Looking for daycare/preschool for 2yo near Las Colinas/Coppell (Dallas: credit, daycares)

[Back2Texas]

We're looking for daycare/preschool for our daughter, starting anytime between now and her second birthday in June. We live in Las Colinas, but are willing to drive to Valley Ranch or Coppell if necessary. We need full-time care, roughly 9 AM to 5 PM.

We're specifically looking at: Rockbrook Montessori (we're on the list for their new Valley Ranch location), Apostles Day School in Coppell, and Family Center at Zales (Bright Horizons) in Las Colinas. Any feedback on any of these?

Any place else we should look at? We've visited at most of the daycares in the area:
- I like Discover and Share, but my husband thinks that it's all about play, not about learning.
- I like Miss Bloomingdale's Academy, but I'm concerned about the student-teacher ratios. (1:9 in the 18-24 month room??? I know it's legal, but...)
- We've done drop-in care at Children's Courtyard in Valley Ranch on a few occasions and liked it, but we like the aforementioned places better.
- Neither of us were real impressed with Creme de la Creme or any of the Primrose Schools (Las Colinas, Valley Ranch or Coppell).

But we'd be willing to reconsider if someone has strong recommendations

Thanks!

[mom2one]

I know you mentioned that you weren't impressed with the Primrose of Coppell, but I'd like to put in a vote for it anyway. My daughter (age 2) is a student there. Yes, I say student. Unlike most child care centers, Primrose offers age appropriate learning activities for every age level. Her teachers are some of the most kind and gentle people I've met since moving to Dallas last year. Each day, they take the time to tell me about my daughter's day and are quick to point out any successes or milestones. (I've been AMAZED at her progress and know that I wouldn't be able to give her half of what she's learning here!) I feel like I'm kept up to date with her latest achievements and find that I get a new art project to take home almost every day.

Most importantly, I know she's happy there. She greets her teachers each morning and on some days, it's hard to pull her away! I've never seen the classroom in anything but a state of organization. (No running around, chaos or screaming.) The kids are encouraged to do things for themselves, clean up after themselves, etc. There's a lot of life skills happening there! Also, I wanted to mention that the kids look happy whenever I visit -- and I've popped in at most hours of the day. It's just a thought, but you might want to give them a second look.

Hope this helps!

[jhapraka]

I have a child in Coppell Montessori Academy. If you are willing to drive to Coppell I highly recommend this school. Amazing curriculum and the extra curricular activities. Take a tour and see. Their summer program seems to be very good. My child loves it.

[CoppellHomeHunter]

Originally Posted by Back2Texas

We're looking for daycare/preschool for our daughter, starting anytime between now and her second birthday in June. We live in Las Colinas, but are willing to drive to Valley Ranch or Coppell if necessary. We need full-time care, roughly 9 AM to 5 PM.

We're specifically looking at: Rockbrook Montessori (we're on the list for their new Valley Ranch location), Apostles Day School in Coppell, and Family Center at Zales (Bright Horizons) in Las Colinas. Any feedback on any of these?

Any place else we should look at? We've visited at most of the daycares in the area:
- I like Discover and Share, but my husband thinks that it's all about play, not about learning.
- I like Miss Bloomingdale's Academy, but I'm concerned about the student-teacher ratios. (1:9 in the 18-24 month room??? I know it's legal, but...)
- We've done drop-in care at Children's Courtyard in Valley Ranch on a few occasions and liked it, but we like the aforementioned places better.
- Neither of us were real impressed with Creme de la Creme or any of the Primrose Schools (Las Colinas, Valley Ranch or Coppell).

But we'd be willing to reconsider if someone has strong recommendations

Thanks!

I am exactly in the same position as your. I have seen most of the schools u have mentioned. Loved Miss Bloomingdale's Academy,but its a long drive, attended Childrens Courtyard from sometime but was not greatly impressed. Have toured Primrose and Creme De La Creme but not able to make up my mind yet...

What did you decide ? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated !

[mSooner]

- I like Discover and Share, but my husband thinks that it's all about play, not about learning

At 2, doesn't play=learning?

Just stay away from Kinder Care--I don't know if she worked at the Las Colinas, Valley Ranch, or Irving location, but a friend just quit from there and told me stories that made me shudder.

[racehorse]

My son did Miss Bloomingdale's years ago and they were great. He was there until we moved to Carrollton and then we switched him to a Montessori school there. I would recommend Miss B's.

[TX75007]

Our child is at a Primrose near Carrollton and loves it. They have an approach that builds on itself over the year that allows kids to progress. The kids are very well behaved as they stress specific social skills. He comes home with something new to tell us just about every day. He can already read, but they work on reading in Pre-K and when I observed their K, all the kids could read. And the school listened to our concerns around his advanced ability to learn and need to challenge him and made adjustments for him that we are very pleased with. He cannot wait to go to school every morning.

We looked at a lot of places, and originally placed him in a Montessori school that was pretty good. But he quickly became bored. They had a limited number of things for him to do and their curriculum did not build on itself. He started to focus more on what he wanted to do because he was making his own world to keep himself occupied. After a while he did not want to go at all and we started to have behavior issues at home. This same place tested him and stopped at his age rather than find the ceiling on his abilities then tried to take credit for his skills.

I think Montessori is fine though age 2 but is not appropriate after that given what I have seen available at Primrose and some of the other Private Schools.

[iam317537]

Please share what you have heard about kindercare. We have been looking at the Valley Ranch location and have a 3 yr old and 18 month child. Private message would be fine if necessary. Thanks!