Our Mission Statement
Home Away From Home Head Start and Childcare Center is a results-oriented organization that strives to enrich the lives of children and families by providing high quality comprehensive child development services.
About Home Away From Home
Home Away From Home is a non-profit organization governed by a Board of Directors consisting seven community members. We can care for 180 children between the ages of 13 months and five years’ old. Our Childcare center consists of 3 toddler rooms and 8 Head Start classrooms located on two campuses. We also have three well-equipped playgrounds.
Foster Grandparent Program
At Home Away From Home we have three Foster Grandparents, all over the age of 65, who volunteer their time in our classrooms. They receive a stipend from L.B.J.&C. Development Corporation to help offset their expenses.
These Foster Grandparents will work one on one with our special needs children to provide the special attention these children require. They also help supervise children during recreational activities and meals.
Education
Teachers at Home Away From Home follow a daily curriculum. The curriculum consist of things such as Music, Art, Group Time, Science/Sand & Water, Dramatic Play, Health, Mental Health, Multicultural, Disabilities, Fine Motor Skills, and Outdoor Play. Children in our Head Start classrooms follow a pre-kindergarten program in order to prepare them for the demands of school.
Our students are given a Brigance Preschool Screening, testing for learning disabilities that would require special attention. Prekindergarten students are also given the NRS state test in order to evaluate their readiness for school. We honor our students with a graduation ceremony for those children who will be moving on to kindergarten.
Health and Nutrition
Home Away From Home provides free yearly vision and speech screenings to all of our children. Our teachers also do a daily health check on each child to assure the child is symptom free of illness and is able to fully participate in group activities.
Home Away From Home also provides two free nutritious family-style meals a day as well as nutritious morning and afternoon snacks. Our weekly menus have been approved by the Tennessee State Child and Adult Care Food Program Nutrition Specialist.
HAFH Staff & Training
Home Away From Home staff includes 31 full-time employees and 7 part-time employees. Better educational qualifications of staff members are crucial to Home Away From Homes success, therefore, we promote higher education for all teaching staff. A high percentage of our teaching staff have their Child Development Associate Credentials.
- Develop, maintain and improve the quality of professional staff performance at all levels.
- Enable employees to develop career advancement opportunities.
- Utilize the resources of the community to provide training facilities. Home Away from Home encourages all staff to further their education and to go to college if they so desire. To help encourage this, Home Away From Home will make funds available upon class approval.