Broadlands Home based preschools vs private preschools

Can anyone give their inpout on the home based preschools pros /cons vs private preschools in the area... ie my favorite place, little sprouts or those like Golden Pond?
Do you think there is quit a bit of difference for the child to be mentally prepared for public kindergarten in a home prechool vs a preschool in an insituition?

My son has never been to a preschool and he will be 4 in March- trying to decide what type of school to send hiim to in Fall 2012.

Thanks!

 

We have twins...both with different strengths and decided to send one to Growing Minds (home based preschool) and the other to Golden Pond....
In the end both were great; both had their strengths and weaknesses.

I think the noise around testing, benchmarking, etc...is all noise...the reality, at least for us, around preschool was strength and desire of the actual teacher(s) and diligence in setting up and maintaining an ever changing and interesting curriculum...

I would say that you need to explore a few and try to connect with the teacher(s) and see what feels right....Lastly, the hype around being prepared for Kindergarten is, from what I have read, just hype....the small things that may seem likes advantages exiting preschool fade quickly....don’t get me wrong there are certain basics....but I think the majority of it is about social interaction

 

To me what was important was how the teacher and other school staff would treat my child and how responsive they were to my questions. Do a tour and meet & greet at each school you're considering and watch for which places would be a good fit for your child.

I was very happy with an in-home preschool for my child - Play to Learn Preschool by Jamie White; 703-723-1049.

You can check the Virginia Dept. of Social Services website to read about most schools.
http://www.dss.virginia.gov/facility/search/cc.cgi

 

The Ashburn MOMS Club will be holding the annual preschool forum on
Saturday, January 21st from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon at the Brambleton Community Center at
42645 Regal Wood Drive, Ashburn, VA 20148

The forum is free and is a community service project offered by the MOMS Club of Ashburn. All are welcome. Mothers (or Fathers) from the community will speak about their experiences with their child's preschool. The opinions of moms will assist parents in making an informed decision about where to send their children to preschool. Speakers will give feedback on what they liked and disliked about the preschools their children attended. Previous forums were highly appreciated and a fabulous way to give insight into what the schools are like beyond the official sales pitch. A spreadsheet with information about local preschools including contact information, tuition, education/experience level of preschool teachers, ect.. will be available at the forum. Light refreshments will be served. Parents are encouraged to come without little ones. Please contact Robyn Resh Davinic, co-President of MOMS Club of Ashburn - Broadlands area if you have any questions at:
robyndavinic@hotmail.com.

 

Thank you for all the great input...I do have few tours set for this week...and an application ready for golden pond...if its a regular school thats where I would most likely go with...after I visit 3 homebased ones this week.

 

When I was looking for a preschool I kind of dismissed the idea of homebased ones because I thought they would be less professional and more like daycare. From my personal experience and from talking to other people several of the ones in our area are wonderful and extremely professional. I guess I imagined some lady in a corner of her kitchen teaching kids to fingerpaint but that turned out to be 100% wrong in the case of Play to Learn Preschool. I toured it and was blown away by the professionalism both of the owner and the school environment she had created.

So you'll just have to visit different places and see what you like best. That preschool forum listed above has been held for about 6 years now and is a FABULOUS tool for learning about the schools. The parents talk about the schools - not official reps from the schools. So you really get the parent's perspective and not just the sales pitch.

Good luck!

 

My son went to a home-based MMO/preschool, Little Sprouts, when he was 2, and then he's gone back for their summer program for the last 2 years. My daughter will be going there in the fall. It was a very loving environment, and I always felt comfortable there. My son went to Hope preschool for 3 year old preschool, and he's currently in their 4 year old program. My daughter just turned 2, and I'm not sure where we'll put her when she's older. Our reasons for putting our son at Hope was really just that I felt it might be more like public school, in that it's bigger and there are more classes going on at once. Plus, we liked the religious aspect. We were happy with Little Sprouts, though, and it was definitely not just like daycare!

 

Play to Learn preschool is having an open house in February. Please see the attached file for more information. It's a great school!

 

Our kids have loved Growing Minds preschool a home based school in Broadlands. It's amazing how professionally run it is. We had our kids in one of the larger centers and we recommend the home based hands down. I'm not sure exactly how to convey it but these neighborhood moms with degrees in education are very qualified and caring. Judi Ratcliffe runs growing minds. I think she runs seperate 2yo, 3yo, and 4 year old classes.

I can't possibly convey how strongly we recommend Judi!

Bear

 

Trying to get this question back out there... trying to help find home-based childcare that would include young kids starting at 1yr old? Looking for my nephew and I have not heard much lately about what is available in Broadlands or other communities.

Anyone have recommendations or suggestions for local home-based childcare options?