Preschool for Simon
One of the preschool classrooms where Simon is now a student.
The Aberi family arrived here from Congo in 2024. The family includes mom, dad, and 10 (!) boys ranging in age from 27 to 5. The youngest, Simon, was only 3 when the family arrived. No one in the family spoke English.
In the initial months after the family arrived, the focus was on helping Dad learn enough English to get a job and to get all the older boys registered in schools. This required FOUR schools to cover the age span of all the boys. It was A LOT for us and the family to manage .
Simon stayed in the background of the “needs” list during the family’s entire first year here. As the months turned into 18 months’ time, and Simon approached age 5, we knew we needed to focus on him and helping him get school-ready. His late-September birthday meant he wouldn’t start kindergarten until age 6. This gave Simon and his family a year to prepare him. In the year’s time, he needed to focus on building his English skills, his ability to leave mom and cooperate age mates in a social setting, follow directions from a teacher, adhere to a schedule, and acquire the building blocks to reading and math.
Simon needed preschool.
The family had $0 dollars to pay for it and no idea what to look for/how to find a preschool. We had to factor in the location constraint. The distance needed to be walkable by Simon and an older sibling or Simon’s mom. It also needed to be a place where his English as a new language would not be viewed as a hindrance, but simply as a fact to navigate.
Daystar Daycare and Preschool on the near East side of Indy is such a place. They have an incredible daycare and preschool that provides a gorgeous outdoor classroom as well as numerous indoor classrooms and play spaces. It is a Level 4 Paths to Quality environment. Simon began attending two days/week in August, thanks to the generosity of one of our Board members who is funding the $248/month it costs to send Simon to school. (The family qualifies as low-income, which meant the center cut its daily rate to the bone — $31/day for Simon to be in an incredibly rich, stimulating, nurturing environment. He is being set up for school success. For comparison’s sake, a family that doesn’t qualify for any subsidy would pay double this amount to attend a comparable preschool.)
Simon LOVES it. His English is coming along lightning fast, and he will be far more prepared to start kindergarten next Fall than he otherwise would have been. His dad jokes that Simon is now correcting DAD’S English.
**All family namesare changed in these blog posts to protect the privacy of the families we serve. We also alter images to disguise faces where needed.