Teaching for the future: Two centers provide child learning in Frisco

Parents always want to ensure their children have the best education available. This can be difficult with young children when public options aren't available, and private options generally tend to focus more on childcare than a child's learning.

Two Frisco families are hoping to solve this problem, however, with new Children's Lighthouse Learning Centers. The learning centers will provide parents with a place their children can have fun, learn and be monitored.

Parkash and Kiran Arora launched the Children's Lighthouse Learning Center at 10660 Eldorado Parkway in Frisco last month after having considered owning a children's learning facility for years.

"My wife and I, we've wanted to do this for a long time -- wanted to open some kind of educational facility," Parkash said. "My grandfather and father are both in education, so I guess you could say it's in our blood. My grandfather was a high school principal all his life and my father's currently a mathematics professor."

Another Children's Lighthouse Learning Center, owned by Jack and Elyse Guthrie, will be opened on the west side of Frisco early next year.

Both the Aroras and Guthries are parents to school-aged children: the Aroras have an 11-year-old son and the Guthries have a 9-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son. Because of this, they understand the importance of a well-rounded preschool education.

"Kids really need those four-plus years of preschool to prepare for entering the elementary educational system," Jack said. "You can tell right off the bat who had that experience and who hadn't; those kids typically started off really behind the others, and it's a progressing trend."

Children's Lighthouse Learning Centers use an A Beka program, which emphasizes morals and values in addition to education and physical activity. Each facility also has the option to add unique components to its curriculum as well.

"The A Beka curriculum is based on morals and hands-on learning," Elyse explained. "It teaches kids to make good choices at a young age. It also gives us the freedom to add what we want to --the Lighthouse preschools aren't a cookie-cutter model, so we're going to add some things that make our facility unique."

Parkash said studies of children who have been taught using A Beka curriculums have shown academic success over other educational methods.

"Over time, [these principles] have been confirmed by measured success over a lengthy period of time," he said. "It's a proven curriculum; there's direct academic success of individual students that has shown the advantage [of A Beka] over other alternatives."

While the A Beka program provides educational information, it also provides instruction in an additional aspect many programs don't address: socialization skills. Both facilities will help provide children with interactions that are important to a child's development at young ages.

Textbooks and other learning tools are also provided in the A Beka program, just like children will find when they enter elementary school. The amount of learning tools provided is so expansive that Parkash said it leads to an immediate reaction from parents when they first visit the center.

"The classrooms are enormous -- 100 percent of the people that walk in go, 'Wow, these classrooms are big; they're huge!'" he said. "That's because we're trying to make sure we have every educational material available in our classrooms."

In addition to a quality learning environment, both facilities will also provide children with play areas. The Guthries' facility, for instance, will include both indoor and outdoor play areas with a jungle gym, an outdoor splash pad for hot summer days as well as other fun options.

When the Guthries moved to Frisco a year ago, they immediately saw a need for additional child learning facilities. The couple called a number of child learning centers in the city and found that the majority had waiting lists because there wasn't enough room in their facilities. The amount of learning facilities available in the city simply hasn't kept up with its rapid growth, Jack said.

"When we moved here, one of the things that we noticed was there were a lot of kids and not really a sufficient amount of preschools," he said. "There were a lot of daycares, but not a lot of facilities that focused on objective-based learning that prepared kids for elementary school."

The Guthries are still waiting for construction permits from the city of Frisco, but are hoping for a May opening next year. If they can meet this launch date, they'd begin enrollment in January. Once that happens, they have big plans for additional services.

"We're going to incorporate local Frisco businesses," Jack said. "We're going to work with a local taekwondo person to do after-school lessons, for instance, as well as local gymnastics and dance companies for optional after-school programs. Then on weekends we'll provide extended programs and camps, and the facility will be available for birthday parties."

Children's Lighthouse Learning Centers serve children ranging from 6 weeks to 12 years in age and are open from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information on Parkash and Kiran Arora's Children's Lighthouse Learning Center, visit www.childrenslighthousefrisco.com.

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