Home Preschool in Richton Park, IL
The point of preschool is not to have your child reading by four. It is to send a kid to kindergarten who can sit with a hard task, ask for help with words, and believe they are capable.
Hands-on letters, numbers and sensorial work, not photocopied worksheets.
Younger children learn by watching; older ones consolidate by teaching.
Uninterrupted time to concentrate, which is what builds attention span.
Supervised outings that extend learning beyond the house.
Kindergarten readiness without worksheets
Children work with sandpaper letters, moveable alphabets, number rods and bead chains, all of which put a concept in the hand before it goes in the head. Letter sounds come before letter names. Quantity comes before the numeral.
Alongside the academics we work on the things kindergarten teachers actually ask for: sitting for a group lesson, following a two-step instruction, managing a coat and a backpack, and handling a disagreement without an adult solving it.
Mixed ages are a feature
In a small home group, a three-year-old spends the year watching a five-year-old do things they cannot do yet, and the five-year-old spends the year teaching. Both sides gain from that, and neither happens in a room where every child is the same age.
Field trips and the world outside
Supervised outings extend the classroom. Museums, parks, the library and seasonal trips give children shared experiences to talk, draw and write about when they get back.
Preschool questions parents ask
- Is this a licensed preschool or a daycare?
- Cheerful Moments is a licensed Illinois day care home that runs a Montessori-inspired preschool program for its 3 to 5 year olds. Your child gets the preschool curriculum with full-day childcare hours, which a half-day preschool cannot offer working parents.
- Will my child be ready for kindergarten?
- That is the goal we work backwards from. We focus on letter sounds, number sense, independence and the classroom behaviours that make the first weeks of kindergarten go smoothly.
- Do you do school-year enrollment or year-round?
- Year-round, which is usually the point for working families. Contact us to check current availability.
Other programs
- Infant Care · 6 weeks – 15 months
- Toddler Care · 15 months – 3 years
- Montessori Program · All ages
- Before & After School Care · 5 – 10 years
Where we draw families from
- Matteson, IL · about 5 minutes
- Park Forest, IL · about 8 minutes
- Olympia Fields, IL · about 7 minutes
- University Park, IL · about 8 minutes
- Country Club Hills, IL · about 12 minutes