HELENA — Child care continues to be a challenge for many Montana families. In Helena, a new preschool program through ExplorationWorks aims to help families.
Like many Montana parents, the Gollehon family has had difficulty finding child care.
“I mean good child care that’s cost-effective, right,” explained Brian Gollehon. “It’s been a really big challenge in finding places that will take all of our kids right. It’s been extremely challenging.”
“I think too just finding places that you trust where you can leave your kids all day long. I mean no one wants to leave their kids all day long but some of us have to,” added Melissa Gollehon.
According to data from the State of Montana, childcare programs in Montana meet less than 45% of the state’s demand for childcare needs.
That’s where ExplorationWorks comes in, with their new preschool “WonderLab.” A first of its kind for them, it was created after asking ExporationWorks patrons what they needed and wanted to see from them.
“ExplorationWorks just really saw kind of the need for quality childcare and preschool,” explained Wonderlabs Director Shannon Thomas. “And this was a way we felt we could kind of fill that need with a quality program focusing once again on that STEM and the knowledge here. That’s why we started.”
Wonderlab will enroll a maximum of 24 kids, with an eight-to-one student-to-teacher ratio. Some ExplorationWorks staff moved positions to make the new program possible, and they’re utilizing all of their staff members' experience in teaching to enrich opportunities for the students.
An experienced educator, Thomas says the foundations learned at preschool age for children can be key to future success.
“It just prepares kids so well for moving forward into any other type of class, any other type of school,” Thomas said. “If they have that foundation, they can learn. Starting with that wonder, starting with that asking questions, we really want to encourage that in kids.”
The Gollehon’s son gave me a tour of Wonderlab, excitedly showing and demonstrating all the preschool program offers a kid like him.
Melissa and Brian have noticed a big difference in their kids since they’ve been enrolled.
“They’ll come back to the house and we ask ‘How’s your day?’ and we’ve never heard this ‘Great!’” said Brian.
“Or ‘Awesome!’” added Melissa.
“We’ve never heard that from a daycare,” Brian noted. “They’d be like ‘Oh, it’s okay’ or someone got hit with a banana peel or something like that, but when they come home from this place they say it’s great and to us that is a huge step.”
The child care challenges in Montana aren’t going to be resolved overnight, but new programs like WonderLab will help, providing much-needed support for families like the Gollehons.
As of airing this story, there are openings still available for WonderLab. More information can be found on their website.
