Bethesda Preschool Feedback
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Anonymous
| Hello all - we are in a bit of a quagmire, as I secured a spot in a preschool that offers only partial day childcare coverage with the notion we would be keeping our full-time nanny on, but have since learned she will be leaving us this fall. Now, I need to make a backup plan and have been considering other nearby preschools that offer more childcare coverage. Does anyone have any recent experience with the following three schools: Manor Montessori (St. Dunstan's location in Bethesda), Apple Montessori, or Clara Barton Center for Children? This frantic mom would certainly appreciate your honest feedback!!! Our main desire in the school we choose is ensuring our 3 year old has plenty of outdoor playtime and exposure to nurturing and kind teachers. Secondarily, of course pre-literacy and pre-math skills, to help eventually prepare them for kindergarten. |
Anonymous
As a preschool teacher, you’re making a mistake to worry about reading and math now. Let them get prepared for kindergarten in kindergarten. Let them learn through play now, how to listen to instructions etc but stop rushing the kids |
Anonymous
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As a preschool teacher, you’re making a mistake to worry about reading and math now. Let them get prepared for kindergarten in kindergarten. Let them learn through play now, how to listen to instructions etc but stop rushing the kids
How the hell did you get that I was rushing them in my post, wherein I say my primary desire is to find a preschool that offers lots of outdoor playtime and nurturing and kind teachers? I do not care when they learn to read, but I mentioned it because SECONDARILY I would like them to be exposed to phonics. Thanks for not offering anything useful and providing undue criticism to a mom who is extremely stressed out. |
Anonymous
As a preschool teacher, you’re making a mistake to worry about reading and math now. Let them get prepared for kindergarten in kindergarten. Let them learn through play now, how to listen to instructions etc but stop rushing the kids How the hell did you get that I was rushing them in my post, wherein I say my primary desire is to find a preschool that offers lots of outdoor playtime and nurturing and kind teachers? I do not care when they learn to read, but I mentioned it because SECONDARILY I would like them to be exposed to phonics. Thanks for not offering anything useful and providing undue criticism to a mom who is extremely stressed out. Ha whoa calm down. The PP is right that non of the pre-phonics stuff matters at this age. That should make you LESS stressed, not more since you don't have to worry about finding it. |
Anonymous
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Ha whoa calm down. The PP is right that non of the pre-phonics stuff matters at this age. That should make you LESS stressed, not more since you don't have to worry about finding it.
Thanks for another "helpful" response - I regret ever putting anything in here about my lower priority thoughts - as stated, I am looking for a school with plenty of outdoor time and nurturing environment. I am not pushing academics onto a toddler. Unclear why that has been the focus of the two replies. I wanted feedback on three specific schools, not a refutation of something that is not even important to me that I added as an afterthought. |
Anonymous
| Bethesda community school is play based and full day. They have an excellent reputation too. |
Anonymous
Thanks - will check them out! |
Anonymous
As a preschool teacher, you’re making a mistake to worry about reading and math now. Let them get prepared for kindergarten in kindergarten. Let them learn through play now, how to listen to instructions etc but stop rushing the kids How the hell did you get that I was rushing them in my post, wherein I say my primary desire is to find a preschool that offers lots of outdoor playtime and nurturing and kind teachers? I do not care when they learn to read, but I mentioned it because SECONDARILY I would like them to be exposed to phonics. Thanks for not offering anything useful and providing undue criticism to a mom who is extremely stressed out. People are so ridiculous. They are insecure that other kids will achieve more than theirs so they shame any parent who mentions reading/math/red shirting/academics. |
Anonymous
How the hell did you get that I was rushing them in my post, wherein I say my primary desire is to find a preschool that offers lots of outdoor playtime and nurturing and kind teachers? I do not care when they learn to read, but I mentioned it because SECONDARILY I would like them to be exposed to phonics. Thanks for not offering anything useful and providing undue criticism to a mom who is extremely stressed out. People are so ridiculous. They are insecure that other kids will achieve more than theirs so they shame any parent who mentions reading/math/red shirting/academics. I don’t think the preschool teacher responding was insecure about her own children. She was trying to be helpful and PP is clearly so stressed out that anything that deviates from what she is looking for she sees as unhelpful or a challenge to her parenting. And this post seems like a bit of a projection…most people interested in phonics/pre-math for a three year old or redshirting are insecure about their kids academic potential. |
Anonymous
People are so ridiculous. They are insecure that other kids will achieve more than theirs so they shame any parent who mentions reading/math/red shirting/academics. I don’t think the preschool teacher responding was insecure about her own children. She was trying to be helpful and PP is clearly so stressed out that anything that deviates from what she is looking for she sees as unhelpful or a challenge to her parenting. And this post seems like a bit of a projection…most people interested in phonics/pre-math for a three year old or redshirting are insecure about their kids academic potential. I am not concerned about phonics/pre-math for a three year old (who by the way is almost four), but would like them exposed to phonics and pre-math games before entering kindergarten (so at some point over the following 2.5 years). Through games and activities. I truly have no idea how this comes across projecting insecurity. The primary thing I would focus on is play and finding a nurturing environment. I guess I am just surprised by the reaction, as I am one of the least academically-focused of the parents I know when it comes to preschool. I want them to be a kid and I dread all the time they spend indoors in elementary. For goodness sake, we seriously considered Waldorf School, which is known to delay standard academics years compared to the public school system and focuses on the environment and movement, etc. |
Anonymous
How the hell did you get that I was rushing them in my post, wherein I say my primary desire is to find a preschool that offers lots of outdoor playtime and nurturing and kind teachers? I do not care when they learn to read, but I mentioned it because SECONDARILY I would like them to be exposed to phonics. Thanks for not offering anything useful and providing undue criticism to a mom who is extremely stressed out. Ha whoa calm down. The PP is right that non of the pre-phonics stuff matters at this age. That should make you LESS stressed, not more since you don't have to worry about finding it. Whewww. I’m a new poster and you sound crazy. No info for you, good luck! |
Anonymous
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Alright settle down everyone. We could all learn to communicate more kindly on these boards. Caring about pre-literacy and pre-math is not at all unreasonable based on what we currently know about ECE. These concepts can be introduced in very play-based way. Many young children are actually interested in math concepts (obviously not multiplication tables, but as part of games or counting acorns or whatever, yes). To say "you're making a mistake" to care about this as a secondary goal is just unnecessary.
OP, I would suggest not responding to people who are being needlessly judgmental. Take from these boards what is helpful and ignore the rest. If that's not feasible for you I would honestly stay away. Half of what people post on DCUM overall is inaccurate or irrelevant. |
Anonymous
Ha whoa calm down. The PP is right that non of the pre-phonics stuff matters at this age. That should make you LESS stressed, not more since you don't have to worry about finding it. Thanks for another "helpful" response - I regret ever putting anything in here about my lower priority thoughts - as stated, I am looking for a school with plenty of outdoor time and nurturing environment. I am not pushing academics onto a toddler. Unclear why that has been the focus of the two replies. I wanted feedback on three specific schools, not a refutation of something that is not even important to me that I added as an afterthought. I don't have anything to contribute re: feedback on those schools but I did want to say OP I agree that the responses you got above were super annoying! I don't see any issue with wanting a 3-4 year old learn their ABCs, numbers and maybe what 1+1 is. My 3 year old learned all the ABCs and what sound each letter makes in the past half year at his play based daycare and I assumed that was the norm... |
Anonymous
Thanks for another "helpful" response - I regret ever putting anything in here about my lower priority thoughts - as stated, I am looking for a school with plenty of outdoor time and nurturing environment. I am not pushing academics onto a toddler. Unclear why that has been the focus of the two replies. I wanted feedback on three specific schools, not a refutation of something that is not even important to me that I added as an afterthought. I don't have anything to contribute re: feedback on those schools but I did want to say OP I agree that the responses you got above were super annoying! I don't see any issue with wanting a 3-4 year old learn their ABCs, numbers and maybe what 1+1 is. My 3 year old learned all the ABCs and what sound each letter makes in the past half year at his play based daycare and I assumed that was the norm... I don't think there is any preschool teaching 3 year olds that doesn't teach kids the ABCs through songs, etc. That is not the same thing as looking for phonics. |
Anonymous
I don't have anything to contribute re: feedback on those schools but I did want to say OP I agree that the responses you got above were super annoying! I don't see any issue with wanting a 3-4 year old learn their ABCs, numbers and maybe what 1+1 is. My 3 year old learned all the ABCs and what sound each letter makes in the past half year at his play based daycare and I assumed that was the norm... I don't think there is any preschool teaching 3 year olds that doesn't teach kids the ABCs through songs, etc. That is not the same thing as looking for phonics. +1. My three year old are not ready for phonics. They don't have the attention span or the desire to learn about the sounds letters make in a meaningful way. And that's OK because they are three. |