Bethesda country day school reputation...is it too early to look around???

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Hello!

Our son is only 9 months old and I currently stay home with him. Once he turns 2 years old we would like for him to attend a part-time pre-school. We realize we still have several months before he reaches 2, however, we keep hearing things about "long waiting lists" and stuff... So here are our questions:

1. Is it too early to start looking around for a pre-school that we will need in over a year? If so, when is it a better time to do so?

2. Has anyone had any experience or know anything about this place?? Any idea of costs??

3. Any other pre-school setting anyone can recommend in the Bethesda/Rockville area??? Any bilingual (Spanish) pre-school in these areas??

We feel so clueless about all of this, and thought this would be a good place to start.

We appreciate any feedback we can get from people...

Thanks so much!

[Anonymous]

My daughter attends Bethesda Country Day School and we are quite pleased with it. Initially, I was hesitant due to some posts on the boards but most of them were from families who had children or neighbors that attended years ago.

The school has a curriculum that incorporates Spanish into their everyday learning. We are sent home the milestones they are working on each month and progress reports every few months. The communication between the main office, the teachers and the school have been great. The facility while a bit institutional is great. It has a library, music room and a playroom (for days that are rainy or too cold to go outside. Classroom size is small. My childs class has 12 children on MWF and 8 on TTH and has 2 teachers. They offer enrichment activities such as dance, soccer and art also.

M-F half day is about $800 a month.

My only real gripe with the school is the parking situation....a nightmare!

[Anonymous]

Great info, thank so much. If we needed a spot during the summer 2010, when would you suggest we start inquiring directly with the school??

The location is perfect for us, as we live about 5 blocks away from it, but I can imagine the difficulty of the parking situation.