Nursery Schools in Buckhead or Chastain (Atlanta, Roswell: daycare, how much, buy)

[maloneypeg]

We are moving to the Buckhead or Chastain area in June. What all day nursery schools do you recommend for a 3 year old.

Also, what after school programs do you recommend for a 5 year old in kindergarten

thanks

[LovelySummer]

I love the terminology ("nursery school") - I'm from the midwest and haven't heard that term in years.
I heard that Buckhead Prep was good. ETA - sorry, that is not full day.

Originally Posted by maloneypeg

We are moving to the Buckhead or Chastain area in June. What all day nursery schools do you recommend for a 3 year old.

Also, what after school programs do you recommend for a 5 year old in kindergarten

thanks

[CMMom]

I'm not aware of any church programs that run all-day preschool. You'd be looking at a daycare situation, like Creme de la Creme, Primrose School, Kindercare, Kids r Kids, that type of thing.

Look at the Buckhead YMCA for programs. Northside Youth Organization runs out of Chastain Park (NYO Sports Home).

[sweettea1]

Creme de la creme has bus pick up for after school at several area schools. Worth checking into.

[maloneypeg]

thanks for the recommendations.....so what are "nursery schools" called in Atlanta? I am from Philadelphia. It would help if I used the correct terminology

[futureATLien]

Preschool..or daycare...I havent heard of anyone using nursey school. I thought it was for babies.
but then again I'm under the age of 30, so it's different for me

[LovelySummer]

It's cool. We knew what you meant. Just brought back a bit of nostalgia from growing up in the Midwest. This is what my Mom and other relatives called school for little kids.

One thing that you could consider is half day programs that provide after school care. That will take you right up to 5 or 6 p.m. in some cases.
For example, if you are interested in your child learning foreign language, there is a great school called Little Davinci International in that area. They do a half day until 1 or so and then the kids do lunch/nap and then at 3 they do after school care with either an international art class or a cooking class. The school is located in the Blue Heron nature preserve near Chastain right off Roswell and the lady that runs the school - you can tell she loves children and has taken special efforts to craft a unique curriculum that combines Montessori, Reggio, etc. It sounds really cool and it is all in Spanish or French, take your pick. Oh yeah, the focus of the school is math and science and the kids do hands-on activities and even go outside alot in the nature preserve for their science. I considered this one but think it may be a bit too far (unfortunately) from my home.

But, the takeaway is, consider half day programs with after school care to get you to 5 or 6.

I think Buckhead Prep has an afterschool program too.

International Preschools is also in that area.

Originally Posted by maloneypeg

thanks for the recommendations.....so what are "nursery schools" called in Atlanta? I am from Philadelphia. It would help if I used the correct terminology

[buckheadmama]

The only full day schools are Suzuki and Cambridge International Preschool (the former is interesting) the latter you can't get into unless you know someone. The others (Creme) are glorified babysitting. It really is sad. Coming from London, I am shocked by the curricula and thank goodness we found the school that we did and actually got in. I recommend you ask a lot of questions (especially of the parents in the program). Just this week there was major drama at Open Arms (a church school which is full day with the police being stationed outside).

And as a teacher, the immersion programs are a joke. Half of the parents in immersion programs don't even speak the language and end up confusing their kids and losing the language. Not to mention the studies show that immersion is not the way to go until 1st grade due to the increasing problem of English not being mastered properly. I wish you well. The nurseries in the UK are like a dream compared.

Please don't recommend Buckhead Prep unless you want your child to sit down and memorize words and meaningless facts. Kids do not learn that way, they learn through experiencing. Sorry, I'm on my soap box and shall quickly get off. Sadly the finding of a great school was one of my biggest challenges when moving here.

Edited to add that part time schools are not allowed to operate past four hours. Their afterschool programs have to be run by a completely different company and cannot overlap with current employees. So you can't go to an unlicensed preschool (they are called exempt) and expect to have your child attend each day. Hope that helps!

[LovelySummer]

Buckheadmama,

Would you mind elaborating on what shocks you about the curricula and why the UK preschools are a dream? My husband and I have been looking since the summer for a good preschool and it is exasperating. Sadly, we haven't found a good match yet.

I was surprised to see your comments about immersion schools because none of the research that I have read supports the issues that you have. For example, the kids switch back and forth depending on who is speaking/the environment so I have read that it is ok if the parents do not speak the language. That is what 7 hours a day M-F in the target language is supposed to address. Also, I have read that the children can start out with slower skills in English bc they are simultaneously mastering more than one language but they catch up by 5th grade. Have you seen information to the contrary? I would honestly like to know because we are considering immersion and would love to be informed if there are other bits of information out that that will help us in making the best decision for our child.

I did not like Suzuki once I found out that there are 38 children in one room in their toddler class and 7 teachers. That sounds like a bunch of confusion to me. Also, the teachers rotate depending on the subject so I was a little concerned about the ability of our child to have a single teacher or two with which he could establish a real bond. Rotating 7 teachers in a week is not a recipe for proper bonding in the preschool if you ask me (not at the toddler age). And bonding is important for child's comfort, etc. At least, it's important to me.

I also thought that Suzuki was a little bit of a sham because they indicate that they follow the Montessori principles but when you ask the director if all the teachers are certified, you will find out that they are not. There are some people there that have simply been teaching a long time and are "good with children" and so they keep them on staff. I found this out from reviews online and asked. The reviews are correct. So, then the issue becomes, how much Montessori-certified talent is really in the room.

I have not toured Buckhead Prep but I have read only glowing reports about it. Parents talk of how much their children are learning and that there is an experiential component as well. How can you say that children don't learn a certain way? Even at a young age, some children are more verbal, some are more visual, some are more auditory and some are more hands-on. Not all children have to experience to learn. For example, my son has always been intrigued with and paid attention to flash cards (even at 8 months). At 20 months, he loves to do flash cards and has learned 10 colors, 5 shapes, the sounds of about 17 letters and about 3 numbers. So, how come kids don't learn "that way"? What is he doing if he isn't learning?

To clarify, we have invested in a number of Montessori materials for fine motors and all that, and we buy tons of puzzles to build his IQ (hubby is a teacher so he has given me the scoop on approaches to build IQ) but most of the stuff that he knows, it's because he loves flash cards and having us read to him, and we have always done a ton of both. His first book was read to him at 2 days old. But, you would say that neither reading to a child nor doing flash cards is the child experiencing, right?

Originally Posted by buckheadmama

The only full day schools are Suzuki and Cambridge International Preschool (the former is interesting) the latter you can't get into unless you know someone. The others (Creme) are glorified babysitting. It really is sad. Coming from London, I am shocked by the curricula and thank goodness we found the school that we did and actually got in. I recommend you ask a lot of questions (especially of the parents in the program). Just this week there was major drama at Open Arms (a church school which is full day with the police being stationed outside).

And as a teacher, the immersion programs are a joke. Half of the parents in immersion programs don't even speak the language and end up confusing their kids and losing the language. Not to mention the studies show that immersion is not the way to go until 1st grade due to the increasing problem of English not being mastered properly. I wish you well. The nurseries in the UK are like a dream compared.

Please don't recommend Buckhead Prep unless you want your child to sit down and memorize words and meaningless facts. Kids do not learn that way, they learn through experiencing. Sorry, I'm on my soap box and shall quickly get off. Sadly the finding of a great school was one of my biggest challenges when moving here.

Edited to add that part time schools are not allowed to operate past four hours. Their afterschool programs have to be run by a completely different company and cannot overlap with current employees. So you can't go to an unlicensed preschool (they are called exempt) and expect to have your child attend each day. Hope that helps!

[vince217]

ok all i am reading are the names of the bad schools in the area. what are the good schools then (aside from davinci which i think was the only one to get a positive mention)?