In choosing a preschool for my twins I was the mom who treated it like picking out a college. I researched, went on multiple site visits and tours, did my homework, and asked a ton of "interview" questions. I had spreadsheets going of what I liked, didn't like, the schools' responses to my questions, and notes on what made each unique. At that time I also had already had experiences in multiple preschools from my first child, from church preschools to Montessori schools, to a well-rated private Jr. K-12 school that she still attends, so I felt a bit more prepared.
My priorities: very high academic achievement that pushed our children to their full capabilities while maintaining the excitement of learning and going to school, a love of curiosity, the acceptance that it's ok to fail (and ok for us as parents and teachers to allow it) because that is how we learn life-long lessons, and how good the teachers are (my theory is that a school is no better than its teachers).
I finally ended up at a preschool in Huntersville that was not this one but ended up being the right place for us because, though we decided at the end of the year that we needed to be elsewhere for various managerial reasons, we met the most fantastic assistant teacher in the process who happened to be moving to Discovery Village the following year to teach their TK program, the class in which my twins needed to be enrolled anyway. Miss Melissa was the twins' head teacher that year, and the next 2 years also taught my youngest daughter, so we have had her for 3 years straight, and she now happens to be the director of the school as well as the TK lead teacher.
The things that stand out about this school to me:
- Absolute passion for the kids
- A true love and strong bond with each child
- Teaching a child to achieve her full potential at whatever level that may be. They are all different, and even my own children at times worked on different levels in areas of struggle.
- A happy and exciting environment
- A greenhouse! Kids were taught about recycling, growing and tending to the plants themselves, compost, etc.
- After-school offerings that included soccer, after-school enrichment (science day or music day, for example)
- For my youngest child, a complete excitement for school that I did not see in her preschool from the prior year. The kids feel comfortable and safe there.
- The teachers are actually corrected if they do not allow the students to make mistakes. For example, if they are doing an art project where they could be using the scissors to cut everything out themselves and a teacher decides to do it herself then let them glue the shapes, they are not allowing the child to experience the trial and error from which they could be learning and therefore improving.
In the world of preschool parents, I have run into SO many parents who, when I mention how great our teacher Miss Melissa is, they light up and say, "You have Miss Melissa??!" Then they absolutely light up and go on and on about their own child's out-of-this-world experience with her. It's a small world sometimes, but the number of parents who have happened to know her and the fact that 100% of them say she is the BEST teacher they have ever had to date makes quite a big statement. I am a big believer in finding the right teacher AND the right environment, and I can't sing enough praises about Discovery Village Academy. read more
