If you’re looking for a daycare center that offers more than mere babysitting– or plunking a child down in front of a TV — look no further than The Learning Experience in Lyndhurst.
Open since early September, the new center, located at 518 Stuyvesant Ave., is focused on “providing children with a quality education, from the beginning,” noted owner Corinne Aulov.
And she means “the beginning.” The Learning Center enrolls children as young as six weeks. Currently, there are eight babies in the nursery, all of them being provided with “a nurturing experience.”
The infants are part of the initial enrollment of 72 children, through age 5. The facility has a capacity of 167, and “we anticipate being full” by this coming September, Aulov noted. In September, too, The Learning Center will be offering kindergarten classes, in conjunction with the Lyndhurst school system, she said.
Aulov, herself the mother of three, left a career in the corporate world of New York to devote herself to early childhood education, and her passion for and commitment to the work is evident.
At present, she has a staff of 10, including the center’s director, Mara Doloroso. “I make it a requirement that they are all certified in early childhood education,” Aulov noted. “I want the school to be on an elite level,” giving the youngsters “a strong foundation.”
The Learning Center, part of a nationwide group of franchises, offers “one of the best curriculums out there,” said Aulov, describing the program as a “structured Montessori type of education.” “We need to get back to the fundamentals,” she said. In many schools, “the basics are not there.” The Learning Center program is designed to give children “that extra foothold.”
In addition to the day-care program, which operates Monday-Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., The Learning Center is planning a “fun and exciting” summer day camp in August. That will be for children ages 2 to 8. If parents take advantage of early registration, by the end of March, there will be a discount, Aulov said.
The Learning Center houses nine classrooms and features two play areas, indoor and outdoor. There’s a strong emphasis on security; the school is “constantly monitored,” with security cameras throughout the building keeping a watchful eye on the little ones, who, are happily playing–and learning–in their “home away from home.”
For more information on The Learning Center in Lyndhurst, call 201-460-0040 weekdays between 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Or visit lyndhurst.tlechildcare.com.
