FAQs

Our pay schedule requires payments to be provided AHEAD of care. Families have 3 options for paying if they are not subsidized:
 

1. For families paying monthly, tuition is due by the 5th of the month
2. For families paying bi-monthly or weekly, payments are due on the Wednesday of the preceding week, and they are LATE if received after drop off on Monday 
3. A late fee of $25 is added for tuition paid after their respective due dates

Tuition covers all meals, supplies and provisions needed for instruction. Field trips are included too. 

There are no requirements for potty training in either our child care or preschool facilities. We work to help children learn to become fully potty-trained. This is not limited to using the toilet, but also prompting that they need to use the restroom, undressing, relieving themselves, cleaning themselves, redressing, and washing their hands. We consider this fully-potty trained as this is the expectation we have for anyone who goes to the restroom.

Meals are included in the monthly tuition. Unless you have dietary restrictions such as all organic foods or vegan/vegetarian, you do not need to provide any food. 

Breakfast (8:30–9am),
AM Snack (10:30–11am),
Lunch (12:30–1p), and
PM Snack (3–3:30pm) are all provided daily.

Our daily schedule looks like this:
8:00am — Arrival of children begins
8:30–9:00am — Breakfast is served
9:00–10:30am — Self-directed activity time and small group activities
10:30–11:00am — Cleanup and restroom breaks
11:00–11:30am — Morning snack and Circle Time
11:30am–1:00pm — Outside time or gross motor activity indoors
1:00pm — Lunch
1:30–3:00pm — Rest/quiet time (teacher led activities for non-sleepers)
3:00pm — Afternoon snack
3:30pm — Self-directed activity time
4:00pm — Parents begin pick-up
5:00pm — End of day

We have rest time daily after lunch. We don't require all children to sleep, but we do expect children to have quiet time. 

You can download and complete our application for enrollment here. Paper copies are also available on site.*

We are closed on the following days:
- MLK Jr. Day
- Presidents Day
- The Last Full Week of March for Spring Break
- Memorial Day
- Juneteenth 
- 4th of July
- The week preceding Labor Day through Labor Day for Summer Break
- Indigenous Peoples Day
- Veterans Day
- Thanksgiving and the following Friday
- 2 week Christmas Break

Holiday closures subject to change based on actual holiday dates. 

Yes. Christ Memorial Church owns the property on which our childcare and preschool are located. Our services to the community are a part of our outreach and our participation within the community. CHILD Inc. and The Sunshine Center are both developed by Christ Memorial Church.

Our curriculum and philosophy are not based on religious theology. Our primary goals are to help children learn to function in a communal society and to prepare them for formal primary education. Within those guidelines, we do teach the children to love one another, to be responsive to the needs of others, and to not have biases against others. With that in mind, we do want them to demonstrate the Love of God, forgiveness, and patience towards one another.  There may be mentions of God, Jesus, conversations about the religious use of Easter and Christmas, but no dogmatic teachings as a major part of our curriculum.

That's ok. We don't expect all families in our care to be religious. However, we do expect families in our care to understand that love, compassion, and a sense of community are a part of our value system at The Sunshine Center. These values are important to our social development and as such will be something that will be demonstrated and expected to be followed. We will NOT tolerate any form of discrimination, abuse, or intolerance in any way.

Our guidance and discipline approach is based on best the best practice approaches primarily using redirection and the establishment of boundaries. Most behavior falls into two categories: mistaken and experimental. 

Mistaken behavior is best described as an unwanted reaction to a situation: hitting if someone grabs a toy they were playing with. We use redirection to let the child know that that is not how we want you to respond to that behavior, this is the preferred response. So we "redirect" their behavior to an appropriate path. 

Experimental behavior is something along the lines of climbing on a table or throwing a ball inside. The child wants to see "what will happen if I do this..." We respond by setting a boundary. "Please don't throw the ball inside." OR "We don't stand on tables inside." In both these instances we are simply telling a child that they have crossed a certain boundary and we reinforce that boundary. 

When behavior falls outside of these areas, our staff convenes to assess the behavior and create strategies to help teach the child more appropriate or "wanted" behavior. Unless the child's behavior is putting them or others in danger, we will try two to three times before involving the parents. We are Early Childhood Professionals and are capable or resolving most issues. However, sometimes parent involvement to create a collaborative approach is necessary to help create a strategy to change behavior. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a lot of conversation regarding this topic. At this time COVID vaccines are not required for children in our care. However, we do require that children in our care be up to date on their immunizations unrelated to COVID. This includes: MMR, Chickenpox, Polio, Hepatitis, DTaP, Hib, and all other immunizations that are common for children under age 6.