Some children have very bright minds, but have special needs in order to allow them to reach their full potential. Brillo de Sol was founded in 2005 to educate children who:
Very often they don’t pass their grade
Are removed from other educational centers
Often don’t learn with traditional teaching methods
Some of the causes are:
Being diagnosed with learning disabilities
Have serious emotional problems
Are over the age for their grade level in a traditional school.
Come from extreme poverty
Are gifted and talented students who quickly become bored
Brillo de Sol does not discriminate against any student because of his/her age, religion, learning style, or failure to pass the same grade. We provide a quality education with well-trained teachers and specific methodology that fits the individual needs of each student.
With strategies and up-to-date therapies that enable us to discover their intellectual abilities, we help the students achieve a higher self-esteem through unconditional love and acceptance, while at the same time respecting their individuality.
Brillo de Sol’s philosophy is “to provide the warm sunlight a child needs to flourish and blossom”. Our students participate in classes while listening to music by Mozart, Vivaldi, Bach, Brahms, Zen Music and others; they work and learn through experience, experimentation, and dramatization with the classroom being a laboratory of ideas and reflection.
Every morning, our students pray and they receive a scientific lesson that enriches their culture. For example, we share the biography of Einstein, Walt Disney, Thomas Alba Edison, and Tom Cruise because all these great men also had learning disabilities.
During recess, the students play both outdoors and inside with puzzles, dominos, jump rope, or dance along to different genres of music. The students also learn to respect each other, give each other a lending hand when in need, and never to laugh about the disabilities of their classmates.
At Brillo de Sol, we respect every religion, while teaching our students to love and to be thankful to God.
During the school day, the students also have non-traditional classes like socialization, values, motor skills, cognitive skills, and vocational workshops.
Prior to attending Brillo de Sol, the majority of our students were at home without having the opportunity to go to school because of the nonexistence of an educational institution that would provide adequate education with effective teaching methodologies that could furnish a quality education for them.
We utilize teaching and rehabilitation methods such as: Montessori, Neuronet, Estrellita, Program of instrumental enrichment, Champions, (Used only at Brillo de Sol and University Del Valle in Guatemala) and others. Additionally, we use the national curriculum as our teaching base. But our best therapy is to teach our students to laugh through good humor, perseverance, and letting them feel our unconditional love and acceptance.
Brillo de Sol is the only institution in Antigua Guatemala that caters to these important, but underserved sectors of our population. We provide them with a vast array of tools, but most importantly with an exceptional education and rehabilitation. Brillo de Sol has an open door policy for all in need. Upon arrival to our doors, we assess the student with a socio-economic study of the family because every family has to pay a small tuition. Even if it is only of symbolic value, we believe it is necessary that every parent have demonstrated to have a stake in their child’s education and therapies. However, the students that attend Brillo de Sol are children that come with serious learning difficulties and from scarce economic resources. We open our doors to them and we make a difference in their future and their lives.
Once a month we have “the parent’s school”, where we involve the parents in the education of their children and work along the teachers.