It started with six children and a waiting list
Perla Hughes has spent fifteen years caring for other people’s children the way she’d want someone to care for her own. Her licensed in-home program in Columbia County fills every seat it’s allowed to have — six — and families keep asking to be added to a list that never moves.
She holds a B.S. in Bilingual Education and worked as an ESOL teacher at Blue Ridge Elementary in Evans, GA, a Columbia County school. A public-school ESOL classroom is where you learn how a child actually acquires a second language — which is why Acorn & Oak runs a genuinely bilingual room and not a Spanish hour.
She is CPR and First Aid certified. The program runs on a real preschool curriculum and hands-on learning — not a television. Acorn & Oak is what happens when that program finally gets the room it deserves — same standards, more space, and a real kitchen with a dedicated cook.
“I never wanted a bigger daycare. I wanted the same small rooms, just more of them.”
The six families she cares for today move with her in December. What’s left is a short list of founding seats.