2004 Award Winners

Linda Kraft Linda Kraft
Hand in Hand Learning Land,
2410 Bel Air Drive, Glenview
Family Child Care Home

The greatest influence on Linda Kraft’s career as an early childhood educator was her own infant. “My oldest son helped me find my true passion,” Kraft says excitedly. “Rather than put him in child care, I decided to investigate the field myself.” Now, a dozen years later, Kraft is at the forefront of family home child care.

Kraft’s home has been transformed from a typical home into an extraordinary learning environment for young children. “They’ve taken over most of the house,” she says, “which is fine with me!”

Kraft currently has 12 youngsters from eight families in her care; most of the children have a sibling in the program. The children, who range in age from an eight-month-old infant to three kindergarteners, are diverse in their abilities and cultural backgrounds.

“Initially, I used a very traditional curriculum, but I soon switched to a more child-directed program,” relates Kraft. The children help her create an emergent curriculum based on their own interests. Now, she does everything from incubating eggs and raising baby chicks to developing butterflies from larvae and nursing tadpoles into frogs. She has an art/writing center and light table inside, and in the warmer months, long low tables in her backyard for making mud pies and other creations. “These various explorations lead to many early science and math discoveries,” says Kraft.

Kraft also nurtures a love of literature in the children. She always makes sure that there is a quiet place for the children to snuggle up and read a book. “My daughter has a deep and abiding love of books from her walks with Linda to story-time at the local library,” relates Anne Tyree, whose daughter Megan spent five years in Kraft’s care.

“Families have been with her for years,” says Linda Waycie, of the Children’s Home and Aid Society in Arlington Heights. “This brings stability and closeness between her and the children.”

“I respect and value each family and their beliefs and their uniqueness,” says Kraft. And those families who’ve entrusted their children to her care respect and value Kraft. Anne Tyree perhaps puts it best. “My daughter is ten now,” she says, “and we still consider Linda a part of our family.”