Daycare options - Takoma Park to College Park

[Anonymous]

Hi Moms!

I am looking for daycare options in either Takoma Park (where I live) and College Park (where I work). Any recommendations? I am open for either a center or an in-home option. Our budget is kind of tight (1500-1800) so I am wondering if an in-home daycare might be more affordable? How do you recommend I find a quality, safe in-home option? Our baby is due in Jan. 30 and probably would look to start daycare first week of April 2017 (just in case there is any one willing to nanny-share with us )

thanks all!

[Anonymous]

I live just north of Takoma Park city limit in Silver Spring. I am expecting my first in early January and plan to return to work late March/early April. I'm haven't done a lot of searching for centers between Takoma Park and College Park since I work in Bethesda, but it would be worth contacting Monday Morning Moms to get an idea of home daycare costs near you. Silver Spring Presbyterian Church Children's Center (SSPCCC) may be on your way to work depending on the route you take. They would be at the upper end of your price range.

Also, I would be open to Nanny Share. Feel free to email me (LauraRKennedy11 [at] gmail [dot] com).

[Anonymous]

Greenwood School near PG plaza
Sunny Days in the FDA building in college park
Archives has a daycare too I think.

Are you looking for an infant? UMD also has full time care at the Center For Young Children but that starts at age 3.

[Anonymous]

Oops, just re-read your post, CYC won't work for you but if you are at all interests in it for later, get on the wait list.

Greenwood is pretty impossible to get into for an infant but I know a couple people who have had luck st Sunny Days.

[Anonymous]

I have friends who have been sending their children to Greenway Learning Center in Greenbelt for years and have been very happy. According to their website, their infant tuition is $1,340/month ($670 semimonthly). I don't know anything about their openings. http://greenwaylearningcenter.com/glc-at-a-glance/

I'm also sure you can find other places between Takoma and College Park that are well within your price range or less than $1,500/month.

[Anonymous]

Also, to check if a provider is licensed, you can look at the Maryland Early Care and Education Program lists (pdfs) here: http://earlychildhood.marylandpublicschools.org/families/finding-child-care/early-care-and-education-program-lists

and the Maryland Child Care Mapping Tool here: http://geodata.md.gov/mdcc/

Both links include the same providers, but the lists provide the capacity for providers and the mapping tool provides the ages for which the provider is licensed and the times during which the provider is licensed to operate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live just north of Takoma Park city limit in Silver Spring. I am expecting my first in early January and plan to return to work late March/early April. I'm haven't done a lot of searching for centers between Takoma Park and College Park since I work in Bethesda, but it would be worth contacting Monday Morning Moms to get an idea of home daycare costs near you. Silver Spring Presbyterian Church Children's Center (SSPCCC) may be on your way to work depending on the route you take. They would be at the upper end of your price range.

Also, I would be open to Nanny Share. Feel free to email me (LauraRKennedy11 [at] gmail [dot] com).

NP. We've been very happy here, OP, for what it's worth.

There's a Small Wonder facility at the USDA in Beltsville, but employees get first priority.

Greenwood School in Hyattsville might work depending on your commute route, but I haven't heard much about parent experiences.

[Anonymous]

^^ I know many many families who have been happy with Greenwood, myself included. But it's pretty impossible to get an infant spot. My DC didn't start there until age 3. If you aren't due until January it wouldn't hurt to give them a call and get on the wait list.

[Anonymous]

Your best bet in this region is to go with a nanny share. It will probably run you $400-500 p/m. More flexibility. Well worth the investment, especially for a DC <1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have friends who have been sending their children to Greenway Learning Center in Greenbelt for years and have been very happy. According to their website, their infant tuition is $1,340/month ($670 semimonthly). I don't know anything about their openings. http://greenwaylearningcenter.com/glc-at-a-glance/

I'm also sure you can find other places between Takoma and College Park that are well within your price range or less than $1,500/month.

My two kids go here and I love the place. It is a little bit out of the way for your commute though. It is also very hard to get an infant spot without sibling preference. My advice is to get on their list and decide whether to take it when a spot becomes available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Greenwood School near PG plaza
Sunny Days in the FDA building in college park
Archives has a daycare too I think.

Are you looking for an infant? UMD also has full time care at the Center For Young Children but that starts at age 3.

Yup, these three are the pretty standard centers for the College Park area. The one at Archives II is Easter Seals, I think. And Sunny Days at USDA is technically in Riverdale Park and is a Georgetown Hill facility, just in case you're having a hard time finding it. All three are federal, I think, so federal employees get preference, but I know at least two families that got infant spots at Sunny Days without either parent being a federal employee (and yet I know another family that's still waitlisted even though one parent is a federal employee--so there's a lot of luck associated with timing). Most of our neighbors in CP who aren't federal employees send their infants to St. Jerome's in Hyattsville. I can't speak to it beyond that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Greenwood School near PG plaza
Sunny Days in the FDA building in college park
Archives has a daycare too I think.

Are you looking for an infant? UMD also has full time care at the Center For Young Children but that starts at age 3.

Yup, these three are the pretty standard centers for the College Park area. The one at Archives II is Easter Seals, I think. And Sunny Days at USDA is technically in Riverdale Park and is a Georgetown Hill facility, just in case you're having a hard time finding it. All three are federal, I think, so federal employees get preference, but I know at least two families that got infant spots at Sunny Days without either parent being a federal employee (and yet I know another family that's still waitlisted even though one parent is a federal employee--so there's a lot of luck associated with timing). Most of our neighbors in CP who aren't federal employees send their infants to St. Jerome's in Hyattsville. I can't speak to it beyond that.

Me again. As of three years ago, all of these centers were definitely less than $1800/mo for infant care. I know they're not good about announcing their tuition on their websites, so I just didn't want you to assume that they'd be too expensive (just because the federal centers downtown are all pricier).

[Anonymous]

This list of centers was posted on another current thread:

Heritage Learning Center
Rhema
Our Redeemer
St. Ann's
Gateway

The first four are all close to each other around Michigan Ave and Eastern Ave, so from TP it would probably be about 10 minutes for you to drive to day care, then less than 15 minutes out to College Park. Heritage is $300 per week for infants, Rhema is $270 per week for infants. Michigan Ave turns into Queens Chapel in MD and if you drive out Queens Chapel you can see several more signs for day cares, some in-homes and some centers.

[Anonymous]

I'm hoping this doesn't come off as mean, although I don't know about greenwood, but if you aren't already wait listed at most of these places you probably won't get a spot by April. I know that sounds crazy, but most parents sign up for the list as soon as they find out they are expecting and still don't get in that soon.

The hyattsville/college park/riverdale area has a serious lack of good centers and there's a huge influx of young families moving in. I'd definitely consider a nanny share.

[Anonymous]

Mi Palacio is pretty popular and supposed to be good. I think it's on the DC side by the Takoma Metro. I believe there's an in-home daycare around there, too, but I don't know the name of it.

Are you on the TakomaPAKK listserv? If not, subscribe and search the archives, and I think you'll find some good advice. There are also Takoma Mamas groups at the Takoma DC library that you can join and ask for advice.