We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Laurie McCracken a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Laurie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Before opening Baby Fox Academy, I was a public school teacher for about 20 years. During that time, I taught Kindergarten through 3rd grade, as well as served in many other positions. In 2014, I was teaching second grade. Our school was using a reading program that required the children read books, take a quiz on the computer to assess comprehension and they earned points. To motivate my class to read, I set individual, small group and whole class goals with rewards for different point level achievements. Upon reaching the whole class goal, the class chose what their reward was going to be. Some of the suggestions were for me to jump out of a helicopter, eat a spider, color my hair, and similar silly options. This was the year that the song, “What Does the Fox Say”, by Yelvis, came out and the song grew in popularity. A song that all of my students knew better than they knew their sight words or spelling words. A song that I found less than amusing, with all those animal sounds. Not a favorite song of many teachers. My students knew that I really did not like the song. One student suggested that upon reaching the class goal, I would have to sing “What Does the Fox Say” in front of the entire school. I cringed at the thought of having to learn all of the words, let alone sing it in front of nearly 800 people!

This reward seemed to work better than any other magical prize I could come up with, and in no time my students were reading and taking quizzes, racking up points faster than I could switch out the books in my classroom. Only a few months into the school-wide reading challenge, my class had not only met the end of the year goal, they surpassed it. My one class of second graders earned more points than the entire 5th grade team in a meter of months. So, of course I had to serve my time. Word spread about the reward my class chose and and how quickly they crushed the goal that was set for them. Before long, we had a plan which including fox make-up (done by our drama teacher who formerly did make-up for Broadway), a ‘costume’ of sorts and a script to film it! My doomsday arrived, my make-up was done and my costume was on. We filmed, in my opinion, a horrible rendition of “What Does the Fox Say”. It was edited and posted to YouTube. The other classes and students began to hear about this video and began asking their teachers if they could watch it. This spiraled into a school-wide chained to earn points, meet our goal and get to watch the video.

This foxy experience was the initial seed that was planted, which grew into my adoration for foxes. So, when my husband and I found out we were pregnant with our seventh child, we nicknamed him “the Baby Fox” until we actually knew what the gender was. The nickname stuck with him after he was born. Shortly after his birth, while still on maternity leave from the school district, I decided not to return to the public school system. I made the decision to begin providing the most solid education foundation for our early learners. To provide a safe and loving space where children could just be kids. I decided to open Baby Fox Academy.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started working with children while I was still in high school. It started as just babysitting, then evolved to the childcare program at my high school. I received all of my state-required certifications while spending half a day in high school and half a day working in a local childcare facility. I went on to get my Bachelors in Elementary Education while working as a substitute teacher. I started teaching Kindergarten just after graduation. I continued to teach public school in various capacities, including Kindergarten first, second & third grades. I also served as a Reading Interventionist, Curriculum Coordinator, District Trainer, Behavior Specialist, and a Reading Specialist. I did this for nearly 20 years. In early 2015, I found out that I was pregnant with our 7th child, our only boy. This is when I decide not to return to teaching public school but to start providing high-quality childcare in my home. We had moved to Arizona during this time, and I started with just 4 children in my home, the first floor of which we had completely converted to a small, home-like childcare facility. We quickly realized there was a huge need and demand for high-quality early childhood programs, so I became licensed and was quickly full with 10 children. I have always been passionate about high-quality early childhood programs, but this step was instrumental in laying a new path for me.

Baby Fox Academy is a play-based early childhood education program. Children in our high-quality early learning programs ARE creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading, and playing all day. They are engaging in intentional play, purposeful and meaningful hands-on learning. Children in our programs are NOT expected to sit still and be quiet 24-7. They aren’t doing worksheets, workbooks or drill & kill flashcards. Research tells us that these are not appropriate expectations for young children. Children at Baby Fox Academy are seen gathered around books, tinker tubs, and sensory bins, not screens. You see teachers modeling problem-solving techniques, giving out positive reinforcement, and redirecting when necessary. You will see loose parts, engaging equipment, and readily available materials. Children get lost in curiosity and spend their days surrounded by discovery and wonder as they will be engaged in playful learning. At Baby Fox Academy, we ARE preparing children for school, but we are NOT a boot camp for kindergarten. We ARE bringing back magical childhoods. Children of all ages in our program are frequently experiencing sensory & messy play, learning through play the way children are meant to.

What sets us apart from others is that as owners, my husband and I very involved in our schools. We are hands-on owners and I am in our facilities nearly everyday. I know our families, I know our children, I know our staff. We are constantly reinvesting in our centers and our staff and are always looking for ways to be better owners. We participate in the TEACH scholarship, where we sponsor our teachers to go back to college and earn an early childhood credential or degree. We strive to be the best place to work and the best place for children to build their educational foundation through play and hands-on, developmentally appropriate activities. As a former educator, I work closely with all of our staff to ensure they are fulfilling each child’s needs and that THEY themselves have all the resources and training they need to be the best early childhood educators they can be.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Shortly after opening our very small in-home childcare, my husband and I realized we needed to open a commercial facility to help fulfill the huge need for high-quality early childhood education programs. We weighed our options and decided that we would work additional jobs to save up the cash instead of taking on big loans and large credit lines and essentially going deep into debt. For several years, I ran our in-home childcare with the help of 2 of our daughters, who we employed, my husband worked full time for a major airline and we both worked nearly every night and weekend as delivery drivers for several of the food-delivery apps. We saved for nearly four years before moving back to Florida to open our first facility, which we did in February 2021.

We continue to be a small mom and pop owned and operated program, with three locations currently. One of our oldest daughters still runs the in-home Baby of Fox Academy in Arizona, which we opened 8 years ago. We have two locations in Sarasota, our flagship center at Bee Ridge & Tuttle and our second location in Lakewood Ranch off University & Lakewood Ranch Blvd.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

There are a lot of childcare providers in our area. Each one offers something a little different, catering to different types of families and their needs. We built our reputation on our core values, trust and bringing back magical childhoods. What I think sets us apart from many of the centers around us is the true mom & pop, locally owned feel we provide. We are present. We know our families. We know our staff. And we care, truly care about each and every family that enrolls with us. We care about every staff member that is a part of our team, they become members of our family. We treat our staff with respect, do our very best to pay them a competitive wage and ensure that they feel valued and appreciated every single day. Lastly, we give back to our community. We teach our little foxes that we should be kind and give back to others, even when we may feel like we have nothing to give. We do quarterly community service projects that our oldest students help with. These include Blessing Bags for the Homeless, Bedtime Bags for children entering foster care, goodies & treats for our local police & fire departments, collecting items for a local fox rescue where we sponsor two foxes and several other smaller projects.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.BabyFoxAcademy.com
• Instagram: @babyfoxacademyfl
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/BabyFoxAcademyofFL
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/nvTRo9X_gxw?si=eDaVlTiWH1xgaiih
• Other: Tik Tok @babyfoxacademyfl

Image Credits
Sywlia Ok Photography