My DS was in a nanny share till age 3. Then he switched to a daycare w/ preschool. It was too much. He's an introvert and being away 8 hours was really hard for him. It was totally fine for other kids, especially those who had been at the center since younger ages. In all these discussions, personality (of kid and of parents!) is so important. You talk to other parents who rave about a place, and you visit and hate it. Other kids love going to a daycare or school and your child hates it. We are now at a 1/2 day preschool co-op (much, much less expensive) and nanny half day. The is a great arrangement for us because it works financially and the co-op is awesome if you can fit it w/ your schedule. Some co-ops let you buy out some of the time and even that isn't too much money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you who don't understand: OP is just asking if your kids were happy in daycare at ages 3-5.

Like a Bright Horizons that says it has a "preschool curriculum" for their older classes. As opposed to "Joe Smith's Preschool" that starts at age 2.5, is NAEYC accredited, and doesn't have an infant program.

OP here. THIS. Exactly. Thank you.

Not usually a defender of Bright Horizons but they are often NAEYC-accredited.

There are several daycares downtown that are accredited. I think that you have to be to be in a federal building/affiliated with a federal agency.

I don’t get the hate for Bright Horizons. We have had our DS at an NAEYC accredited BH center for quite a while. While there are some things I think could be better, it has overall been a good experience. DS seems very happy there. Regularly talks about his teachers and friends in positive ways. Main drawback is the cost, but that decreases when your child gets older. Why do so many people have an issue with BH?

Yes! Lowell is amazing...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you who don't understand: OP is just asking if your kids were happy in daycare at ages 3-5.

Like a Bright Horizons that says it has a "preschool curriculum" for their older classes. As opposed to "Joe Smith's Preschool" that starts at age 2.5, is NAEYC accredited, and doesn't have an infant program.

OP here. THIS. Exactly. Thank you.

Not usually a defender of Bright Horizons but they are often NAEYC-accredited.

There are several daycares downtown that are accredited. I think that you have to be to be in a federal building/affiliated with a federal agency.

Ha ha no you can find accredited non-federal daycares if you actually look for them. In Maryland MSDE has a pretty long list.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you who don't understand: OP is just asking if your kids were happy in daycare at ages 3-5.

Like a Bright Horizons that says it has a "preschool curriculum" for their older classes. As opposed to "Joe Smith's Preschool" that starts at age 2.5, is NAEYC accredited, and doesn't have an infant program.

OP here. THIS. Exactly. Thank you.

Not usually a defender of Bright Horizons but they are often NAEYC-accredited.

There are several daycares downtown that are accredited. I think that you have to be to be in a federal building/affiliated with a federal agency.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That was the age ours became remarkably unhappy at daycare when he seemed happy enough before. We pulled him out and put him in a regular preschool, and he was much happier. No regrets.

Did you get a nanny to cover the rest of the day? Or become a SAHM?

There are half day preschools with aftercare.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think with the daycares you are more limited in terms of curriculum. I have toured 7 daycare centers and they all said they were "play-based" and either used a proprietary curriculum (e.g Goddard's F.L.E.X.) or the Creative Curriculum. If you are dead set on Reggio Emilia or Montessori you need to find a preschool.

Huh?

How is using the Goddard or Creative curriculum more limited than Reggio or Montessori?

We are at a Goddard school and love it. It is absolutely play-based (which, by the way, Montessori is not -- it's the opposite of play based).

This is turning into another "preschool vs daycare" asinine fight.

I am the PP and my child is at a daycare that uses the Creative Curriculum. Definitely not trying to turn this into a fight. Some parents want a specific curriculum. It's hard to find Montessori at daycares. That's all.

But it's also difficult to find a full-day Montessori program. And OP didn't say anything about needing Montessori.

I think I am perhaps just confused by the distinction sometimes. I mean my DS is at a childcare center for ages 2+. It follows the Creative Curriculum. Because it is full-day, it is geared towards parents who need fulltime care. My SAHM friend has her child at a half-day preschool and the kids are learning the same kind of things. It's just geared towards parents who don't work or can afford both a nanny and a parttime program.

Old Town Montessori has half day followed by aftercare for preschoolers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you who don't understand: OP is just asking if your kids were happy in daycare at ages 3-5.

Like a Bright Horizons that says it has a "preschool curriculum" for their older classes. As opposed to "Joe Smith's Preschool" that starts at age 2.5, is NAEYC accredited, and doesn't have an infant program.

OP here. THIS. Exactly. Thank you.

Not usually a defender of Bright Horizons but they are often NAEYC-accredited.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think with the daycares you are more limited in terms of curriculum. I have toured 7 daycare centers and they all said they were "play-based" and either used a proprietary curriculum (e.g Goddard's F.L.E.X.) or the Creative Curriculum. If you are dead set on Reggio Emilia or Montessori you need to find a preschool.

Huh?

How is using the Goddard or Creative curriculum more limited than Reggio or Montessori?

We are at a Goddard school and love it. It is absolutely play-based (which, by the way, Montessori is not -- it's the opposite of play based).

This is turning into another "preschool vs daycare" asinine fight.

I am the PP and my child is at a daycare that uses the Creative Curriculum. Definitely not trying to turn this into a fight. Some parents want a specific curriculum. It's hard to find Montessori at daycares. That's all.

But it's also difficult to find a full-day Montessori program. And OP didn't say anything about needing Montessori.

I think I am perhaps just confused by the distinction sometimes. I mean my DS is at a childcare center for ages 2+. It follows the Creative Curriculum. Because it is full-day, it is geared towards parents who need fulltime care. My SAHM friend has her child at a half-day preschool and the kids are learning the same kind of things. It's just geared towards parents who don't work or can afford both a nanny and a parttime program.

A previous poster had mentioned their child was at a Reggio Emilia school and preferred it to the daycare because of that. That's why I brought it up. And I think it's an actual, tangible difference between daycares and preschools. Not making a judgement about which is better. There isn't a ton of evidence about preschool curricula. For what it's worth, one of the things I love about our daycare is how relaxed and fun the atmosphere is, and I think that's specific to the daycare, not the fact that they use the Creative Curriculum.

My 5 yo old is very happy at daycare. She’s learning to read, addition, subtraction, but still does a lot of play. We’re at a fed center in DC. In fact we got a PK4 spot and opted not to take it because she was so happy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think with the daycares you are more limited in terms of curriculum. I have toured 7 daycare centers and they all said they were "play-based" and either used a proprietary curriculum (e.g Goddard's F.L.E.X.) or the Creative Curriculum. If you are dead set on Reggio Emilia or Montessori you need to find a preschool.

Huh?

How is using the Goddard or Creative curriculum more limited than Reggio or Montessori?

We are at a Goddard school and love it. It is absolutely play-based (which, by the way, Montessori is not -- it's the opposite of play based).

This is turning into another "preschool vs daycare" asinine fight.

I am the PP and my child is at a daycare that uses the Creative Curriculum. Definitely not trying to turn this into a fight. Some parents want a specific curriculum. It's hard to find Montessori at daycares. That's all.

But it's also difficult to find a full-day Montessori program. And OP didn't say anything about needing Montessori.

I think I am perhaps just confused by the distinction sometimes. I mean my DS is at a childcare center for ages 2+. It follows the Creative Curriculum. Because it is full-day, it is geared towards parents who need fulltime care. My SAHM friend has her child at a half-day preschool and the kids are learning the same kind of things. It's just geared towards parents who don't work or can afford both a nanny and a parttime program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think with the daycares you are more limited in terms of curriculum. I have toured 7 daycare centers and they all said they were "play-based" and either used a proprietary curriculum (e.g Goddard's F.L.E.X.) or the Creative Curriculum. If you are dead set on Reggio Emilia or Montessori you need to find a preschool.

Huh?

How is using the Goddard or Creative curriculum more limited than Reggio or Montessori?

We are at a Goddard school and love it. It is absolutely play-based (which, by the way, Montessori is not -- it's the opposite of play based).

This is turning into another "preschool vs daycare" asinine fight.

I am the PP and my child is at a daycare that uses the Creative Curriculum. Definitely not trying to turn this into a fight. Some parents want a specific curriculum. It's hard to find Montessori at daycares. That's all.

Anonymous wrote:I think with the daycares you are more limited in terms of curriculum. I have toured 7 daycare centers and they all said they were "play-based" and either used a proprietary curriculum (e.g Goddard's F.L.E.X.) or the Creative Curriculum. If you are dead set on Reggio Emilia or Montessori you need to find a preschool.

Huh?

How is using the Goddard or Creative curriculum more limited than Reggio or Montessori?

We are at a Goddard school and love it. It is absolutely play-based (which, by the way, Montessori is not -- it's the opposite of play based).

This is turning into another "preschool vs daycare" asinine fight.

If you need full time care anyway, I'd start with the daycares. At least in DC, a lot of them have spaces because kids leave for free public PK. And many have a perfectly fine curriculum that covers basically the same kinds of things that a private PK would cover. If you want something really academic, though, you're less likely to find it at a daycare.

Anonymous wrote:Our DS's DC daycare is a "Community Based Organization" that offers free PK3. The PK3 classroom is more academically rigorous than the 2-3yo class he was in before. It follows the same standards as DCPS. DS likes going to "school" _even more_ now that he's in PK3 (we always did and still do aftercare, which remains free play).

OP, what is your current childcare situation? My DS has always been in daycare since 3mo so we didn't have transition issues.

She has been with a nanny since she was 5 months old. So this is going to be a big transition regardless of where we send her.