Down to earth, play-based, preschool and non-elitist private school recs for Bethesda/NW

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am relocating back to Bethesda from San Francisco next spring. My son will be turning two shortly thereafter and I will likely not have time to travel back east to attend open houses. I am a psychotherapist and former K-8 school counselor. Reggio Emilia preschools are very hot in the field right now- many of my colleagues people believe that this approach is ideal for the emotional development of young children, which in my opinion is more important for them versus regimented learning (e.g.: I don't plan to enroll him in suzuki method violin or expect him to be trilingual & a golf pro prior to kindergarten). My preliminary research has uncovered that all of the preschools that offer this approach in the area are religious in orientation. I am jewish but my husband is a staunch atheist, so I am hoping to find some recommendations for schools that are secular that might integrate Reggio elements. I am interested in ultimately finding a private school setting for my son as I am a product of Mont. Co public schools and had a very negative experience in HS and would like to lay the foundation to find him a smaller, more contained but non-elitist private school (I fantasize there is some Waldorf-Sidwell hybrid out there- anyone know of such a magical place?). Any insight would be most appreciated!

-Erika B.

[Anonymous]

Maybe try Washington Waldorf or Oneness-Family:
http://www.washingtonwaldorf.org/
http://www.onenessfamily.org/

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the recommendations. I am a bit too conservative for Waldorf and Oneness...I think it's a backlash from living in Berkeley. I think looking for a slightly more mainstream school. Anyone else have any recs? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I'm nominally a Jew, and my husband is a staunch non-affiliator (raised Catholic), and we're sending our son to Temple Sinai's pre-school in the fall. It's play-based and very, very warm. I had intended to apply to multiple pre-schools and wasn't inclined to do a synagogue pre-school, but when I went to the open house, I was sold. (It's also a few blocks from my house in Chevy Chase DC, so that was a huge selling point, too.) It's a reform synagogue, and religious education is not the primary goal of the pre-school. My impression is that there are many children from mixed families, as well as kids with no Jewish family.

Good luck, wherever you end up.

[Anonymous]

Secular, Reggio-Emilia, non-elitist, private, Bethesda/NWDC? There's only one....the World Bank Children's Center. Other completely secular options are not in Bethesda/NWDC. You'll have to go to other parts of DC or Virginia. These include Peabody's School-Within-A-School (Capitol Hill), the Compass School (Manassas) and Discovery Woods (Vienna).

Many of the best preschools in the area are in fact located inside a church/synagogue/etc. The Reggio-Emilia ones are St. John's Episcopal Preschool in Georgetown, Ohr Kodesh in Chevy Chase, Beverly Hills Church Preschool in Alexandria.

I believe that's it for Reggio Emilia in the DC metropolitan area.

[Anonymous]

You should look into Wonders. www.wonderschildcare.org.

[Anonymous]

Temple Emanuel in Kensington is opening a Reggio school this fall as well with the former director from the DC JCC who is very experienced in Reggio. They are on Connecticut Ave just South of Knowles.

[Anonymous]

Every time this thread comes up and I see the descriptions "down to earth" and "non-elitist" connected with Bethesda, I LOL. It's all relative, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all of your feedback. Elitism in an upper middle class community is indeed a relative term! However, I did manage to find some lovely, modest, well-adjusted people in Bethesda as a child and have faith that they are still out there and sending their kids to a great preschool in the community.

[Anonymous]

Are you interested in a co-op nursery school? They might not have a strictly Reggio curriculum, but they would be smaller, contained, and non-elitist.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I am definitely open to co-op! I didn't mention this because I am planning to try to become pregnant in the fall and suspect I might not have quite the amount of availability needed for co-op with a newborn around.

[Anonymous]

A Berkeley grad here. We're going with the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Cooperative Nursery School (http://www.bccnurseryschool.org/). Kids have to be 3 by the time they start in September, though.

[Anonymous]

try harbor school. http://www.theharborschool.org/ totally fits your criteria, they have a class that your child might be eligible for (the so-called "young 3s". They are completely secular and do not do any of the religious holidays at all, no matter the faith.

[Anonymous]

Westmoreland Children's Center: http://www.westmorelandchildrenscenter.com/

Not Reggio, but down-to-earth, play-based, and very warm. Particularly recommend Pilgrim center, despite recent turnover (which has actually had the benefit of bringing some of WCC's most experienced teachers back to teach at Pilgrim).

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for all of the great recommendations! I will check these out in addition to Apple Montessori....