Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We love the BCC center. I don’t know that if call it “crunchy” but it’s definitely play based, which was important to me when looking at centers. They don’t make the kids sit at a table and do photocopied worksheets to do math. That said, my DS was 100% ready for kindergarten. The kids learn through play and experiments and activities. I have found the teachers to be caring and creative. I trust the teachers and directors and they have done a wonderful job during COVID. They also are able to go on walks in the neighborhood around BCC high school, which was also important to me in choosing a center.

This sounds like an ad. There seems like a troll for sure. Also it was important dor you that your kids walk around a neighborhood near the high school? Are you serious? It’s a main road with several cars driving through? Why not find a place that has a larger play space? It’s because you are a troll. Not safe to walk neighborhoods with 20 three year olds. What happens when one runs out into the street?

Lol, so funny. This is the first time in years on this site that I've been accused of being a troll (also, I don't think that's the meaning of the word troll since there is nothing in my post that is trying to antagonize anyone). So, anyway, on the topic of walks for others who are interested -- I agree that a daycare with a giant outdoor play space would be ideal. But, there are not many daycares near to my somewhat urban home in Bethesda that have large outdoor play spaces. The BCC Shoe does have a nice space to the side of the center that is shaded, but it's not huge by any standards. I figured a compromise would be to have a way school that takes the kids out for lots of walks or uses the neighborhood playgrounds - which the BCC center does. If you have driven in the neighborhood behind the BCC high school, you will see that it's a regular neighborhood with sidewalks. My understanding at the time that I toured the centers several years ago was that the East West Center did not go for walks in the neighborhood around BCC high school because it would require crossing East West Highway with a bunch of kids. But I don't know that is still the case. I also felt that walking around a neighborhood teaches the kids about their community. They count mailboxes, they watch construction trucks, they see different types of community workers. Regarding the question about the safety of going out for walks with little kids, perhaps you've never seen this done, but usually there is a teacher at the front of the line, the kids all hold onto a loop on a rope, and there is a teacher at the end of the line. Kids wear little vests or IDs around their neck. It's also another opportunity for teachers to teach the kids how to behave safely - at corners, look both ways and so on. Actually, pre-pandemic when I worked downtown, I would see daycares bring their kids out for walks quite frequently. So, it's not a safety issue at all if you trust the daycare to employ some basic rules (which I do at the Shoe because I have been a parent there for years).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We love the BCC center. I don’t know that if call it “crunchy” but it’s definitely play based, which was important to me when looking at centers. They don’t make the kids sit at a table and do photocopied worksheets to do math. That said, my DS was 100% ready for kindergarten. The kids learn through play and experiments and activities. I have found the teachers to be caring and creative. I trust the teachers and directors and they have done a wonderful job during COVID. They also are able to go on walks in the neighborhood around BCC high school, which was also important to me in choosing a center.

This sounds like an ad. There seems like a troll for sure. Also it was important dor you that your kids walk around a neighborhood near the high school? Are you serious? It’s a main road with several cars driving through? Why not find a place that has a larger play space? It’s because you are a troll. Not safe to walk neighborhoods with 20 three year olds. What happens when one runs out into the street?

Goddard troll, is that you?!

What? Lol. Just a parent that knows better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We love the BCC center. I don’t know that if call it “crunchy” but it’s definitely play based, which was important to me when looking at centers. They don’t make the kids sit at a table and do photocopied worksheets to do math. That said, my DS was 100% ready for kindergarten. The kids learn through play and experiments and activities. I have found the teachers to be caring and creative. I trust the teachers and directors and they have done a wonderful job during COVID. They also are able to go on walks in the neighborhood around BCC high school, which was also important to me in choosing a center.

This sounds like an ad. There seems like a troll for sure. Also it was important dor you that your kids walk around a neighborhood near the high school? Are you serious? It’s a main road with several cars driving through? Why not find a place that has a larger play space? It’s because you are a troll. Not safe to walk neighborhoods with 20 three year olds. What happens when one runs out into the street?

Goddard troll, is that you?!

Anonymous wrote:We love the BCC center. I don’t know that if call it “crunchy” but it’s definitely play based, which was important to me when looking at centers. They don’t make the kids sit at a table and do photocopied worksheets to do math. That said, my DS was 100% ready for kindergarten. The kids learn through play and experiments and activities. I have found the teachers to be caring and creative. I trust the teachers and directors and they have done a wonderful job during COVID. They also are able to go on walks in the neighborhood around BCC high school, which was also important to me in choosing a center.

This sounds like an ad. There seems like a troll for sure. Also it was important dor you that your kids walk around a neighborhood near the high school? Are you serious? It’s a main road with several cars driving through? Why not find a place that has a larger play space? It’s because you are a troll. Not safe to walk neighborhoods with 20 three year olds. What happens when one runs out into the street?

We're at East-West, and it's not Type A at all. The directors (whom we know well, our third Shoe kid is currently in the 4/5 room) are very professional and competent, which I could see as coming off as Type A. In our experience, they're both warm, down to earth, and funny. They're also extremely good at what they do and work well with staff to address issues. I'm a huge, huge fan of the Shoe generally and East-West specifically. They've handled the pandemic and other challenging situations as well as they could be handled. Even though it's expensive AF, I feel like we won the childcare lottery by having our kids there. The social/emotional aspects of the curriculum have been SO helpful for our kids, and they take that seriously (without taking themselves too seriously, IME).

Happy to answer any other specific questions!

We've also been very happy at BCC. It is absolutely play based, but I wouldn't really call it crunchy. They do have lots of animals, which my kids really enjoy. But the kids absolutely are learning things and are prepared well for K.

OP here. Thank you all for responding and sharing your experiences. Play based learning does seem important, and luckily both locations offer this. Seems like either location will be an upgrade from where we are now which offers a more traditional curriculum.

We love the BCC center. I don’t know that if call it “crunchy” but it’s definitely play based, which was important to me when looking at centers. They don’t make the kids sit at a table and do photocopied worksheets to do math. That said, my DS was 100% ready for kindergarten. The kids learn through play and experiments and activities. I have found the teachers to be caring and creative. I trust the teachers and directors and they have done a wonderful job during COVID. They also are able to go on walks in the neighborhood around BCC high school, which was also important to me in choosing a center.

It is crunchy and granola in the superficial way that a daycare located in Bethesda and that charges $2700 per month to Volvo-driving lobbyists and lawyers is. The care is fine! Parents, in the before times, were always hanging around. And even now it seems like it's rare for kids to stay a full day, and they don't make teachers clock out early, so ratios are almost always way better than state required.

21:54 back and I should add that play based was very important to me when selecting a center. I had taught k in Mcps for a long time. I knew how anti-play k would be and wanted my kids to have a child centered experience before going into k. The teachers (and I believe the head teacher is still the same) are very, very good at what they do and play based doesn’t mean unstructured.

OP here. Parking isn't an issue because we live within walking distance.

By 'unstructured' I mean that BCC has more of a drum circle vibe (I'm exaggerating but you know what I mean). By contrast, East-West seems more Type A.

I'm just wondering if others had these impressions and if it translates into how the classrooms are run or if there are other major differences besides the animals?

My kids went to BCC. I taught early elementary in the area and had had several kids come through BCC. I loved everything about them...atmosphere, teachers, administrators. My kids still speak so fondly of their days at the Shoe.

We love the BCC location. What do you mean by "unstructured"? I felt like both locations shared the same philosophy when we toured a few years ago, and have friends whose kids go E-W.

I looked at both but went with a nanny. Think of parking. bCC would be way easier. BCC also seemed way more “crunchy granola” than EW. If I hadn’t done a nanny I would have picked BCC.

Hello! Anyone with experience at either of the Bethesda Children in the Shoe locations? In particular I'm wondering whether the BCC location is so play-based that it is unstructured? Both seem like good options but there's definitely a Type A vs Type B vibe from the directors and I'm wondering how this impacts their care.

Do people know if the East West location does as many field trips (non covid times) as BCC?