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Little Folks - really that great?
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Anonymous
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Is this school NAEYC accredited?
Indeed it does seem very expensive, and not conducive to both parents working! |
Anonymous
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It is not accredited.
Why would it not be conducive to both parents working? There are lots of families there where both parents work, and many important things like the back to school-night, next-step schools program, valentines dance, etc. .. are held in the evening. Volunteer activities can vary from time in the morning or afternoon to dropping off sandwich supplies for the community service project to helping with the playground garden planting on the weekend. |
Anonymous
| Wow - very expensive for not being accredited! It is my understanding that the end of the extended day is 3:45... do most people work 9-5... also, it is not a year round program which forces you to come up with summer plans. |
Anonymous
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There is no extended day. It is a school and the day ends at 2:45. I agree it is not convenient for many people. Many would have to get a babysitter or arrange with a relative to pick up, if both parents work. But this would inevitably happen at kindergarten as well (every kindergarten I know ends before 3 pm), so I'm not sure why preschools get this kind of backlash. Not every preschool can also function as a childcare center.
It's a great school. |
Anonymous
| There's a summer camp which runs from June 9-August 1, either half-day or full-day. |
Anonymous
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To 13:11, I agree this school does not seem to be right for you.
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Anonymous
| There will be aftercare programs for K-12 that bring you up to 6PM. It is a lot of money for the number of hours/day and the fact that it is not a 12 month program NOR accredited.... |
Anonymous
| Alot of very good schools that have mixed aged classes (Little Folks, many Montessoris) are not NAEYC accredited because their structure does not work with the NAEYC teacher/student ratio requirements. I suspect this is the case with Little Folks. I wouldn't really question whether it is a good school based on whether or not it's accredited by NAEYC. That said, I do think it's on the high end for tuition (there are a set of preschools like NCRC, River School, St. Johns and Little Folks) that are a step up in tuition from many others. They are still much less than private school pre-K costs, but they are expensive especially if you figure in aftercare costs for a nanny/babysitter. Still kindergarten and elementary full day will end at 3 too..and there will be aftercare costs then. |
Anonymous
| How does School for Friends compare to Little Folks? |
Anonymous
| apples to oranges. SfF is accredited, does accommodate working families very well, is year-round, etc. Also, from what I have been reading here as my guide ONLY, the whole vibe is completely different. The school does not attract a lot of people whose goal it is to get in to a private school. Most kids go on to DC public schools or to privates like Lowell that share similar philosophies with SfF (child-centered learning, less emphasis on "traditional" academics, more emphasis on play-based learning). Very down-to-earth parents. A great place, and very low key. |
Anonymous
\ I hope you're still here somewhere and can elaborate. Are you saying that Little Folks parents are NOT low-key? Do you feel like it has a good sense of community? Or is it just a bunch of local/Georgetown families? Will I be able to set up playdates with other kids if we don't live close to the school? Will teachers go out of their way to help shy children - or children who are very physical/active and have a hard time sitting still? |
Anonymous
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I am still here, but I am a SfF parent, not a Little Folks parent, so I can't really answer your questions.
All I was saying, was the SfF is not a "status-oriented" place and from the comments on this board ONLY, I have gleaned that people on this board are trying to attend Little Folks for purposes of "feeding" into an elite private school. I can say definitively that parents at SfF are not expecting SfF to bear those same fruits, so it just attracts a different crowd. That is not to say that kids at SfF don't go on to elite schools, they do AND it is not to say that the parents at Little Folks are not a friendly welcoming bunch, they may well be! |
Anonymous
20:23 - I'm a Little Folks parent. The school is small and the parent community is very low-key, warm, and welcoming. There are many opportunities to meet the other parents, beginning with a party in May and a family picnic / puppet show in June. We were invited for playdates (sometimes by parents we hadn't yet met) as soon as the year began, and my child's friends are from all over NW DC, and a few from VA. There are a lot of people who live in the neighborhood (like us), but that's to be expected - one of the reasons we picked the school is because we can walk there. Georgetowners can be friendly, too  .
Although most LF kids do go on to private school, I don't get the sense that anyone is there in order to get into the elite private schools. They go on to those schools because they live in districts where the public schools are not very good. Picking a preschool for its "exmissions" record isn't a great idea - if you're going to consider LF please consider it because it's a very warm, nurturing, play-based school where your child will learn to love school and the staff will help your child meet his/her potential with a lot of individual attention and a strong emphasis on social skills. Our child has really grown there. We love the place and the community. |
Anonymous
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Is it true that most kids come to LF from the local play groups? Blue Igloo and InTown?
I am just trying to figure out if/how my child will fit into the school and larger community. So thank you for any answers. |
Anonymous
| This year, only two (of 40) are from Intown, slightly more from Blue Igloo but certainly not most. |