Our Mission
Our mission is to create an out-of-school experience that inspires curiosity, grows character, and cultivates respect; striving to support each child in becoming a confident and capable young leader of tomorrow.
Our Youth Development Philosophy
Acorn to Oak is far more than a building with play spaces and activity areas. Our facilities and our professionally designed programs are just some of the tools we use to teach basic life values. Learning hands-on skills is secondary to developing interpersonal ones. We believe the best environments for physical, social, and emotional growth require a warm, safe and equitable space, a variety of opportunities, and as many child-centered experiences as possible.
Children learn by doing. At Acorn to Oak, we facilitate the spirit of exploration and independence by encouraging thoughtful individual decision-making. This helps to strengthen self-awareness, responsibility for one's actions, and learning how those actions may also affect others.
We believe that by foreshadowing activities and explaining expectations, we can help children understand why certain rules or boundaries exist, and how they're intended to promote a positive individual and group experience.
Professional Staff
Our youth development professionals are committed to maintaining a fresh and engaging curriculum, focused on our five youth development outcomes. Our dedicated staff is the heart of our program, and what distinguishes us from other child care offerings. Team members are selected based on experience, their love for children, cooperative attitudes, unique talents, and a passion for learning. Each staff member has undergone a background screening, taken CPR and First Aid training, and has completed a minimum of 40 hours of a childcare training course.
All About the Children
Any child aged 5-12 may participate in the Acorn to Oak after school program and be provided with academic enrichment and structured recreational activities, regardless of their school or home-school location. In addition, Acorn to Oak is proud to offer programming for early-release and no-school days, based on the Viroqua Public School Calendar. We'll be planning summer programs as well, with offerings beginning in 2024.
The daily program offers a healthy snack, outdoor play to stretch out legs after the school day, homework help and activities within the 9 content areas set forth by the YoungStar School Age Curricular Framework:
•STEM •Arts & Culture
•Global Learning •Health & Wellness
•Media & Technology •Environmental Learning
•Service Learning •SEL, Character Development
•Language, Literacy, Numeracy
