YMCA of Silver Spring Child Care

[Anonymous]

Any thoughts good or bad? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I am reviving this thread since I just visited the center last night and met the director, Laurie. It seems nice enough. they're in summer camp mode now, but in the fall they offer Spanish class and swimming classes - all included in normal tuition. They have low turnover and the teachers have degrees in child psychology and/or development. They are also a Head Start facility and there is no segregation of Head Start students vs non.

Anybody have any experience with this center?

[Anonymous]

I had child there Summer 2006 in the Gentle Doves/ toddler class. Was very happy. They use a good curriculum for preschool, "creative classroom" or something like that. Director Laurie has been there since 2006 at least, which is a long tenure compared to other daycares that I've experienced. One parent I met when our kids were in Y swim class together, had complaint about the classroom her child was placed in, a 3.5 yo was placed in with 2.5/3 yo and regressed back to pullups. I think it combines the charactertics of "day care" (open for long days from 7 am to 6 pm, very few vacations, open some hours during school snow days) with characteristics of preschool (curriculum, specials like swimming and art), and is a great value for the price. A bit inconvenient, depending on where you work/live.

[Anonymous]

@06:44

Thanks for that feedback. I did pause when I saw that they had a changing table and pullu-ps in the class that my 3.5yr old would potentially be in. 2.5-3.5 yr old kids should not need a changing table IMO.

[Anonymous]

DS at been at Y since he was 18-month old. He's going too be 4 at the end of August and I wouldn't put him anywhere else. Laurie is so kind and extremely responsive and the staff is great and attentive. The center follows a play-based approached and they have a real curriculum that they follow with daily written feedbacks to parents. One thing that's often overlooked is that the center has access to all of the Y's facilities; they not only have 2 playgrounds (one for the youngest and the other for the oldest), but the kids also can run around on the tennis court, kick the ball in the soccer field, or as another poster mentioned, enjoy the swimming pool as part of their curriculum. There was a changing table in my son's class last year, but I don't think that I've ever seen a kid be changed on it. I was really worried about potty training, but his teachers were great in communicating with me how responsive he was to it. It was sincerely like a team working to get him through that process. He's fully trained now (has been for a few months).
Since I'm not from the US, I gradually realized that there's a real biased against daycares vs preschools and I've felt the pressure to look for a preschool several times. I don't know about other centers, but when I stopped and actually thought about what was the best option for my son and our family, I couldn't think of anywhere else to put him. DS #2 is 8-month and I know where he'll be going when he's 18-month old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
2.5-3.5 yr old kids should not need a changing table IMO.

Gosh, all the 2.3 year olds you know are toilet trained? Impressive, but statistically unlikely.

[Anonymous]

My kids go to summer camp and the child care there. Lori is awesome and is truly passionate about what she does. In fact all of the staff that I've met (from the summer camp, after care, preschool) possess these qualities. The place is truly a gem because of them.

[Anonymous]

Its really hard to follow these threads b/c so much can change in a years time. YMCA Silver Spring Director now is named Teresa. She apparently has a Masters degree but I am not so sure that any of the teachers there have college degrees? Maybe for some of the older kids. I think the main point to keep in mind is that this is a day care and not a school. My daughter is currently in a 2 y.o. class there (shes 2 3/4 now) and I am sure the teacher is not college trained, although she has plently of experience with kids. Picking up on what 2009 reviewer was talking about w/her 3 y.o.'s learning progress. The behavioral and the academic. They dont seem to have much creativity in addressing either. The teacher is not a native English speaker and the assistant I believe is hearing impaired and I have begun to think both of these traits are drawbacks as far as language and other skill development. Last year between about 9 months and 1.5 approx., my daughter was in a mixed age home day care environment run by a mom with a child development college degree in the Balto. area, and I really miss it. Yes, it was a smaller group of kids, and that always helps, but my daughter seemed to be more independent than she is now, talking more for that age level than any of her peers, and knew the whole alphabet song, 1-10 and colors also. Now she seems to struggle with all these concepts and has to be prompted. I wonder if this is just something that happens w/this age group? But I also cant help to think, the YMCA its a day care and not a school, and that makes a difference. I would not recommend the YMCA to parents looking for a high quality school program. I think you can do much better in this area for the same or even less money. The trick for me seems to be to find a quality school w/day care like hours.

[Anonymous]

My dd was there for a few months last summer (2010) when she was 3.5. It was a total disaster. In those few months, there were 3 different teachers (one quit, one was fired), noone seemed to know what was going on, there was never a teacher to talk to, regardless of when I stopped by, there was little structure and not a whole lot to engage the kids. In my dd's class, (3.5-4yo) half the kids were still in diapers! which were changed right in the middle of the classroom. There was one child in particular that was constantly being picked on by some of the older/bigger/ kids and noone ever intervened or did anything about it. A number of the children were very agressive on the playground and again, noone ever did anything about it. It had a distinct 'lord of the flies' feel about it. We got out pretty quickly.