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Old 10-03-2011, 07:37 PM
 
Location: NC
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Today my wife and I reluctantly took the first step in touring both Primrose and Goddard. Goddard beats Primrose hands down for us, so we're strongly considering this for our 2.5 year old daughter. I have a few more to see first, but feel confident that Goddard is "da bomb" and we'll be taking her there.

So I'm looking for anyone with personal experience (especially if your kids go here) to let me know your thoughts, both positive and negative. We met lots of the staff and several classrooms of kids and loved everyone. My daughter had a blast - I think she'd love it there.

Feedback?
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Old 10-04-2011, 03:13 PM
 
Location: NC
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Really, nobody here has any input? I'm surprised
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Old 10-04-2011, 08:43 PM
 
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Default Goddard school

My daughter currently attends the Goddard School in Wake Forest. She has been at the school for less than a year and is in the Pre-K class. I don't have a lot of experience with day care centers, so my views are pretty limited. Overall, I think it is a good school. One of my biggest complaints has been the amount of time that she is allowed to nap. They will let her sleep for 2+ hours. Since she hasn't napped in nearly two years, this causes major problems at bedtime. The other frustration that I have had is that I feel that she is behind from where my older children were at when they were her age. My oldest went to a private school that put the Pre-K program on the same curriculum schedule as the rest of the school (i.e. art, music, computers, spanish, library). Obviously, a big difference in programs and also two different children - so who knows what is the reason that she is behind. The positives of the school are the facilities, the teachers (most are really easy to talk to and very good with the children), and the directors are always there and willing to listen. I have tried to provide a few positives and negatives - hopefully that helps out. Good luck with your decision.
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Old 10-05-2011, 07:15 AM
 
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Default a thought

While I dont have more to offer on this school, I would say do a few "pop ins" now and when she is attending, sometimes this can be real eye opening in any daycare.
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Old 10-05-2011, 08:12 AM
 
Location: NC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nmonty View Post
My daughter currently attends the Goddard School in Wake Forest. She has been at the school for less than a year and is in the Pre-K class. I don't have a lot of experience with day care centers, so my views are pretty limited. Overall, I think it is a good school. One of my biggest complaints has been the amount of time that she is allowed to nap. They will let her sleep for 2+ hours. Since she hasn't napped in nearly two years, this causes major problems at bedtime. The other frustration that I have had is that I feel that she is behind from where my older children were at when they were her age. My oldest went to a private school that put the Pre-K program on the same curriculum schedule as the rest of the school (i.e. art, music, computers, spanish, library). Obviously, a big difference in programs and also two different children - so who knows what is the reason that she is behind. The positives of the school are the facilities, the teachers (most are really easy to talk to and very good with the children), and the directors are always there and willing to listen. I have tried to provide a few positives and negatives - hopefully that helps out. Good luck with your decision.
Thanks, that's helpful. Perhaps as they get closer to Kindergarten and stop napping this can become an issue. My daughter still naps, so for now it doesn't affect us, but from what I've seen all the other schools of this nature also have mandatory quiet or nap time, so I'm not sure if we'd be able to work around that particular issue regardless of the school we choose.

I agree with your assessment of whether your child's behind the others or not is hard to pin down on the school or various other factors. Kids progress at different rates regardless of environment so it's really hard to tell. At Goddard I saw all the different ages of classrooms and the 4 year olds were already writing words, which I found pretty amazing.


Quote:
Originally Posted by ducter View Post
While I dont have more to offer on this school, I would say do a few "pop ins" now and when she is attending, sometimes this can be real eye opening in any daycare.
Most definitely plan to do that. This is one of only a few that even allow unscheduled visits any time. I would never put her in a place that didn't allow me to pop in whenever I felt like it, period.
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Old 10-05-2011, 09:17 AM
 
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Originally Posted by RDUBiker View Post
Thanks, that's helpful. Perhaps as they get closer to Kindergarten and stop napping this can become an issue. My daughter still naps, so for now it doesn't affect us, but from what I've seen all the other schools of this nature also have mandatory quiet or nap time, so I'm not sure if we'd be able to work around that particular issue regardless of the school we choose.

I agree with your assessment of whether your child's behind the others or not is hard to pin down on the school or various other factors. Kids progress at different rates regardless of environment so it's really hard to tell. At Goddard I saw all the different ages of classrooms and the 4 year olds were already writing words, which I found pretty amazing.




Most definitely plan to do that. This is one of only a few that even allow unscheduled visits any time. I would never put her in a place that didn't allow me to pop in whenever I felt like it, period.
Wow there are actually places that don't allow unexpected visits? That would be a big red flag for me.
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Old 10-05-2011, 09:59 AM
 
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We had a child in this location for over one year, but they are no longer there due to a work move. The school was always clean and well-staffed; the directors were present each day and seemed to know all the parents and children fairly well. Our child was well-cared for there and we never had any issues. Our child had a favorite teacher who was quite exceptional as well.

The only negative that I noted was that the curriculum was a little slow for him. I think we have a pretty typical kid, but he was consistently well ahead of what was taught.
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Old 10-05-2011, 10:01 AM
 
Location: NC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brobee View Post
We had a child in this location for over one year, but they are no longer there due to a work move. The school was always clean and well-staffed; the directors were present each day and seemed to know all the parents and children fairly well. Our child was well-cared for there and we never had any issues. Our child had a favorite teacher who was quite exceptional as well.

The only negative that I noted was that the curriculum was a little slow for him. I think we have a pretty typical kid, but he was consistently well ahead of what was taught.
How old was your child? I feel like academics isn't really as big of a priority as play time for a kid at 2.5. There are many years of book learning ahead of her. She should play and have fun (and learn while playing) for now.
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Old 10-05-2011, 10:10 AM
 
19 posts, read 23,820 times
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Originally Posted by RDUBiker View Post
How old was your child? I feel like academics isn't really as big of a priority as play time for a kid at 2.5. There are many years of book learning ahead of her. She should play and have fun (and learn while playing) for now.
I agree with you, but it was really the only "negative" I noticed. He was there from around 14 months to 2.5 years. He would still be there, but my spouse's change in work made the location really inconvenient for us.
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Old 10-05-2011, 10:12 AM
 
Location: NC
2,904 posts, read 5,903,093 times
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Originally Posted by Brobee View Post
I agree with you, but it was really the only "negative" I noticed. He was there from around 14 months to 2.5 years. He would still be there, but my spouse's change in work made the location really inconvenient for us.
Thank you for that. People are telling us that our daughter's quite advanced for her age, so maybe she won't be as challenged as if we found a super duper kick-butt stay-at-home nanny but that is harder than you think to find for any sort of long term period, and it costs a LOT, and is unpredictable with regard to schedules, etc.

This seems like the best viable alternative to bring peace and regularity to our lives. I still feel like an awful parent for even considering it - how pathetic is that?
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