Since its founding in 1982, the Bay Area-based educational organization, Early Learning Institute, has been offering innovative, high-quality programs for young children. These include child development centers (ages birth to six) and private, non-sectarian schools (grades 1-8) in Palo Alto, North San Jose, and Pleasanton, as well as summer writing programs (grades 2-8) and Chinese-English immersion programs. The child development centers borrow from the best model programs and make use of the most recent educational research. The infant-toddler and twos programs use play and learning games to help lay the necessary foundation of all future learning. The preschool program employs a modified Montessori curriculum and incorporates art, music, and imaginative play into the traditional emphasis on practical life, sensorial, language, mathematics, science, and cultural activities. Emerson School and Hacienda School combine a Montessori curriculum with the most recent advances in language, mathematics, and science curricula to craft an accelerated, yet in-depth program for first through eighth graders. The two schools, in Palo Alto and Pleasanton respectively, are conveniently located near the HeadsUp! child development centers.