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Meet Marina Gantioque, Jamie Knoop and Camrie Lucey of Circle Time in Glendora

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Marina Gantioque, Jamie Knoop and Camrie Lucey.

Marina, Jamie and Camrie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
A new mother of two children (I) Marina Gantioque walked away from my career in finance to spend time raising her family. I always knew that it was important for children to learn through quality play and I knew that I wanted my children to have the best experiences. I wanted to do my best to introduce them to fun new educational tools and innovations. It was important for my children and for my new role as a mom. I began to play around with the idea of providing that in our community that was close to home and that is where Circle Time began. It all began with a thought of providing independent smart play space and educational classes for young children and my own that were close to home.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I believe that all new things come with bumps in the road. We have been thankful that they had always been minor, like what time should we have classes, how many children should we allow in our classes? Then we had our first major bump in the road and it was this thing called COVID. Well, here we were in our first year of business and all the things that began to flow and work for us came to an abrupt halt.

We knew we had to do something, everyone had to take a step back and figure out “what do we do next” With all the uncertainties, we knew we had to provide families with hands-on sensory-based educational activities that they could do in the comfort of their own home. At first, we did our best to provide parents with online classes but sitting in front of a screen was something that was becoming all too normal. We continued to look for ways and listen to what the community needed and wanted.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Circle Time – what should we know?
We are a children’s studio for ages 0 to 4 years old. Pre-COVID our specialty was our Preschool Prep classes and our Music Circle classes. Now our specialty is Circle Time Pre-packaged LESSONS TO GO. These are lessons that we would have provided in our Preschool Prep classes. The Lessons To Go are delivered monthly with free drop off in nearby cities. All these lessons are sensory-based and easy for all parents to deliver to their child. Our target age group is toddlers from ages 2-4, this is the age when it is important to build a routine, socialize and provide educational materials for their development.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I was lucky enough to build my dream team from day one. I met our director Jamie Knoop when Circle Time was just an idea. She brought in her Child Development expertise to the table and when you have the same mindset as someone, things just take-off!!

Then we have our Lead Teacher Camrie. Camrie has become a rockstar preschool teacher. Camrie has a degree in music and started off as our music teacher but has been the face of Circle Time and all of its classes for the last year.

It doesn’t feel like work when we are all together. We all come together for a common purpose and that is to provide kids with a fun, educational experience that meets the needs of everyone in our community.

Pricing:

  • Monthly Box Subscription (ages 2-4) – $49.99
  • Weekly Lesson To Go (ages 2-4) – $14.99
  • Group Learning Pod To Go (3 kids) – $29.99

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