Growing Minds
Learning Center
Photo Gallery
WELCOME TO GROWING MINDS
Welcome to Growing Minds Learning Center operated by Mental Health America of Boone County (“MHABC”), where we emphasize outdoor learning through play and discovery in a natural setting. We believe focusing on the outdoors and engaging a child in nature greatly enhances the learning process. At Growing Minds, staff members inherently understand, love and respect children. They work to bring out the best in each child, meet each child’s unique needs and inspire children to learn in different ways.
STATE LICENSING
MHABC and Growing Minds is licensed by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) and is designed to meet or exceed licensing standards. MHABC and the Growing Minds program follows Paths to QUALITY™ – Indiana’s Child Care Quality Rating and Improvement System. For more information on Paths to QUALITY™, please visit https://brighterfuturesindiana.org/.
PROGRAM HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY
Growing Minds is a nondenominational, private early learning program operated by Mental Health America of Boone County (MHABC). MHABC has existed in Lebanon, IN since 1954.
While Growing Minds is a new program, MHABC has been operating in the early learning field since 2016 through the operation of its Young Scholars Preparatory Pre-K program.
Growing Minds’ curriculum follows the Creative Curriculum guidelines and focuses on exploration and experimentation within a play and social environment, with an emphasis on outdoor learning, while integrating the benchmarks of the Indiana Early Learning Standards. Daily activities include facilitated play through learning centers, creative art experiences, music, movement, dramatic play, story time/literature, math & science, gross and fine motor activities and outdoor/indoor gross motor play. At Growing Minds, there is a healthy balance of structured and unstructured activities. Through play and problem solving, children learn basic skills necessary to build their foundations in learning —academically, creatively, socially, physically and emotionally. Growing Minds believes that children grow, experience and learn about the world in different ways and at their own pace. The Growing Minds program serves children 3-5 years of age.
All children are welcome. Enrollment is open to all children without regard to race, religion, gender, or national origin. The curriculum provides experiences that expose children to a variety of cultural experiences that encourage the development of values such as respect for diversity, giving, sharing and learning to be good friends and human beings. The rich learning experiences offered at Growing Minds help children develop the skills and self-confidence necessary for living in a complex, changing world.
Meet Elone Wilson, Center Director
Elone Wilson serves as both the Director of Education and the Center Director for Growing Minds Early Learning Center. She is a graduate of Ball State University where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Early Childhood Education with a concentration in Kindergarten-Primary. She has also earned an Associate of Science degree in Child Development from Andrews University. Elone has worked in the early childhood education field for over 30 years in multiple capacities including as a teacher, mentor, and assistant director. She believes that the first six years are the most influential in a child’s development and that children grow through positive, engaging, and meaningful experiences.