.pbz
fairmounthillchildcare.com
