About Us

My name is Melodie Blair. I am the founder and director of Village Learning, a family home child care located in the Renton Highlands. Creating for—and teaching—children is far more than a job for me; I would have to say that it is my life calling. In the greater sense, it is a shared responsibility of parenting, with every parent, for every child.

I hope you enjoy exploring our website as you learn more about us. Remember… each picture can say a thousand words, and there is much writing between the lines. I look forward to answering any questions you may have. Welcome to Village Learning.

Programs

Home Daycare

Mon.-Thurs. 7:00 am-6:00 pm. Fri. 7:00 am-5:30 pm Includes all early learning programs

At Village Learning we create an environment where building relationships is held close to the heart as an important element for happiness in the life of each child. It is of great importance that we offer an environment for our programs where we are surrounded by our own green pastures and the park’s forest. In studies, for both children and adults alike, this environment affects one’s creative thinking skills and is essential in enabling each child to prosper.

Garden Gate Preschool

Mon.-Fri. 9:00 am-12:30 am

Preschool is… school readiness. It’s the very important beginning step that sets the pace for how important your child will feel his or her school time and school work is. For many of you, you’ll be sending your child off for their first school experience. Here is where it all begins, and they are proud and excited with every accomplishment. How we, during our time here and you upon pick up and during your time at home

Creative Arts and Crafts

Included in child care, preschool, and summer camp

At Village Learning, art is available every day. The importance of art as an experience that allows a child to actualize and internalize their experience without interruption, direction, or modeling is essential for their well-being, growth, and development. Art that is self-directed allows the child to bring something into existence (the art experience) through their own creative thinking, bringing greater meaning and depth to the child.

Summer Theme Camp

Our specialty theme camp, enrolled for as a whole

We’ll be welcoming new friends, creating our “signature art” on our custom camp T-shirts, and designing our secret meeting headdresses to wear at the start of each week when we come together for our “pow wow” circle to discuss what adventures lie ahead. This is the time for our meeting of the minds to share wisdom

Payment options

🌳

Casual Drop-off

Pay on a per day basis

$30 Per visit

🌷

Monthly Plan

Unlimited usage

Paid Monthly

$300 Per month

🌻

Yearly Plan

Yearly pass all inclusive

$2000 Per calendar year

Snacks Menu

	Breakfast	Lunch
Monday	Bacon and eggs	Chicken pie
Tuesday	Milk and cereal and fruits	Sausage rolls
Wednesday	Sausage and eggs	Ham sandwich
Thursday	Milk and coco pops	Pasta
Friday	Porridge	Fish and chips

Activities

In our preschool circle time, we:

Open each circle with welcoming songs and affirmations.

Have a weekly sharing time—a very important way to learn to express oneself and speak out in a group.

Memorize songs with finger plays and games that build attention span and memory skills.

Have a strong focus on two numbers each week, beginning with 1 at the start of each year. First, we count objects by 1’s to 30 from the start of each year and rapidly work toward counting to 100 (level two). Second, we count by 10’s to 100 (level two). And then, we use visual aids that correspond with counting numbers through sight recognition.

Work on increasing vocabulary through stories and discussions.

Learn about symbols and their meanings. This helps broaden one’s understanding in not only a more expanded way but it assists in developing relationships within our many cultures, paths, and life’s celebrations without judgment and division. For example, an egg could mean something you could eat or a new life-perhaps many kinds of new life from physical life to a way of being during the spring.

Learn letter recognition by sight with uppercase, lowercase, and phonetic sounds being taught at the same time. Our strong focus is on two letters each week from the start of the school year, while learning the alphabet from the start of the year as a whole.

We also…

Focus on one sight word a week in the beginning of the year and soon build up to two words a week. Sight words are memorized as they do not follow the normal decoding rules and are an important step in reading literacy.

Begin working on sounding out short vowel rhyming words as soon as the children know enough of the alphabet letters and phonetic sounds to put them together. By mid- year or before, we’ve started putting sight words and short vowel words together to build simple sentences (level two).

Learn the days of the week, months of the year, vowels, and more through song.

Learn our right from our left through fun ways such as doing the hokey pokey.

Discuss concepts such as yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Partners

FAQ

What is the age range in your program?

Village Learning accepts children 3 years of age and older. We start preschool mornings with a circle time that offers learning for all ages.

How much does it cost?

Our full-time program includes Garden Gate Preschool. Tuition for full-time child care is $1,690.00 per month.

What are your hours of operation?

Full-time child care is available from 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday – Thursday and 7 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. on Fridays. Preschool program hours are from 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Monday – Friday.

What licensing do you have?

We’re licensed by the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) in the state of Washington.

Why do you work with children?

I would have to say that creating for, and teaching, children is far more than a job for me—it’s my life calling.

Why do you think environment is so important?

Studies have shown that a natural environment affects one’s creative thinking skills and is essential for children (and adults) to grow intellectually, as well as in spirit.

How do you make learning fun?

There is too much to say in a few words! First, we offer an emerging curriculum both indoors and out of doors. Studies have shown this to be the best way of teaching. Our curriculum is both child- led and teacher led while continually being prepared to captivate each child’s attention. Our environment is both play and nature- based offering opportunities in abundance! Each child is met where they are at and assisted in ways that inspire and enhance their life skills, knowledge, interests, talents, and gifts. At Village Learning, most importantly, each child’s learning stems from desire!

Take a tour

I'm super excited to share with you guys a tour of my Daycare space! My daycare has changed my life, I love my job, I love that I get to be home with my girls and still have a great income. I hope this is helpful for anyone looking for layout ideas! Also, I'm still learning how to edit!! There's still hope!

From our carefully planned childcare environment where children can grow in life skills, knowledge, interests, talents and gifts, to our Garden Gate Preschool offering a gateway to expansive learning experiences—we are here to assist the whole child with respect for individuality through each stage of life. We are strong on building relationships with self, each other, the environment, and the world around us – and huge on living with heart! We welcome you to explore our website where you’ll find that children genuinely learn from desire and have an abundance of opportunities to explore, discover, and succeed!