Bright Horizons PK3 vs Public?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child stayed at BH for PK3 and learned so much more there than her old BH friends did in DCPS. Was taught to write their name and phonics for all of their letters. The convenience of having to scramble for after or back up care was also a perk. I also think the emotional support they can provide at BH was essential at that young age. They let kids be kids while teaching them. I don’t think we’d get that at DCPS.

FWIW, so OP knows, they do all of this ^ in DCPS.

There are pluses and minuses to either decision. But I do not want OP to think that somehow kids don't learn how to read/write in DCPS pre-k, or that they aren't received social/emotional support. Phonics, writing, and social emotional learning are the key components of most DCPS preschool programs.

Not every one. I have a friend who has been very unhappy their kid isn’t learning anything new in DCPS prek because they are spending more time teaching the kids who never had daycare group social skills their kid already knows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child stayed at BH for PK3 and learned so much more there than her old BH friends did in DCPS. Was taught to write their name and phonics for all of their letters. The convenience of having to scramble for after or back up care was also a perk. I also think the emotional support they can provide at BH was essential at that young age. They let kids be kids while teaching them. I don’t think we’d get that at DCPS.

FWIW, so OP knows, they do all of this ^ in DCPS.

There are pluses and minuses to either decision. But I do not want OP to think that somehow kids don't learn how to read/write in DCPS pre-k, or that they aren't received social/emotional support. Phonics, writing, and social emotional learning are the key components of most DCPS preschool programs.

Not every one. I have a friend who has been very unhappy their kid isn’t learning anything new in DCPS prek because they are spending more time teaching the kids who never had daycare group social skills their kid already knows.

Which school? They completely jettison all phonics/reading/writing to “teach social skills”? That makes no sense at all and is completely unbelievable.

[Anonymous]

I’ve logged more than 2 years at a downtown federal BH and PK3 + 4 at Miner. We were happy at BH, but honestly it’s a no brainer to use the free pre-k over it. It’s a real school, the teachers are more qualified/much better paid, and likely will be a lot more convenient in your day to day life. Yes, you’ll have to deal with more days off and summer camp. But that’s just part of having a school age kid. Save your money, especially if you’re considering private later on.

[Anonymous]

I would switch to DCPS preK. Use the bright horizons for no school days and summer during the preK years.

[Anonymous]

Our experience was that BH is more free-play based with some mild structure to the day and center-time but mirrored more of a daycare type experience.
DCPS PreK on the other hand, places a lot more expectations on kids to sit still, engage in small group activities, centers, circle time, field trips etc. They do follow a curriculum and are assessed based on their understanding of numbers, letters, and early math concepts like grouping and similarity.

Some kids (mine included) struggle with maintaining attention on a task, participating in group activities and following instruction. There are assessments and parent/teacher meetings and your child may be referred for supports to help them meet these expectations if they are falling behind. The focus in DCPS PreK is on K readiness which may be more beneficial for kids like mine who take longer and require more time to understand routines and practice maintaining attention and following schedules.

We still use BH for backup care on no school days, and spring/winter breaks. Check if your employer covers subsidized backup care, it's a sometimes overlooked benefit that comes in very handy for exactly this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child stayed at BH for PK3 and learned so much more there than her old BH friends did in DCPS. Was taught to write their name and phonics for all of their letters. The convenience of having to scramble for after or back up care was also a perk. I also think the emotional support they can provide at BH was essential at that young age. They let kids be kids while teaching them. I don’t think we’d get that at DCPS.

They should definitely be working on all these things in DCPS PK; and if they're not your friends' parents should complain to their school. That's pretty basic stuff.
Our DCPS PK program has kids writing out observations/outcomes for basic science experiments, latin class and doing simple math problems, letters/numbers/names should be a given for PK if the school is even partially competent.

I would probably agree with you that BH was more lovey/emotionally supportive, so if your kid benefits from that, by all means. I don't think the academic argument has too much merit though, unless they experienced a particularly terrible program or something.