My two children are enrolled at Beginning Years, in the preschool and toddler full-day programs. I cannot say enough good things about the Center, its staff, and its director.
The staff is fantastic. They're all very competent, patient, and loving. My older child has a flair for the dramatic, but they handle her sometimes grandiose tantrums calmly and lovingly. They have a very stable staff; remarkably low turnover compared to most program. This was very important to me. When your children spend close to 30 hours a week somewhere, it needs to feel safe, secure, comfortable. High levels of turnover would make that impossible. My children are very attached to their teachers.
The curriculum at the center is exemplary. They use a lot of targeted play that allows children to learn and develop skills while enjoying themselves. For example, in any given day, my kids look forward to playing in the sensory table ( filled with anything from coffee beans to shaving cream), the imaginative play area (that is set up as a grocery store this week and a doctor's office the next), outside on the play ground, taking a field trip to the post office, having the music lady / yoga lady / tumble bus come, meeting in small groups to work on counting skills, and more.
Another feature that was very important to me when I was selecting a center was NAEYC accreditation. It's hard to compare programs; you should be able to hear positive things about any center, and it's hard to know you found a good one until you're already entrenched. But NAEYC accredited programs are relatively few. This accreditation was important to me for two reasons. A) you can't get that accreditation unless your curriculum is up to the association's high standards, and B) it is a lot of work to get and maintain, and thus shows that the center believes that "good enough" really isn't good enough; that they want excellence.
The program is top-notch. I adore BY. Even more importantly, my children adore BY. More days than not, my daughter is disappointed when I come to pick her up. I hear "No, I'm not ready to go. We're just about to read another story/go outside/dance/ play in the imaginative play area." For me, that says everything. read more