pre-k schools recommendation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even if it's the nanny doing the driving, having your kid strapped into a car seat for that long every day is torture for the kid. Location is really important. Keep in mind, too, that the current low levels of traffic can easily cut commute time in half of what it will normally be.

Thank you very much for the suggestion! We haven't decided where to live, but would like to take school options into consideration when we make the decision.

I can truly appreciate wanting to take school into consideration when making a decision about where to live, but "Potomac" and "Bethesda" are huge areas, and that's not even including "North Potomac" and "North Bethesda." Maybe Covid will change things permanently, but I doubt it, and once traffic gets back to normal (actually, it could be worse than normal for a while if people shun public transportation for cars until a vaccine really takes), the traffic in the DC area is some of the worst in the country. There are plenty of great pre-schools in both areas, perhaps more in the Bethesda/NW DC area just because of density, so I'd first focus on an area that makes sense for the other aspects of your life, and then just make sure that there are some good pre-k options nearby. You'll get plenty of recommendations on this forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi! My son is turning 3 in January, and we are moving to the DC area from Europe in the spring. Due to travel restrictions it would be hard for us to visit any schools at this point. I've looked at some schools' website and scheduled a few virtual visits. But since I'm not very familiar with the education system in the US, I wonder if anyone could recommend a few good pre-k schools to look at.

Right now we are considering woods academy and crestview montesorri school. Are there any other good pre-k schools in the area? Thank you very much in advance!

Country Day in McLean is amazing and has great Covid protections. Also all outdoors for Covid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Decide where you are living first. Then look for school.

Thank you for the suggestion! We are considering Bethesda and Potomac.

Any reason you wouldn't consider Virginia?

There are some good pre-Ks in McLean (not to mention good schools beyond that and other reasons to live in VA).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even if it's the nanny doing the driving, having your kid strapped into a car seat for that long every day is torture for the kid. Location is really important. Keep in mind, too, that the current low levels of traffic can easily cut commute time in half of what it will normally be.

Thank you very much for the suggestion! We haven't decided where to live, but would like to take school options into consideration when we make the decision.

Personally, I wouldn't take Pre-K into consideration when deciding where to live. I appreciate living close to a school and I think it can be a huge benefit (although realize that many of your children's classmates will live all over the place), but there are so many good Pre-Ks in the DC area that picking a place to live based just on that would be incredibly foolish.

I would place a priority on where jobs will be, since DC commutes can be sole-crushing.

[Anonymous]

You mean soul-crushing, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even if it's the nanny doing the driving, having your kid strapped into a car seat for that long every day is torture for the kid. Location is really important. Keep in mind, too, that the current low levels of traffic can easily cut commute time in half of what it will normally be.

Thank you very much for the suggestion! We haven't decided where to live, but would like to take school options into consideration when we make the decision.

Personally, I wouldn't take Pre-K into consideration when deciding where to live. I appreciate living close to a school and I think it can be a huge benefit (although realize that many of your children's classmates will live all over the place), but there are so many good Pre-Ks in the DC area that picking a place to live based just on that would be incredibly foolish.

I would place a priority on where jobs will be, since DC commutes can be sole-crushing.

I agree with this poster. There are a lot of great preschools in the area, and it's such a short period of time that I don't think it makes sense to choose your location for a preschool. At the same time, work commutes can be BRUTAL. Our preschool commute was also on the way to work, which I appreciated. It made morning drop off a little more efficient, and it meant that the commute wasn't quite as long when I needed to go from work to school (e.g., for class parties or things like that).

Also make sure to look at the hours the preschool offers, if you'll need full day care for your child. Most have some sort of after care, but some only go until 5 pm or so, which can be tough if both parents are working standard 9-5 jobs (this was the case with NCRC when we were there a few years ago).

One other consideration is whether you may want to do private school after preschool. If you do, it makes sense to look at those schools for preschool, or preschools where a large amount of the kids usually go to private school after preschool. For the former, a lot of kids that go to the private school for preschool are likely to stay on for K and beyond, so you're child will be a part of that community if you want to stay. On the other hand, private schools that have an elementary component may not be as helpful if you want to apply elsewhere after preschool. For preschools where a lot of kids go to private school, those schools may be more helpful when you're applying for private elementary. Those schools tend to be in NW DC (NCRC is one), since NW DC parents are more likely to go the private route than parents in other areas.

[Anonymous]

Washington International School -- Spanish or French immersion. Tremendous school!

[Anonymous]

My recommendation for the sanest approach:

1. Determine where your physical offices for work will be, since that will ultimately determine your commute.

2. Determine where you want to live. In households with two professionals, in the DC area it's fairly common for the two jobs to be nowhere near one another, necessitating some kind of compromise on commute.

3. Determine where you're going to send your child to school. To maximize sanity, the school should be along the home-to-work route for the parent who will be doing dropoff/pickup.

Note that many commute times are asymmetric. The morning commute is often much faster than the evening commute. That should definitely be kept in mind as you look at aftercare options and whether or not the aftercare hours will extend long enough for a parent to get there after their workday, given the likelihood of terrible traffic. (Also think about how much spare room you have before the end of hours, for those days when the traffic is unusually bad, which will probably happen at least once a month.)

[Anonymous]

Another big fan of NCRC and Beauvoir here. We experienced both. NCRC is just amazing for the little ones. Teachers are wonderful, place is beautiful and administration is well organized and caring. I don’t know why you would want to live in Bethesda or Potomac if you are planning to send your child to private school. I think those areas have the best public schools in the DMV, but they are far from downtown DC. There are so many nice neighborhoods to choose from inDC if you don’t plan on private school... unless you will be working for NIH... in that casa I understand wanting to be in Bethesda/Potomac

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hands down, NCRC (National Child Research Center) in Northwest DC is one of the best preschools in the area (if not the best).

Best of the luck with the move!

Agree! I visited a number of preschools and was struck by what a special place NCRC is. And our DC, who entered NCRC with developmental delays, has progressed tremendously and loves going to school. We've also been impressed by how they've managed COVID this year. Highly recommend but agree with others that you should figure out where you'll be living first. There are a number of great preschools throughout the DC area; there's no need for a long commute.

We thought NCRC was lovely.

We ultimately chose Lowell for our daughter. Now in our fourth year there, and we couldn’t be happier. It’s a diverse, down to earth community. Parents are largely reasonable about the limitations of school amid a pandemic. Lowell has worked tirelessly to make things safe and equitable. We are just so pleased with it. They truly support the social/emotional well being of each child, and I can’t think of a better place for my daughter to be during such a challenging time. It’s made us better parents, too.

If you started your daughter in preschool at Lowell- that means she is anywhere from 1st through 3rd grade- which is all remote! Not sure how equitable it is to have 1-3 grade remote while bringing back older children who can do distance learning much better.

That’s changing in January, precisely for equity reasons.

And the reasons they are remote right now are completely fair. We recognize we are in the middle of a pandemic. There are circumstances admin cannot control, and they are doing their best.

Ultimately, we love the school and community, and we are giving grace to anyone making hard decisions right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi! My son is turning 3 in January, and we are moving to the DC area from Europe in the spring. Due to travel restrictions it would be hard for us to visit any schools at this point. I've looked at some schools' website and scheduled a few virtual visits. But since I'm not very familiar with the education system in the US, I wonder if anyone could recommend a few good pre-k schools to look at.

Right now we are considering woods academy and crestview montesorri school. Are there any other good pre-k schools in the area? Thank you very much in advance!

Manor Montessori

[Anonymous]

Note that many schools mentioned here do not take in 3 years old kids such as Norwood.

[Anonymous]

100% agree to pick house first based on commute and then find a preschool. We are blessed with many great preschools here, but commutes can be terrible. Fix the hardest problem first.

[Anonymous]

Norwood's pre-k starts at 4 years old, but it was definitely a magical year for my son--such a warm, loving place. Play-based with a ton of outside time. He made so much progress both socially/emotionally and all the basic academics. Hope your move goes smoothly and good luck!

[Anonymous]

You will find many other people who have previously lived in Europe at Oneness Family School in Bethesda. Montessori and a very international warm community. We loved our time there for pre-k through 1st.