About Us

IDEAS Children is an innovator in early childhood education and an operator of private preschools. The company’s educational model seeks to transform how children learn and the environment in which they learn. Our mission is to inspire and nurture children to become lifelong learners and to develop skills in creativity, critical thinking, adaptability, as well as to help them become responsible and productive citizens for the future.

Problem

During the first few years of a child’s life, more than one million neural connections form every second, which results in the brain reaching 90% of its adult size by age 5. Despite this extraordinary brain development, many existing pedagogical frameworks overlook the potential for early childhood education. The current educational system is lacking in two ways: Firstly, many existing educational models utilize a teacher-centered classroom that does not awaken curiosity or creativity in children. These systems tend to emphasize care over learning, and children are not given the opportunity to experience, explore, and experiment in their daily learning situations. Secondly, schools are designed in a restrictive way that leaves children learning mostly indoors with limited access to direct daylight. While research has demonstrated that access to outdoor learning significantly benefits a child’s brain development, most schools nonetheless limit outdoor time.

Solution

IDEAS Children’s education approach is based on years of research in educational practice to support our methods. Research has proven that children have multiple intelligences and learn differently. In this regard, our model provides differentiated instruction for all children and a play-based approach that allows students to learn their own way and at their own pace. Second, students tend to learn more quickly and retain information when the subject matter pertains to them, a concept that is called “experiential learning”. Thus, we propose flexible and diversified programs, materials, and tools that enable students to innovate and experiment.

We argue that the school’s spaces should inspire and sustain curiosity and that children significantly benefit from outdoor experiential learning. To that end, we propose a physical design that includes both interior and exterior spaces that honor and celebrate diverse learning experiences.

In pursuit of these goals, IDEAS Children has devised two innovations that have the potential to revolutionize the early educational landscape. The first innovation involves the curriculum of the school, a concept we call “The Studios/Labs.” Students will learn in 10 thematic subject studios that are fully equipped with the appropriate materials, tools, and equipment, based on the subject matter. These studios include the following themes: Science, Art, Technology, Music, Engineering, Language, Lego, Drama, Math, and Cooking. These differentiated learning areas allow children to explore and learn in a variety of modes, including visually, linguistically, technologically, artistically, and kinetically.

Thus, students’ talents and skills will blossom as they are immersed in various settings, projects, and activities. The second innovation involves the school’s cutting-edge architectural and landscape design, a design that is composed to accommodate the perspective of a child. Each studio has two learning areas, one indoor and one outdoor, so students can broaden their indoor learning activities to the outdoors via sliding doors. In addition, this indoor/outdoor design makes nature and sunlight accessible from all areas of the studios.

IDEAS Woodbridge Campus

Address: 14700 Silverdale Drive, Woodbridge, Virginia

Land Size: 4.74 Acres

Facility Size: 14,500 sf, Single Story

Enrollment Capacity: 200 Students Ages 2-1/2 to 6

Project Phase: Site Plan Approval 

Developed by IDEAS Children to reflect the unique pedagogical model and educational approach, the Project will embody the school’s innovative childhood development program and engage with the building’s natural setting. As an active participant in shaping the school’s culture, the building and its spaces will reinforce our approach to learning, enhancing each child’s imagination and curiosity by immersing the children in a dynamic, warm environment that connects seamlessly to the outdoors. 

More broadly, the Project’s design approach seeks to transcend the conventional technical prescription of education facilities in order to produce a school that is durable yet adaptable; affordable yet rich and meaningful over the long term; appropriate in size and scale while maximizing human experience; well-integrated into the ecology of both natural and urban habitats; clear in its construction; efficient in its function; and well-suited to the existing culture and character of its context. . 

As the Woodbridge campus will serve as a prototype for future IDEAS Children’s Centers, we developed a replicable and adaptable approach to the school’s design and construction that can accommodate a wide range of site conditions, urban contexts, climate types, and programmatic configurations. The current design strategy leverages the advantages of prefabricated, mass timber structural components to create rapidly-assembled, high-performance building systems. Aggregated into flexible structural modules, these prefabricated buildings systems address the school’s programmatic needs and create ample opportunities for connecting building interiors to adjacent outdoor spaces.  

Having Children experience outdoor play and learn has been one of IDEAS Children's top goals. The Architecture offers large operable sliding doors, and when whether permits, children can expand their exploration in nature. Adjoining outdoor decking and lawn spaces are provided to allow children to learn in this manner.

In our cooking studio, students will have the opportunity to experience in cooking projects such as making dough; during this process, they will be learning numbers, measurements, chemical reaction and fine motor skills. When the dough is made into cookies, the event of sharing the outcome with other students in a different studio gives them a sense of pride, satisfaction, and care. The learning experience and outcome is multi-faceted. 

Market Size

We believe that there is a large and robust market for early childhood education, which can be broken out into three different tiers. In Tier 1, equates to roughly $500 million spent by families who have preschool children enrolled in child education and developmental center franchises preschool instructional programs. In Tier 2 equates to roughly $2 billion spent by families who have preschool children in child day care programs. These are families who are already investing in programs and thus are likely to be receptive to a more academically enriching program like IDEAS. Finally, in Tier 3 equates to the $11.5B early childhood learning centers market and the $57B day care market. This market is continuing to grow with improving income and employment trends.

Our Team 

IDEAS Children is led by a knowledgeable, successful team composed of educational and development leaders. Our educational leaders are distinguished early childhood experts who help develop and evaluate IDEAS early childhood education curriculum and provide professional training programs. Complementary to our education team is our development team, a group of in-house real estate professionals who lead our development efforts. Co-founder Selina Kong has owned and managed early learning centers for over 20 years, and in that time, has operated school brands ranging from 7 to 70 locations.

Funding Needs

We are at the final site plan submission phase for IDEAS Woodbridge campus. We are seeking $100,000 to finalize our design process. Please come support us to make our vision into a reality.