Top Ten Preschools?
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Anonymous
| it is a one-room Montessori. Very well-regarded. |
Anonymous
| I had never heard of Children's House and i live in Georgetown. |
Anonymous
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I am another parent who has a child at St. Columba's and we are thrilled! The vibe is just right...play oriented with an eye to the future needs of Kindergarten. I feel like my child has grown as a person in GOOD ways and the parents really are NORMAL (which is lovely). I could not be happier, but honestly, I mostly picked the school b/c it was blocks from my house. Proximity is AS important as prominence.
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Anonymous
I would advise prospective families to look up all of these schools on previous threads, but particularly St. Columba's, which had some serious issues last year. |
Anonymous
| I am a pp who mentioned Children's House. My children did not go there, they went to another preschool in G'town, but I have friends from In Town Playgroup who's children went and do go there and they love it. They seriously raved about it and these are people who's opinions I hold in regard so I figured it should get a mention. Also, I have never heard anyone say anything negative. |
Anonymous
| My child goes to Children's House in Georgetown. It's a very good school. Great teachers and a very relaxed environment. |
Anonymous
It is absurd to compare Little Folks to St. Patrick's or Aidan. The AD of Little Folks stated without hesitation in the open house that parents should not expect their children to learn to read at the preschool. The place is essentially a glorified playgroup, and should be mentioned in the same breath as Intown or Blue Igloo or Little Graces. To compare it to schools with academic programs simply reflects the poster's deep ignorance about any of these schools. Most likely, the poster is just passing on rumors.... |
Anonymous
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Should children learn to read in preschool? Does learning to read make a preschool "good"?
Did the OP even -ask- for the best preschools "with an excellent academic program"? I don't agree with the In That Order poster, but this last post is stupid in a completely different way. |
Anonymous
Anyone who actually WANTS their kid to learn to read in preschool is the insane one (sorry, let me use your own word: absurd). Little Folks does just what a preschool should do. It lets 2, 3, and 4 year olds explore learning through experience. Most of that is through play. |
Anonymous
I am quoting myself here and i think it is apropos |
Anonymous
You must have allegiance to Little Folks. If you strongly believe that a child who is 3 or 4 years old should not be doing things that enable him to learn to read, then I feel sorry for your kids.... |
Anonymous
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My daughter learned to read while at Little Folks. I don't think they taught her- I think she taught herself - but they certainly helped the process along. They taught her to write her name and helped her figure out the spelling of other words she wanted to write. They use the Montessori materials as well. In pre-k at a bigger school she was clearly just as well prepared academically and as well or better prepared socially than the rest of the kids in the class.
The comparison with the playgroups isn't accurate. She attended one of those, too, and while it was a great experience for the younger kids, it's completely different from Little Folks. While far less structured than the school where my daughter is now, Little Folks has much more structure and approaches learning and development with much more thoughtfulness. And parents don't attend with the kids. What mattered to me was that my daughter came home from Little Folks every day with a smile on her face. She learned from the older kids in the classroom and learned to help the younger kids in the classroom. She learned to take care of her friends and her things and to respect others. She learned about the importance of being a helper in the community. She learned how much fun it can be to explore the world around her and try new things and make new friends. Little Folks provided teachers who were experienced, loving, fun guides throughout, a welcoming and caring community, constant communication about how and what she was doing, and a framework to put it all together. I am sure it isn't the right school for everyone. I don't think any school that small can be. However, it was the right school for us and I don't think we're the only ones who feel that way. |
Anonymous
| We were at Little Folks last year and a child on my DC's class could read quite well. The child left a G & T program in the burbs to go to Little Folks. My DC wasn't reading yet, but there were several kids in DC's class who were reading and writing. Little Folks is play based with a ton of art, but they must be doing something right. All of the kids who move on seem to get into the independent schools of their choice. |
Anonymous
| "glorified playgroup" - apparently you have not done much research on the play-based approach to early childhood education. Why push academic on little kids, they will get that in kindergarten - it is good to have them explore learning while young so they can develop a lifelong curiosity and love of learning. Some people seek out play-based schools, including myself... and I love the results in my child. You might as well lump SfF into the same breath as Little folks, as it is proud to be playbased. |
Anonymous
I knew how to read before I went to K -- is that uncommon? I assumed all children would have this skill by then, and that preschools would include it in their curriculum? (And PS, I spent 1 year at a unprestigious preschool only so my mom could go back to work, and started K in public school). |