Moving to DMV area in January - Where to go for 2 yr old and 3 yr old daycare?

[Anonymous]

I have to move by January to the DMV area for my new job in DC. My 2 year old and 3 year old kids are in a Montessori program right now and I would like to enroll them in a similar play-based childcare center (no in-home daycares where the provider lives there). We are lucky to be in free PK3 through NYC right now but it looks like we will need to pay for both our children to be enrolled in daycare when we move.

We are considering anywhere in Arlington, VA; Alexandria, VA; Bethesda, MD, or Silver Spring, MD for M-F 9am to (3pm or 5pm). Any recommendations appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Those places are an hour apart at least. Narrow you ur search.

And Montessori isn’t play-based - which do you want?

[Anonymous]

Remember that DC has free PK3 and beyond, so read up on the MySchoolDC lottery. That will be an option after next summer. There are quite a few public Montessoris in the city. The only ones that are in bounds [ie, you get a preference for living near there] are Langdon and Nalle. The others are citywide [Capitol Hill Montessori at Logan, Breakthrough, Shining Stars, Lee [two campuses] and maybe the new Wildflower schools? I'm not sure if they will be ready next year?]

[Anonymous]

We are very happy with Karasik in Silver Spring, and they are more affordable than some of the other centers we looked at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are very happy with Karasik in Silver Spring, and they are more affordable than some of the other centers we looked at.

How are things going there? I saw some complaints about Karasik admin here a while back.

[Anonymous]

Del Ray (northern Alexandria neighborhood) mom of toddler here. We love Discovery Time. Two locations in Alexandria -- we use the Hume Ave one because it is closer. We previously tried Madison Day School and it was not a good fit.

I don't know what you mean exactly by "play-based" but Discovery Time has a lot of free play as well as organized activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are very happy with Karasik in Silver Spring, and they are more affordable than some of the other centers we looked at.

How are things going there? I saw some complaints about Karasik admin here a while back.

We haven’t run into any issues, knock in wood. They still have somewhat reduced hours due to Covid but the teachers are amazing.

[Anonymous]

Little Ambassadors' Academy in Arlington is absolutely wonderful.