Harrison Children's Center (Mamaroneck: daycare, houses, school district)

[steffie326]

Hello-
Considering a move to Harrison and am looking for some first-hand feedback on the Harrison Children's Center. Anyone have direct experience with this facility? How is the program / curriculum? How are the educators? I have also seen numerous discussions on westchester schools, including some brief statements about Harrison schools. It seems the HS is most questionable in my mind at this point, but I'm starting at the entry level for my darling 2yo. Any info is greatly appreciated.

[kks21]

We recently moved to Harrison and have our almost 3 year old daughter in Harrison Children's Center (downtown one). I was nervous at first, not because of anything I saw or felt about the place, but because I couldn't find any reviews online and that scared me. I have found it to be wonderful. Frankly, we picked it because the other options in neighboring towns (mostly Mamaroneck) were frighteningly horrid and I wouldn't send a dog to any of them. So, a bit of it was process of elimination and HCC was the only 'normal' place. HCC was a breath of fresh air after seeing some of the dumps they call daycare nearby.

Granted, it's only been a month, but we've been happy.
Teachers seem great. Very friendly and engaging. The administrator and assistant are also very engaged and love the kids.
They give the kids a lot of outside time and physically engage them.
They provide food and while maybe it's not all organic and it could be more 'balanced', our daughter eats well, gets fruit at all meals, so it's just fine for us.
It's been summer the month she's been there, so the 'curriculum' has been more play focused and less structured. This was an adjustment for us. I don't know what kind of child care you've been using so far, but our last daycare (in NJ) was very regimented with weekly and monthly lesson plans, daily schedules, etc. While they have a schedule at HCC it's not as tightly packed and at drop off and pick up the kids seem to be doing a lot of free play.

It's a very nurturing environment and I feel safe leaving my daughter there. I could see how you may not be totally satisfied if you are used to a different preschool setting or do not like your child to have treats.... it doesn't bother me, but, for example, sometimes if it's raining they let them watch a movie in the afternoon and sometimes they let the kids have cookies and milk for snack. These things surprised me a bit because I was not used to them from past daycare, but I have grown to love it because my daughter can just be a three year old and have fun (without her neurotic mother limiting t.v. and forbidding treats etc).

I like how they are flexible, open early, and really like how we can walk there from the train station. My daughter loved it form day one which was surprising because she usually has a hard time with transitions. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

[UES Single Mom]

We looked at a bunch of homes in the Harrison / West Harrison area and we loved the feel and vibe we received from the area. Taxes were reasonable compared to some of the other areas but one of the reasons we ruled it out was because the school district (which is pretty good from what I have read, talked to folks, met etc) they only have two elemetary schools, one middle school and one high school which might be good for alot of families it wasn't really good for my special needs daughter (she has ADHD). they do lack in some services and someone did mention to me that she would be singled out amongest some of the kids as she got older. The harrison children's center has a nice after school program for the older kids.

We ended up settling on the Westminster area of white plains. The schools are choice based and offer alot more services for special needs with a reasonable amount of taxes. We really liked adrsely (can't spelling it for the life of me right now lol) but we couldn't afford the taxes or the houses..