Recommendations for preschool in DC

[Anonymous]

I am wondering if anyone can recommend their preschool in DC...I am pretty clueless on these matters and thought if I had some references it would give me a place to start. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

What part of the city? In upper NW, the usual suspects are CCBC, Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church (CCPC), Adas Israel, Temple Sinai, Montessori of Chevy Chase, Franklin Montessori, St. Columba's, Amazing Life Games, and NCRC. I'm certainly missing some, but that's a good list to start with. A lot depends on how old your child is (some start at 18 mos, but 2+ yo is more common), whether you have a pedagogical preference (play-based v. Montessori, for example), how many days/week you're looking for, whether you care about religious affiliation, and whether you're planning to send your child to certain private schools (in which case I believe certain pre-schools are considered feeders).

Personally, I just wanted a friendly, nurturing program close to home. Didn't really care about pedagogy, plan to send my kids to DC public schools, was open to schools at synagogues and churches. My older son will be attending Temple Sinai in the fall (he'll be turning 3); also looked at CCBC, CCPC, Adas, Montessori of Chevy Chase, and Amazing Life Games. I feel confident that he would have been happy at any one of them, but again, we cared far more about atmosphere/environment than pedagogy.

Hope this helps -- if you can give more detail on your preferences, posters can probably give you more specific recommendations.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thank you for your response. I guess I didn't realize there was so much to think about. I, too, think my kids will go to DC public schools. We live in Brookland, in NE, but I am not opposed to going to other parts of the city. In fact, I sort of figured I would because I don't know that there are any schools nearby that would be a good fit for us. I am thinking that I would like her to go part time, if that exists, especially at first. Religious affiliation is not a deciding factor in our case.

Thanks again!