Pre-School
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Hampton Christian Pre-School: A Christ-Centered Education

by Marilyn Dayton, Principal Hampton Christian Elementary

In Matthew 19:14 Jesus states, "Suffer the little children to come unto me. Forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of heaven." This belief is illustrated in the life of Amy Carmichael, a famous missionary to India, who prayed a prayer of repentance and confession some time near the age of four. She committed her entire life to reaching out to children and leading them to the Lord.

At Hampton Christian we believe the pre-school ages are prime years for laying a strong spiritual and academic foundation. This first stage of development can be described in a single word-change. There is no period of life in which change is so dramatic.

Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp describes the following changes:

    Physical Changes

    Newborn babies are immobile. They can't move, sit, or walk. Yet in several  months they will be sitting, standing, walking, running, hopping, and manipulating objects.

    Social Changes

The first social relationship for children is with their mothers. Then social relationships widen to include other family members. By age 4 or 5, they will have friends of their own.

Young children develop early language skills. Every experience is a learning experience. Curiosity abounds. Children learn to talk, count, tease, and be humorous. They learn values-what is important.

Spiritual development during the pre-school years may be guided. Children can be taught to know and love God, or their spiritual development may be ignored. Because children are spiritual beings, they either learn to worship and rely on Jesus or they learn to bow before other lesser gods. The most important lesson children can learn during this period of development is that they have been made by God and for His glory and purposes in their lives. These lessons learned early during the pre-school years will yield fruit throughout childhood.

While keeping the above changes in mind, Hampton Christian Pre-School strives to meet the needs of the whole child. Our decisions regarding curriculum, scheduling, and planning are focused to deliver a high quality academic program in a Biblically directed learning environment.

The core of our instructional program is the A Beka curriculum which is an accelerated phonics and math program utilizing concepts based on "brain-based" research. By the end of our 4-year old kindergarten program, most students are reading and comprehending sentences with 3- and 4- letter words and understanding basic concepts of addition and subtraction. Biblical principles are integrated and taught throughout the entire A Beka curriculum.

The success of our program can be verified by examining our national standardized test scores. These scores indicate that our students are consistently achieving well above national norms in academic as well as in Bible content subtests.

Very affordable Day Care services are available for parents who need a before or after school program. For more information or to schedule a tour of our facility, please call (757)838-5635 or (757)838-2355.

Tripp, Tedd. 1995. Shepherding a Child's Heart. Wapwallopen, PA: Shepherd Press.