Families in Evanston (North Shore, Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe) (Chicago: apartments, daycare)

[nanotech]

Originally Posted by themag62

You will be perfectly fine in that area of Evanston. I have no first hand knowledge of that bldg, but there are no sketchy areas on Foster E to NWU. You don't need to live in Wilmette to find safe residence and good preschool. Relax.

Thank you for your input.

I've lived in small towns all my life (35k-80k pop.) and we haven't had to worry about safety much at all. So I want to make sure I don't take this as lightly as I have been here in Tennessee.

Even if we do end up living in Evanston, I don't mind driving 15-20min to Wilmette or a nearby area if there is a better preschool (even nearest preschool will be at least a 5min drive anyway).

Any good preschool suggestions?

[nana053]

You are looking at one of the best preschools in the entire Chicago Area. Cherry is a great preschool! My granddaughter went there for a short while when we were evacuated from Katrina and she loved the program. She was 3 and it was her first preschool - she had been supposed to start in Metairie, LA, but Katrina meant we came back to Skokie and stayed there for 3 months. Cherry uses Penny Park for their outdoor activities which is a great park that was built by people in the community (my dd helped with building it when she was in high school). Cherry uses the anti-bias *You Can't Say You Can't Play* approach to social skills. If you haven't read about it, there is a book by the same name by Vivian Gussin Paley. It is NAEYC accredited. Note that teachers stay at Cherry. The fact that turnover is so low is a tribute to the program's strength for teachers as well as for children. Laurie Levy who was the founding director is a friend from my Lamaze class back when my son was born. If you look at the qualifications of the staff and teachers, you can see a dedicated and wonderful group of people.

My own daughter went to School for Little Children which is in a Church, but is not religious. It is NAEYC accredited also, but I prefer Cherry now. Cherry was not in existence when she was in preschool.

[nanotech]

Thank you for your input nana053.

My son currently goes to a church-based religious center for 2 days a week (4hrs/day). We don't want a religious center anymore, but we haven't figured out if we want to do traditional preschool or Montessori.

As far as Montessori goes, it doesn't look like Glenview Montessori is any better than Chiaravalle. And on the traditional preschool side, it's probably going to be between Cherry and SLC. All of these are Evanston preschools.

I need to read up some more on the Montessori method/philosophy to see whether or not that's the route we want to take.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by nanotech

Thank you for your input nana053.

My son currently goes to a church-based religious center for 2 days a week (4hrs/day). We don't want a religious center anymore, but we haven't figured out if we want to do traditional preschool or Montessori.

As far as Montessori goes, it doesn't look like Glenview Montessori is any better than Chiaravalle. And on the traditional preschool side, it's probably going to be between Cherry and SLC. All of these are Evanston preschools.

I need to read up some more on the Montessori method/philosophy to see whether or not that's the route we want to take.

While I like Montessori, it is going to depend on your child's personality. My dd would have hated Montessori as the school was too quiet and less into art than a traditional school. My ds would have loved it as he is a math nut and a loner. For him, the opportunity to work at his own pace even at 3 would have been a draw. I suggest that you visit each school and keep in mind your child's strengths and personality when you visit. Chiravelli is quite nice, but Montessori on the whole is much less group oriented so at 3 to 5, I like traditional schools a bit better. JMO though.

[nanotech]

Thank you again for your input nana053. That really gives me a good perspective on this whole Montessori thing.

Trying to figure out if I should go with Cherry now because they only have two options left at this point: either a bridge's to 3 class (mixed with those who are 3 already and those who will be turning 3 soon...so my son will be a few months older than the avg kid there) or a 4-day multi-age class, where my son will probably be the youngest in the class and will be about 9mos younger than the avg age (some will even turn 5 this year while my son will stay 3 till 2nd half of next year!)

Chiaravalle does seem to have an opening for his age range though. SLC we're on the waiting list.

[linicx]

Among the North Shore suburban communities are the Village of Wilmette and the Village of Winnetka. These are smaller (under 30K population) communities that are predominately White, very wealthy, and generally considered exclusive. If you are looking for diversity Evanson at 75,000 population is 61% White, 18% Black, 9% Hispanic and about 12% all others, and it is economically diverse. Every community has its good and bad for none is perfect. I would say Evanston is not any more unsafe than any other college town of its size.

Oak Park is smaller than Evanston, is a Village with young professionals, that is racially diverse and reasonably well integrated. It is well regarded with many awards, plus it is a decent place to raise a family. The downside is the distance between Oak Park and NIU.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by nanotech

Thank you again for your input nana053. That really gives me a good perspective on this whole Montessori thing.

Trying to figure out if I should go with Cherry now because they only have two options left at this point: either a bridge's to 3 class (mixed with those who are 3 already and those who will be turning 3 soon...so my son will be a few months older than the avg kid there) or a 4-day multi-age class, where my son will probably be the youngest in the class and will be about 9mos younger than the avg age (some will even turn 5 this year while my son will stay 3 till 2nd half of next year!)

Chiaravalle does seem to have an opening for his age range though. SLC we're on the waiting list.

Personally, I would go with the multiage class. I taught 3 to 5 year olds in a multiage setting and it works well provided the teachers understand the kids and I am sure the teachers at Cherry do. That's just me though. I don't see why we don't mix kids of different ages more. It's actually much more natural. When I grew up, we played in the neighborhood with kids from 4 years old to 12 years old and it was great!

[chet everett]

NIU == Northern Illinois University, located in Dekalb, IL Directions & Campus Maps

NU == Northwestern University in Evanston Campus Maps - Northwestern University

One is very convenient for folks to live in Evanston. Neither is partcularly easy a commute from Oak Park, probably an hour from NU -- https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=N...=ls&z=11&via=1

Additionally there are pockets of rather undesirable housing options in Oak Park and the OP specifically asked for the safest options for their family...

[linicx]

Section 8 housing: Evanston section 8 housing in Evanston Illinois
Section 8 housing: Illinois http://www.section8housinglist.info/...y/illinois-il/

[nanotech]

1001 Emerson St. (from that section 8 link) is basically across the street from where I'm thinking about getting housing. But that's just for disabled people so I don't think that area would be that bad, right?

Google Maps street view shows a little store front next to that building that has a single car in the parking lot (which is banged up), a large poster of a bikini-clad woman in the window of the shop, and a little girl who seems to be jumping on a puddle of water or something awfully close to the street while two adults (parents/grandparents?) are watching from behind.

Additionally, from other Kellogg students, I've learned that Foster St. from Ridge to Kellogg (NU) is not that well lighted at night and even during the day time it's pretty well shaded with trees and that EL train.

Looks like Chicago Ave. would be much safer....something like Evanston Place, but that's going to be about $1,000 more per month after all is said and done.

I'm planning on visiting within the next two weeks, but can't really get much info from one visit...although better than a Google StreetView for sure.