Please help me decide which school to choose for my two year old! (Dallas: home)

[sadafakhan]

Hi all - we moved to texas last year. My son is turning two early next year and I want to start him off in a school so that he can begin to build his skills, both acamedic and social. I am researching on where to start him off. We live in the Lewisville-Coppell area. I am willing to drive a little bit if it is a good school. This is our first child so we are very much limited in our knowledge. We looked at a few (Kids r Kids, Childens courtyard, Primrose, etc) but did not like any much except Creme de la creme which looks a little more academically focussed and CLEAN for two year olds.

I would greatly appreciate if someone can help us short list which schools to look at? I checked Greenhill, St Marks, EPS but none of them accept children younger than 3 years old.

Thanks in advance!

[Pama]

St. Alcuin or Lamplighters. I'm not sure they take 2 year olds but by next admission window, yours will be 3.

[Rice&Curry]

Primrose is the most academically focused among ones which you are looking at. American Montessori on Plano Pkwy has very good reputation.

[Back2Texas]

I personally didn't find Crème de la Crème to be all that academically focused. I mean, any decent place is going to make sure that kids learn stuff, and CDLC is no exception, but I didn't feel like they had a particularly unique or well thought out approach to education. To me, it felt primarily like a lot of glitz to impress parents.

Anyway, are you looking for full-time care (like M-F 8-5 type hours) or part time (fewer than 5 days, or just 3-5 hrs/day, or both)? Some schools that you might look at if you need full time care: Coppell Montessori Academy, Spanish Schoolhouse, Apostles Day School. We've had kids at one of those schools for almost four years and we are very happy (feel free to PM me if you want to know which one and/or more details), and we have good friends at the others. Depending on where you are at, you could also look at Castle Mound Montessori (in Flower Mound) or Castle Hills Montessori (in Carrollton). Again, friends at Castle Mound, very happy.

For part time, a lot of the churches in Coppell offer preschool programs. Stringfellow School has a particularly good reputation. There is also Coppell Child Development Center. Also, all of the schools I mentioned before offer part time hours in addition to full time.

Personally, for a two year old, I would stick closer to home for preschool, unless you KNOW you're going to want to do St. Alcuin's or Lamplighter or another Dallas private school for the elementary school years. There are plenty of wonderful preschools in Lewisville/Coppell, and there are plenty of wonderful things you can do with your kid with the time and money you save by NOT going to one of those "elite" preschools

[iParrot]

Its a 15 month old stale thread, Hope Full's subtle advertising got wasted in vain.

[HockDad]

Originally Posted by Pama

St. Alcuin or Lamplighters. I'm not sure they take 2 year olds but by next admission window, yours will be 3.

St. Alcuin starts at 18 months. Rolling admissions I think.

[JoeSiczpak]

Best nurturing environment, lowest cost, highest return is found locally at Mother's School at Home Place.