Daycare recommendation (Huntsville, Madison, Valley: daycares, home, private school)

[1Simpleman]

I have a 3 year old and my wife and I are thinking of changing daycares. Would apprecaite some suggestions/feedback on daycares in the Huntsville area. We live on the Northeast side (Buckhorn High area) of town but work near research park/bradford drive area. So best if its around those locations for ease of drop off and pick up but we don't mind a little drive if need be. Any info/suggestion is apprecaited!!

[Cheektowaga_Chester]

We liked Montessori because it doesn't provide any religious brainwashing. However, the one in Jones Valley near Grissom was pretty small and not much to it. There's one in Madison and I think one downtown. Not sure.

[pamnbam]

Premier School at Research Park is a great location, is very safe, and has small class sizes. They are a little on the expensive side, but we enjoyed the staff and environment during our time there.

[1Simpleman]

Originally Posted by pamnbam

Premier School at Research Park is a great location, is very safe, and has small class sizes. They are a little on the expensive side, but we enjoyed the staff and environment during our time there.

Ok great , I'll look into that , thanks for info!

[1Simpleman]

Surely there is more people on this forum with kids in daycare ??

[CoreLysium]

My wife works in daycare at the Lutheran Church next to Gibson's on the Parkway. It's a good place, not very pricey as they get to use the church loophole, but actually they're part of the private school at that location (aka, you pay similar to tuition. Not getting money back if you decide to keep the kid out that day.)

They're going through a big "Incorporating the Faith" audit right now from the Lutheran Council (or whatever it's called.) I'm not Lutheran, and tend not to recommend the place because they are.

Also, I'm not sure they have openings. I know they do for infants. Maybe not for toddlers and pre-school. But the staff is top notch. The principal is a really good man, though really, he's rather hands off for the daycare.

[Cheektowaga_Chester]

Originally Posted by 1Simpleman

Surely there is more people on this forum with kids in daycare ??

One of the reasons people moved to Huntsville in the first place was because of the low cost of living enabling a lifestyle of one income for a married couple with kids. Lots of stay at home moms.

[guxu]

UAH daycare center is very good. Price is very reasonable. Teachers are nice. And they do teach kids stuff.

[RegaeBusRider]

Don't quote me on this but I heard there is a new nationalized chain on its way called "Obama Care". From what I understand, it is free for families that make less than $200k with only minor stipulations such as required classes on the koran and Web Development for Dummies. This is only my opinion, but it may be bigger than the Aldi grand opening next Friday on South Parkway.

[FatTails]

We use the Trinity Methodist CDC off airport road and we really like it. It's probably out of your way but I will point out there is absolutely no pressure from this daycare to join the church (which we are not a part of). When we first looked for a daycare we sort of tried avoiding the religious ones because we figured there'd be some pressure to join but we were very wrong with that assumption. The one thing I did learn from our daycare search is to really focus on the teacher:kid ratio. Alabama is extremely lax in this area. Infants, for example, are set at a 4:1 ratio in almost every other state, but it's 5:1 here and one daycare we looked at operated at this level. It made me cringe doing the tour.