Sponsored Feature
Discover Southern Hills Early Childhood Program
Southern Hills Early Childhood Program at Southern Hills United Methodist is a faith based pre-school program serving infants through Pre-K and after-schoolers.
The curriculum focuses on developmentally appropriate practices. Each level looks at the stages of life for each age group Infant through prep-k, and it leaves no age group out. From learning about emotions and facial expression at the younger age to being hands-on with science and math in the older group, the curriculum is thoughtful, unique, and specific to the center and its needs. Each age group has a social-emotional learning (SEL) component that is included for all age levels.
Southern Hills Early Childhood Program was originally founded as a daycare just for the church staff children at Southern Hills United Methodist Church. From there, “mother’s day out” programs were offered, and those eventually grew into the early childhood program that exists today.
The future is filled with even more growth and evolution.
One of the co-directors says, “I was surprised the most by the fact that SHECP has been here for decades, but a lot of the families in our Lexington community were unaware that Southern Hills United Methodist Church had an early education program. In the past we were all word of mouth, which is great —but as we move towards the future, we want to build on that. Lexington is one of the fastest growing cities in Kentucky and we want to be right there with it.”
Plans for the future include beginning a part-time program to serve families who only need part-time care, expanding the enrichment program, and building and opening an in-school library.
“Our mission and goal at Southern Hills Early Childhood Program is to create an
environment that is safe, loving, education enriched, and God centered for our Lexington families.
SHECP believes in a hands-on approach to learning, giving children the ability to learn at their own pace. Studies have shown that children between the ages of birth to five years old learn more in that period than they ever will in their entire life. That’s why having a faith-based, hands on curriculum with an SEL component is important to us.
“All of this is built in with our enrichment programs, which we are expanding this year. We will be offering our children enrichment in the form of Music taught by the Director of Music from Southern Hills UMC. We have language arts, math, science, and humanities taught by a Kentucky-licensed teacher. Our children, 2 years old and up, also receive weekly chapel lessons by the Children’s Director of Southern Hills UMC. So needless to say, we are so excited for this school year at SHECP!”
Southern Hills Early childhood Program
2356 Harrodsburg Rd.
Lexington, KY 40503
859-277-1520
www.shecplex.com
This article also appears on page 13 of this year’s Annual Lexington Families Guide.
