History

Learning Gate, Inc was started in 1983 when I walked on a 5 acre piece of property on North Blvd.  It was an operating daycare but was very rundown with only 30 students.

The property was beautiful, but in need of a major overhaul.  Over the years, Learning Gate grew to over 200 students at two locations.  It had a working farm with horses, farm animals, and a garden.

Children between the ages of 2 and 12 spent time at the farm caring for the animals and the garden.

Instrumental in developing the curriculum and philosophy of LG was my observations of children and teachers.  Children, when given the opportunity and the right environment, will tell you exactly how to teach them. I used the nature as my platform because of the natural human preference to be among living things. There is even a scientific name for it – biophilia.

My philosophy and how the curriculum was developed for LG is based on my belief that the fundamentals of early childhood education and practices used by effective teachers in the pre-k and primary grades is a sound and proven practice.  Even though the content may change, how we learn best and how we keep the love of learning alive in our students does not change.

The original property was sold in 2001 and the day care moved with the charter school (in 2003) to the present property.

Some of the same staff is still with me and my niece Sara Nimon now manages the

center.

Patti Girard

Founder