Preschool recommendations please

Any recommendations for preschool in the Smithtown or Commack area? What have you liked about them?

Re: Preschool recommendations please

I am looking as well. I went to one today in St james in a church. It was cute and the director was very nice. The only thing i was not crazy about was it was one big room. I am looking for a classroom feel. There is
Prime Time i think in kings park and Lilliput Nursery School on Jericho by the mayflower shopping center. Hope this helps a little.

Re: Preschool recommendations please

Best Learning center!

Re: Preschool recommendations please

Lilliput - Commack
Pumpkin Patch - Commack
Tree of Life - Commack
Holy Family Regional - Commack
Best Learning - Smithtown
The Rinx - Hauppauge
Wesleyan - Smithtown
CFA - Smithtown
Ivy League - Smithtown
Smithtown Co-Op
St Patricks - Smithtown
Prime Time - Kings Park


Smithtown Library is hosting a Nursery School fair on Feb 1 at the Brush Barn on Main Street.

Re: Preschool recommendations please

Do you know what time the fair is? Also do you know anything about any of these schools? Thanks

Re: Preschool recommendations please

The fair is 10-12 am at the Nesconset branch (sorry last year it wa at hte brush barn!) This year nesconset branch.

Re: Preschool recommendations please

Lilliput - Commack - DS goes here, small school, teachers are very nice, I really have nothing bad to say.

Pumpkin Patch - Commack - I have friends who use this for school and/or daycare, havent heard anything bad about them. They are also a site for universal pre-k for commack

Tree of Life - Commack - I have 2 friends using this schoool. Both really like it. Its nice too b/c they have options like 1/2 day and mini day. Also offer gymnastics

Holy Family Regional - Commack

Best Learning - Smithtown - hear amazing things here, more academic program but I felt it was $$$

The Rinx - Hauppauge - They do ice skating as part of nursery school. One of DS's friends goes here and they love it. Again very $$ IMO

Wesleyan - Smithtown - Here nothing but good things here. Fairly priced (we have 3 friends enrolled here)

CFA - Smithtown

Ivy League - Smithtown - Very $$$ like $7K a year but they offer spanish, gymnastics etc beautiful campus.

Smithtown Co-Op - More of a play school, they are non academic based. Very inexpensive

St Patricks - Smithtown
Prime Time - Kings Park


GL!

Re: Preschool recommendations please

Dd goes to Small Steps in Hauppauge. I love the staff, the curriculum and the projects! Very hands on, very dedicated. They cook with them, let them try different foods, take them in the snow, take them in the sprinklers, overall, thy do more than I would expect a preschool to do.

Re: Preschool recommendations please

DD goes to Pumpkin Patch as did my older DD - FM if you have any questions!

Re: Preschool recommendations please

We love the Wesleyan school in St James. DD is in the 3-year old class now and will definitely becthere next year.

Message edited 1/29/2012 11:03:16 PM.

Re: Preschool recommendations please

Is Wesleyan school the same one in Smithtown on Middle country rd?

Re: Preschool recommendations please

Re: Preschool recommendations please

Re: Preschool recommendations please

A few people mentioned it so... my only concern with BEST is that when I visited them I wasn't thrilled with their potty training and toiletting policies. They told me that if my 3 year old has an accident, they are not responsible to change her, they will make her wait for me to come with a change of clothes. I also really didn't like that if she has a bowel movement, they will "guide" her to wipe herself, not help. I felt 3 is a little young for that. I have a 2 year old who is not at all potty trained, and she has severe IBS so she realistically may not potty train by 3 years old, from what it sounded if she is not potty trained by 3, she can't be in the program, they won't change diapers in that room. Wasn't too thrilled that I have to pack all meals and snacks too. Granted, though they were cheaper than where we are now. I'm not sure if that's a daycare vs. preschool thing though. The daycare place has been very helpful with the younger child's stomach issues, offering alternate foods, not forcing her on the toilet, etc. They happen to have a good dietary program overall. It's more of an $ and academic decision.

I prefer temples over churches because of our religious preference.

The place we use now, is also a daycare center, so we are a bit used to more "hands on" stuff when it comes to hygeine. I have heard that the big differene between centers certified to have daycare and those that are preschool, are these very things I'm concerned about. Do others find this as well? I love the place we use, but they have a lot of extra programs that you have to pay for, some I feel should really be part of the program (such as phonics), the place isnt on the cheap end of the scale by at all. I'm not working anymore so daycare hours aren't necessary and cost savings would be great, but I really want to make sure the kids are well prepared for kindergarten. They also really like "school" so I don't want to disrupt that, as well the fact I may start my own business and need a few hours a week to work on that. I am taking a class to tha end so we have to keep something going. I struggle with this because the place we use is very nice, teachers are great and my 3 year old loves her friends... really nice group of kids and parents too. It's just the extras add up and that's in addition to the tuition, for 2 kids!

Thank you for all the info though, I missed the fair today unfortunately. Wish they had another one. I did print out a list on the TOS website though, too many to possibly visit all of them.

ETA: if people have different experiences with BEST please share, trust me, it's so close to us and it's a lot less $$$, I would love it to work, just those concerns were biggies.

Message edited 2/1/2012 11:53:54 AM.

Re: Preschool recommendations please

I had my DD in the Infant daycare at BEST last year and I hated it. I pulled her out. They daycare/school has very little respect for the parent. The also claim that they follow hauppauges school calendar, but they have many more days off then the local school districts.

Re: Preschool recommendations please

I heard that Wesleyan is great and very reasonably priced, I am going there next week to take a look. My friends children go to BEST, I went to look and it is great, but out of our price range. Has anyone heard anything about The Nursery School in Islandia/ Ronkonkoma?

Re: Preschool recommendations please

my friend sends her daughters to the JCC in Commack.
She really loves it, they provide lunch (dairy) and have swim.

Re: Preschool recommendations please

I looked at Wesleyan this past weekend at there open house.. I liked the fact that there classes are small. There morning 3's are full already but i think the afternoon is still open. Not sure about the 4's..