Summer and Fall semester enrollments for members only (Priority Enrollment) starts April 12th!

In the past, we've had separate "Priority Enrollment" periods for summer and fall, in which only members may enroll in classes for the two weeks before Open Enrollment.  This year, we're going to combine the enrollment periods into a super-uber Priority Enrollment.  We're taking the best of past Priority Enrollment "celebrations" and adding to them. 

Starting on April 12th, members of The Little Gym who are currently enrolled in classes may reserve spots in both summer and fall semesters of classes.  Enrollments may be done in person, by phone or online.  Starting April 19th, any member (e.g. siblings, or members who are not currently in classes) may enroll for summer and fall classes.

We have just about 500 students enrolled in classes, with many classes having long wait lists. So our popular classes and times may fill during or just after Priority Enrollment.

How to enroll online:  To enroll online, you need to log into your account on our website. 

• Go to the "Schedule" area of our website and choose the semester you want to enroll in
• If a class is higlighted, you can click on it to enroll. If it is not highlighted, the class is either an invitation-only advanced class, or it has one or zero spots left.
• After you select "Enroll", you will be promted to login with your email address and password.  If you haven't set up an email & password on our website yet, you can select "register" to do so.  When you register, you will be asked if you've been here before (select yes), and then you will either need to type in your Member Milestones number and PIN (from your Member Milestones card), or you can call the gym for your "Magic Number".  The Magic Number is your Family ID in our system.  We'd be happy to give you either your Family ID or your Member Milestones number and PIN.
• Once you've logged in, you can select classes for all of your children, and select your payment option.

During Priority Enrollment:

• Every day we will be serving coffee, juice, and other assorted refreshments before, during, and after each class.
• Every child who enrolls will get their name on a “Future The Little Gym Stars” chart to be displayed in our lobby.
• Every child who enrolls will be entered into daily raffle drawings towards The Little Gym t-shirts and merchandise, free membership renewals, free summer camps, gift certificates to local family-friendly businesses, and the grand prize of a semester of classes for Winter/Spring 2011 at The Little Gym! And yes, as soon as you enroll, you are eligible to win every daily prize!
• Every child who enrolls will receive Member Milestone points - up to 500 points for Summer and up to 600 points for Fall! (Some of you may already be close to earning a free semester of classes!)
• Enroll during Priority Enrollment for Summer classes and your child will receive a pretty cool summer gift -- a The Little Gym beach ball!
• Enroll during Priority Enrollment for Fall classes and your child will receive a different (really awesome) gift -- a The Little Gym baseball cap!
• Enroll during Priority Enrollment for both Summer and Fall classes and your child will receive both special gifts from us, and you will receive a $20 The Little Gym certificate*.
         *Promotional gift certificate can be used towards any future semester of classes (Winter/Spring 2011 and later), or towards any Parents’ Survival Night, summer or holiday camp, or Awesome Birthday Bash!

Payment options:

• You are welcome to pay in full and receive the Value Plan discount (approximately 10% off), or you can pay one installment of any of the installment plans.  
• Another option is you can pay one installment as a deposit towards the Value Plan.  The installment will hold your spot, and then the balance of the Value Plan would be charged on your credit card on the first day of the respective semester. That way, you'd get the 10% Value Plan discount, but only have to pay one installment now.
• If your plans change, you can switch classes as many times as you'd like, as long as there's space.
• If your plans *really* change, if you unenroll before the semester starts, you get a full refund of your tuition.  (If you unenroll during a semester, we prorate the refund.)

Sibling Discount update:

• To accommodate families with multiple children, we are increasing our sibling discounts. Starting with the Summer semester, for families with multiple children enrolled in a semester, you will receive a 20% discount for your second child, a 30% discount for your third child, and a 40% discount for your fourth and each additional child.

Summer Camp details:

• Our summer camps offer three hours of fun and activities for children ages 3-8. The specially developed camp curriculum is designed around themes, such as “Whales, Sharks & Mermaids!”, “Wild West!”, or “Time Travelers!,” and combines physical fitness and play with arts, crafts and special events. Our camps are scheduled for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons (1-4pm) and Tuesday and Thursday mornings (9am – noon). They are the perfect break for kids (and parents!) during the long summer months.
• You are welcome to choose any day or days during a week to come to camp.  Come to one, two, three, four or all five camps in a week. You pay for those individual camp days you come to.  For example, you can come to every other Tuesday, and the Monday & Thursday of the 4th week of the summer. You choose your days!
• We are enrolling *now* for summer camps.   Children do need to be potty-independent and between ages 3 and 8 as of their camp day.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Should we do summer camps or classes?     Summer camps are 3 hours long, are designed to be fun and very active.  Our classes are 1-hour long and are focused on skill growth.  We recommend classes if your schedule works for them, so that your children can continue working on furthering their self-confidence and gymnastics skills.  However the 3-hour camps are a great way to keep your children active, building relationships with other children and teachers, and having a ton of fun!  We do gymnastics in our camps, however, the focus on really growing gymnastics skills would be in our classes.

Q:  I'm not a member of The Little Gym now.  How can I ensure I don't lose a spot in a class I want?   Prior to April 12th, you may join The Little Gym and be eligible to enroll starting April 19th.  Or if you enroll in classes now, you may enroll in summer or fall classest starting April 12th.  There are 12 weeks left in our current semester, so your cost and committment is less than a full 20-week semester.

If you have other questions, let us know!!!

 

 

 

Proud Parent Moments

We've been talking about Parental Pride recently at The Little Gym.  It's that feeling you get when your child does a "first" -- a first smile... says "Dada" or "Mama" the first time... goes potty on the big potty for the first time.   Having that feeling of pride in your child is one of those things that must top the list of every parent.

We all experience pride in our children from time-to-time.  And at The Little Gym, we provide the opportunity for you to feel that pride every week in every class.  We instructors also feel that pride in your child.  Today, for example, a child who was extremely reluctant to do a backwards roll allowed me to spot him through the roll.  When his face went from being very frightened to glowing with a big smile, I felt that same level of pride as his mom did, watching from the lobby.

This week was a pretty magical week for my family, personally.  This past weekend, our 8-year old rode a 2-wheeler for the first time.  She outgrew her bicycle that had training wheels so we picked up the next size bike.  Marie and I had different methods of helping her (Mom's technique won).  And within about 30 minutes, she was pedaling by herself.  (Still needs work, but it was a *huge* leap in her skills and confidence.)   Marie and I were beaming.

And on Monday night, while reading to my children before bed, our 5 year old son, just started sounding out words -- from Roald Dahl's The BFG -- and that book has some *hard* words.  (He did the easy ones, of course.)   Blaise has been doing this in Kindergarten, but this was the first time he did it for us.  I was pretty floored since I had never caught him actually *reading*before.   Huge dose of parental pride there.

We've started asking parents when they call us, "What was a time recently when you felt pride in your child?"  The answers we get are amazing. 

When have you recently felt pride in your child?  Did you tell them?  Feel free to post your most recent prideful moment here!