Embrace The Change….

As I write this week’s Awakened Academy Blog, it is Christmas Eve in Jackson, MS USA.  Many of us have shopped, cooked, baked, driven, visited, laughed and cried.  It is truly a magical time of year for many reasons; one in particular- “Change”.

The Winter Solstice occurred this year on Thursday, December 21, 2017 at 10:28am (CST) along the Earth’s Northern Hemisphere (which includes Jackson, MS USA).  This yearly event marks a very important change in relation to the Earth and our Sun; the time period of the shortest amount of daylight and, therefore, the longest night of our calendar year.  In other words, each of our days since Thursday, December 21, 2017 have actually been getting longer by several seconds each day.  As the days continue to pass, we will begin to see a reversal…yes, a change:  days will slowly have more hours of daylight while nights will become shorter…ushering in Spring and Summer!

This astronomical event has been occurring since The Great I AM set Creation into motion…since the very Beginning as we are able to conceive it.  How AWESOME is that!  So, I offer this challenge to us all: Since God had no problem with instituting change as an integral part of Creation, why not embrace change in our lives as a welcome sign that God is ultimately in control of ALL.

Yes, change can be difficult for we as humans to navigate in our daily lives; yes, change may catch us off guard at times; yes, change may negatively impact our human emotions (pain, hurt, sorrow, longing…to name just a few).  But in the end, God has so ordered and ordained Creation that “Change is Inevitable”.

So, how are we mere humans to deal with “Change”?  My offering to you and to each of us…Embrace The Change.  Know that Change is God-ordained and that it speaks to God’s Omnipotence.  Know that God’s Faithfulness, God’s Promise, God’s Truth…yes, God’s Love is enough.  Let us purpose ourselves to be still, be silent, be prayerful as we let go and allow The Great I AM to guide us safely through “Change”.

 

Blessings,

Dr. Cedric Buckley, Ph.D., Headmaster, Awakened Academy Early Learning Center

You are doing just great!!!

Photo Credit, PRIDE: Canada’s Daily African Canadian and Caribbean News Magazine

No, you are not a bad parent. Let’s get that out there right now. Many parents worry constantly about what they are, or are not doing for their children. I am one of them; I can totally relate. Yes, there are decisions to be made. Yes, there are repercussions for misguided thinking or misguided actions. Yes, the world constantly judges us relative to the choices we as parents make for our children…for our family.

In the end, the fact is we spend hours of our time doing research, asking advice from seasoned parents, attending seminars when we can, reading and, yes, praying, praying…and praying. Guess what? That speaks volumes to (1) our genuine concern for our children and our family unit and (2) our sincere understanding that we are stewards who have been given charge of some of God’s most precious Creation.

So, let’s purpose ourselves to be less critical of ourselves. Parenting is certainly not easy. But anyone who has been Blessed to be engaged in shaping the minds of our future generations will tell you this: it is one of THE most humbling and rewarding experiences given to us by God.

We honor each of you for taking on this challenge on a daily basis: the good times and the not so good times. In the end, as our children honor us, we shall hear The Omnipotent, The Omniscient, The Omnipresent, The Great I AM speak softly to each of us, saying: “Well done, thy good and faithful servant…well done”.

Blessings,

Dr. Cedric Buckley, Ph.D., Headmaster

Stir up the Gifts!!!

Photo Courtesy of Denver Museum of Nature ans Science

This may come as a news for some; for others, we just never really give it much thought. Our early learners can learn just about ANYTHING. It’s true! Until we tell them they can’t and place boundaries on their innate curiosity, they are completely open to learning and exploring the world around them. We as parents and educators have the awesome responsibility to honor, facilitate and nurture that Divine Curiosity. We are all born with it. God wants us to learn the awesomeness of the Universe.

How do we do that? Start where you and your early learners are. Infants are fascinated by colors, shapes, sounds and textures. You can find items in your home to encourage them to experience these beginnings of a lifetime of openness. For example: a brush, a cotton ball, a feather, water, a small cube of ice, a warm towel, a blinking light, a board full of shapes all having different colors…all of these are awesome items for infants to explore with adult supervision.

Toddlers want to know how things work. They are fascinated by what can be accomplished with Lego^® blocks. Watch from a distance and see what they build. Let them describe it to you in their own words as they are able. This builds confidence within them, connections with you, and gives them incentive and self-esteem to go further.

From age three through five, you can begin introducing the outside world. Bring in leaves and let them explore the differing shapes and colors. Let them ask questions. Help them formulate possible answers (hypothesis building). As it is turning much cooler, now is a perfect time to review seasons. But take it a step further. Ask the questions: why are some days cold and other days warm? How can it be cold and the sun is shining brightly today? Why doesn’t the moon warm us at night? How does water freeze? What causes steam and why is it hotter than boiling water? All of these questions serve as spring boards for a lifetime enjoyment of science and an appreciation of God’s Sovereignty.

So, go ahead parents and guardians. Use what you have around your household and turn them into “teachable moments” for your children. They will love you for it!!!

Blessings,

Dr. Cedric Buckley, Ph.D., Headmaster

 

Change the Paradigm…

This happens to be an extremely difficult time of year for many of our fellow citizens. Families will have to deal with the holidays, perhaps without the physical presence of a loved one who has passed on to Eternal; maybe this will be an especially challenging financial time for others; still others may currently be homeless and having to deal with the bitter Winter’s cold. Whatever the situation, whatever the reason, the hard truth is that this season will not be joyous for everyone. With this stark reality comes a question: what can we do? Well, the simple answer is…be human; recognize the humanity in us all.

Let me put a challenge to you. Let’s set an example for our children by showing them what giving is all about. Let’s set aside some time and take our children with us to do some volunteer work. Let’s talk openly to our older children about poverty and how some of the down-trodden are simply folks who became ill and did not have health insurance. Let’s challenge our home churches, synagogues and mosques to give up festivals and programs this year and, instead, donate the money spent that WOULD have been spent on needy families.

One donation could be to sponsor the tuition of a child here at Awakened Academy-Early Learning Center. We regularly meet with two-parent families and single parent families who work, but still cannot afford quality early childhood education or after school enrichment for their children; and we ALL know how difficult it is to get a child care voucher here in Hinds county…especially if one or both parents are employed!

Gift exchange is a nice gesture. Collecting the money that would have been spent on all the gifts to be exchanged within a family and picking a worthy cause to use that money for is not only a nice gesture, but it will Bless our collective souls long after gifts have become useless, torn, broken, or just plain forgotten.

Love transcends. Let’s show our children Love extends beyond our households.

Blessings,

Dr. Cedric Buckley, Ph.D., Headmaster

Awakened Academy-Early Learning Center

(601) 345-1228

Awakened Academy Early Learning Center’s One Year Anniversary!

Awakened Academy Early Learning Center’s One Year Anniversary! The Best Is Yet To Come!

 

Sapere Aude: Incipe! “DARE TO LEARN: Begin the Journey!”

Awakened Academy-Early Learning Center has experienced tremendous growth and support from the metropolitan Jackson, MS community over our first year in operation. We now have early learners enrolled in each age group: from infants through pre-K5 years of age. We also now house a robust after school enrichment program providing pickup and transport to the Academy from local schools. Our staff has grown as well. We proudly boast full-time lead instructors in each classroom who are fully certified
and very effective classroom educational advocates for our early learners. We continue to seek to enhance our technology; both for our students and parents.

The SmartCare® child care management system has been fully implemented and is an operational success! We are also a Better Business Bureau Accredited Business; the only business in Metrocenter to have obtained this designation. Our parent / guardian support has been amazing! We are blessed to have earned the confidence and trust of each of them. They have also demonstrated the true meaning of collaborative learning and we are most thankful for their continued support of our mission and philosophy.

 

We are accepting enrollment applications! Easy to enroll your early learner online today!

 

Awakened Academy-Early Learning Center has also been blessed to have developed a wonderfully productive partnership with Speech Depot® to offer hearing and language screenings for all of our students free of charge! Speech Depot® also is our exclusive deliverer of on-site speech and language therapy for our students as well as reading literacy program activities. Mrs. Jameka Tenort and her husband, Bryant Tenort have been awesome partners and continue to help us expand our social service offerings at the Academy.

Yet another exciting partnership has been established with MS-BuDS: “Beginnings Determine Success.” Through their offices, we are able to offer enhanced social services to our families, including: increasing public awareness that children from ages birth to 5 can have social, emotional and behavioral challenges, identifying these children early in their development through universal screening, and developing a competent workforce for evaluation and treatment of young children with these challenges. MS-BuDS is a collaborative between the City of Jackson, Mississippi, Families as Allies and Mississippi Families for Kids. With enrollment growth comes growth in staff. We have retained competent lead instructional staff throughout the Academy. They do phenomenal work daily for our students and their families. We could not carry out our mission without their dedication to educating and nurturing our early learners.

As fall ushers in, we at Awakened Academy-Early Learning Center continue to partner and expand as God sees fit, while adhering to our core mission of educating and nurturing to inspire our students to become: “responsible citizens of the world.”

We look forward to new opportunities to enhance our community offerings as well as grow our Academy, all while maintaining our core principles and values. November ushers in bountiful harvests of hard work all year long. It is also a time of putting others’ needs before our own, strengthening ties with family and friends, thankfulness and purposeful reflection, and some serious eating!!!

Our sincere hope and prayer is that each of us take time during the busy weeks ahead to meditate on this past year. Let us give where we can, when we can, how we can. Let us be thankful of life’s dualities: the good and bad; the ups and downs; the successes and failures. In the end, we know that most (if not all) situations are not accidental; and that The Most High continues to make rough places smooth, according to the Will of the Divine. 

 

Enroll online today or schedule a personal tour with Dr. Cedric Buckley, Headmaster! #DareToLearn