This review is long overdue. My son has attended Next Generation Education Center for the last two years. He started in the infant room and is now in the 2's.
We absolutely LOVE NGEC and have nothing but good things to say about the love and care they have given our son.
My husband and I are first time parents and when we first started looking into various daycares we couldn't imagine trusting our baby to anyone, but unfortunately, I had to return to work. From the first time we toured the facility, NGEC immediately made us feel at ease and then they far exceeded our expectations. The infant room teachers loved on him, comforted him, taught him new skills, and gave me a new confidence in being a working mom. While I would have loved to have been home with him, after a while it was very clear to me that he was getting much more from being in a group environment than I could have ever provided for him on my own at home. My son came home every day happy, clean, clearly well-cared for, and content.
Then when he moved to the 1-2 year old room, they taught him skills that I didn't even know he was capable of at such a young age (but they never pushed if he wasn't ready for something). Before I knew it, he was using utensils properly, signing and then saying words, and identifying objects, letters, and numbers. They also started doing outside time (in their built in protected play area) which helped get out that extra energy and made him so happy, got him on a consistent normal nap schedule, and got him off of pacifiers. They sang and danced with the kids and read to them everyday (usually multiple times a day), and he was always coming home with a new song or pointing out things he had learned at "school". Again, he continued to come home with a big smile on his face and clearly loved(s) his teachers. We couldn't be more thankful for them.
Now that our son is in the 2-3 year old room, the learning has just continued at an exponential rate. My husband and I are blown away by all of the things our son knows and does on a daily basis, and we give 95% percent (well, hey, we made him so we get a little credit ;-)) of the credit to our amazing teachers at NGEC. They are constantly coming up with new things to teach them and show them. They talk, teach, and read to them about everything from things like different emotions, shapes, numbers, and letters to various countries, careers, and skills. We LOVE how hard they work to teach keep the kids engaged and come up with new and fresh material. They still provide plenty of outdoor time and have a well balanced day of play and learning. We also love that he has grown up with many of the same little friends from the infant room and seeing how they interact, care about each other, greet each other by name, and play together; it's a great feeling.
There are SO many other things we love about NGEC, and I could go on and on, but to shorten it a bit, I will them out:
-Again, and this cannot be stated enough, the teachers are GREAT. They really do care about the kids and do an amazing job with them.
-Security is good (multi-door access, key code to get into the inner door, everyone signs in and out, security cameras in each room that a parent can ask to see if they feel like something isn't right, kids coming and goings are tracked by teachers)
-There is a convenient online portal where you can see daily updates on activities done and meals served, and you can access your dues and pay online (autopay is available too)
-They post their tentative schedule on the inside of each classroom so you can see what the kids day's are structured like
-They have their monthly meals list, recent inspections, fire drills and various updates posted where they are easily accessible for anyone to see
-Communication with the front office is good and they are always helpful and courteous
For anyone looking for a new daycare for their baby or toddler, I highly recommend Next Generation Education Center (Mira Mesa location), you will not regret it!
Thanks again to NGEC for being the best decision we have made for our sweet boy!! We appreciate you guys so much and look forward to (at least) a few more years of attendance! read more