Among all the daycares we visited in this area, this one does visually stand out as one of the…read morecleanest. They have a refrigerator-sized sanitizer machine you'll see as soon as you walk through the doors leading to the classrooms. It supposedly runs regularly to clean toys and some bottles. I never saw it in use, but I assume it operates when the facility is closed. Obviously most daycares are a Petri dish for germs, but it seemed like our son caught viruses here on a bi-weekly basis. It wasn't until we started at our new daycare a few months ago that I realized how much less time he was spending sick. Lighthouse's food options appeared satisfactory, although I agree completely with another parent's review that the portions are quite small. You're responsible for bringing your own diapers, wipes, diaper paste, nap rolls, and other essentials every week or as needed. Additionally, if your child is a picky eater (like mine), you pack extra snacks for them in their backpack daily.
Lighthouse is undoubtedly the most expensive daycare in the area. Besides the weekly fees, they also charge semester, curriculum, and supply fees. We were paying over $250 a week for two days of care (For an 18 month to 2-year old) plus the extra fees. Additional 100's of dollars billed at different times of the year. It's important to note that you must pay the full amount for these extra fees, regardless of whether your child is enrolled full-time or part-time. Like I said, we had our son enrolled part-time. Considering the charges, I had expected a more value for the experience. Craft projects rarely, if ever, made it home. There were a lot of children in each room, assigned to only one or two teachers. Also, it seemed like most of the event days were held on days we didn't have my son attending. While this isn't necessarily their fault, I did wish there was a reduced supply rate to account for it, as he was missing most of the events and shows.
On the positive side, we liked his teachers. They all seemed to be doing their best in a very busy classroom. Ms. Glory and Ms. Takhleeq, in particular, are truly wonderful. When he transferred to their class, we noticed a significant improvement in his mood. If your child is in their class, you're fortunate!
They do give you camera access here, but it is limited. If you go over your limit for the day, you're locked out for the rest of the day. There's no counter to show how much time you have left, so you're left up to guess in this regard. A staff member explained that this was to help with network lagging. Too many parents watching constantly stretches their signal to breaking apparently. Understandable, but definitely something to make note of in advance.
After the first two weeks at Lighthouse, my son began to hate being dropped off. He would tantrum and cry, and the situation didn't seem to improve. I decided to speak with the director to discuss ways to make the mornings smoother for him. However, this was a mistake. Any concern or question I had was met with dismissive remarks like, "You should have him here more days" and "When are you enrolling him full-time?" We had multiple conversations like this, and I lost count of how many times I had to reiterate that we simply couldn't afford to have him there more than two days a week. It was a wholy embarrassing and uncomfortable experience. When I got home that day, I told my husband that Lighthouse just seemed like a blatant money grab. From that point on, I made it a priority to only seek out the assistant director, Mary, whenever I had any concerns. She was incredibly helpful and provided us with valuable tips. She also advised the teachers on some small ways to make drop-off less traumatic, which I was very grateful for. I didn't expect miracles, just some small gestures that they were actually trying to help our son. The tantrums didn't improve drastically though, and it was something we had to deal with until we left Lighthouse.
The mornings were problematic. For a facility that claims to be open from 6:00 to 6:00, the staff scheduling seemed to be a major issue. Some mornings, we would have to drop him off earlier than others due to work or home changes. Whenever this happened, almost always, it would be chaotic. I would try to take him to his usual room, but would be met with a staff member who would tell me that I needed to take him somewhere else, because the teacher wasn't actually there yet. This wasn't a rare occurrence; it happened often. I would pass the front desk and hear the receptionist panicking on the phone because "...the 7:30 people didn't show up!" Sometimes, the alternate classroom would also change without us knowing ahead of time. The worst case was during his last week at Lighthouse when I had to take him to TWO rooms before finally figuring out where he was supposed to be. Often, I was tempted to just take him home because I felt so terrible leaving him there in that environment.
