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Our mission statement: “At Basic Steps Learning Center, we aim at providing a safe learning environment with high expectations to all learners so that they can achieve their full potential and have high hopes for their future.”
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What do parents say about our preschool program?
“I really like the impact that Basic Steps Preschool in Kent has on our girl!”
“My daughter has learned so much in the short time that she has been there.”
“I was so impressed by the world map my grandson learned and made with colorful tissue papers. He said: “Grandma this is the United States and this is Europe and this is Antarctica.” I asked him: “Is Antarctica warm?” He said, “No, Grandma. It’s real cold with penguins and polar bears.” I am so pleased with his learning skills in your preschool!”
To read more reviews from parents, click here.
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Message from the Founder and Program Director:
Dear Parents,
Welcome to the Basic Steps Learning Center website!
Basic Steps Learning Center was established in July 2012. The first 2 classes we successfully opened were the art/science class and the reading/singing class at Kent Commons in the fall of 2012. After gaining the support from many parents, we then opened our learning center in January 2013. Our classes now are held at Plaza by the Green, a retail plaza 5 minutes away from Kent Commons and ShoWare Center in downtown Kent, Washington. We started with about 15 kids in the program and now we have over 90 children attending different classes from 8:30am to 4:15pm. In August 2018, we took over the space across from us. I was able to run the cooperative preschool program for 1-3 years old, and the elementary-school program for kindergartners, first and second graders. After 6 years with these two programs, I have decided to end our Coop and Elementary Programs in June 2024 to focus only on our (1) Preschool/PreK Program, (2) Transitional Kindergarten, and (3) Online/Virtual Learning Program.
Let me share a little bit about my background. My name is Kany (the students call me Mrs. Joa and some do call me Dr. Joa). I moved to Seattle from New York City for more than 20 years now. I have a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction, a TESOL certification, and a doctorate degree in educational leadership at Seattle University, with an emphasis in educational psychology. My dissertation study was about how to better motivate students into learning and help them be hopeful in their academic path. This study has been self-published in 2013 on Amazon.com and the title is: “The Role of Hope in Students.” It’s been 12 years since I finished my dissertation and I am ready to start writing again! Very soon, I will be able to share with you my new book: “Maintain Hopefulness in Us and Our Children.”
Did I mention that I am a mother of 4 children? When my oldest daughter turned 3, I decided to leave my teaching positions and focus on educating my own children. Opening my own preschool program has allowed me to fulfill my passion in teaching and enjoy the role of being a full-time mother all these years to my 15, 12, 9, and 7 years old. Indeed, watching my own children having fun and learning with their classmates has been the most fulfilling experience of my life.
Regarding my professional background, I have many years of academic teaching experience. I’ve taught English to children as well as adults throughout my teaching career. I love traveling so in my 20s, I taught English in Japan, China, and Korea. I also was an ESL instructor at Tukwila School District for 2 years and at Lake Washington College for 5 years.
After years of teaching students of all ages and raising my four kids, I truly understand what young children need in order to be prepared for their first steps into academia. In fact, having my own child in my own learning program for 12 years has helped me understand what parents really need and want from an educational program. What makes my program so different from other daycare centers and preschool programs is my commitment to offering a combination of quality education, flexible class schedules and most of all, affordable tuition. We have different classes available for parents to register: (1) Social Development/Book Time, (2) Art/Science, (3) Writing/Math, (4) Reading/Singing, (5) Spelling & Math Time, (6) Phonics, (9) PreK Tutoring, (10) Beginner Piano, (11) IXL Online Practice, and (12) our newest class “Fun with Letters & Coins.” To find out more about our preschool program, please visit the preschool site here.
My greatest passion is to help children reach their full potential. Thus, in the summer I coordinate summer literacy camps for children from 3 to 15 years old. Our summer program is very special. We offer intensive reading and spelling classes to help preschoolers build a strong foundation of reading and writing skills before going to kindergarten. Moreover, our Kindergarten-9th grade summer program focuses on identifying students’ strengths and weaknesses. We assess their writing, reading, and math level and carefully customize their summer curriculum to ensure that their needs are met in a short period of time. To find out more what we offer in the summer, please visit our summer literacy page.
Thank you for visiting our website! For more information about our educational programs, feel free to contact me here. Texting works best for me at the moment. Below you will find some of my children’s school work at Basic Steps. You can also see my children’s progression after 8 months participating our online learning program here.
Best regards,
Dr. Kany Joa (Mrs. Joa)
Here’s my son’s number writing after 5 months of preschool. He was 3 years and 5 months old, definitely has strong fine motor skills. My first 3 kids are all left-handed!
My son loves to learn. He learned his letter sounds when he was 2.5 years old. At age 5 and after attending our Transitional-Kindergarten program, he can read and write at first-grade level.
At Basic Steps, we have a math program called “Boxing Method.” Through this unique approach, I was able to teach my 5 year-old child how to do adding and subtracting at a very advanced level.
All my children learned how to spell basic sight words by the age of 5!
They all started writing their own sentences around 5 years old too!
My children started learning Chinese characters and Spanish at the age of 4!
