Sept. 22, 2023

Chelsea Murphy and Lexi Bohn became friends while teaching at Freedom Elementary five years ago.

The two women quickly realized they shared the same dream of opening a preschool and tutoring center. They took the leap forward to open their business earlier this year.

Little Learners Academy opened in June at 3822 S. Western Ave. Since then, it has drawn many students because of what the founders call its accessible prices for families.

“We offer lower prices than big centers,” Bohn said. “We wanted to help those who maybe can’t afford tutoring. Putting our prices where they are has gotten people in our doors.”

For instance, Little Learners Academy offers:

• Two days of preschool a week: $80.
• Four days of preschool a week: $120.
• Home-school enrichment: $15 an hour.
• Tutoring: $35 an hour for one-on-one, $25 an hour for a group.
• Social group and emotional and life skills: $20.

Murphy and Bohn said they understand how affordability affects families’ access to education and want to keep both their ratio of students to teachers low and their prices accessible.

“We have all sorts of educational services,” Murphy said. “We have kept it broad and have really just been throwing things out there for the community.”

Little Learners Academy offers preschool in the morning and home-school enrichment in the afternoon. During after-school hours, they offer tutoring and additional enrichment camps and classes.

“We will continue mini-camps throughout the school year on days off of school, like brain buster puzzles and scavenger hunts,” Bohn said. “We’ve done an art camp, STEAM camp and game camp. And our first camp was ABC boot camp.”

The educators tutor all ages and offer more than typical school subjects. Through their social group program — Social Emotional Learning — the two women work with students to foster positive relationships and practice social skills.

They said they worked to create a welcoming and playful environment in their academy.

“We wanted a very calming space, so it doesn’t look like a classroom,” Murphy said. “Kids don’t want to sit at a desk again right after school.”

Bohn said they do not intend to hire other staff but are open to the possibility of independent tutors using their space. Both educators want their students to have stability and the repetition of working with just the two of them, they said.

“We intentionally keep our ratios low too,” Murphy said. “Most preschools have 20 for two teachers. Ours is 10, so a 1:5 ratio.”

In just the first few months of opening, Little Learners Academy works consistently with more than 40 students — not including summer camps.

“We’re getting pretty busy between the two of us,” Murphy said. “Most of our kids will continue tutoring through the school year too.”

The academy works with students age 3 to 14, but the founders said they’re open to tutoring any age.

“The big age range is nice for us to change it up,” Murphy said.

WildRoots, a tutoring and learning camp center, subleases from Little Learners next door. Tara Petersen runs the center and also teaches in the Harrisburg School District, Murphy said.

Petersen has tutored from different spaces over the years and is independent from Little Learners. “But our businesses work hand in hand,” Murphy said.

Fun fact: Murphy came up with the name for the academy in 2014 and drew the logo almost 10 years ago.