I was reluctant to leave this mixed review but believe this may be helpful to parents looking for a daycare for their children. There will be good and bad in any school you select, so I will simply point out the positives and the negatives from my experience for you to consider. My son had attended Take My Hand from 4 months until graduating from Pre-K4 this past summer.
Nursery Room: AWESOME!! I can't say enough good things about Ms. Dorothy, Head of Nursery. She is one of those people that genuinely loves children, and you can tell the babies under her care all love her too. My son had gravitated towards her the moment he started there and we saw happiness in his eyes and positive development when we picked him up every day.
Waddler section, Toddler section, 2s, and 3s classes are all handled well, as the room configuration allows the kids to learn while having fun in an open space. Few special teachers for us were Ms. Ruth, Ms. Dorothy, Ms. Camille, and Ms. JoJo. They were all caring and great with children.
Pre-K3 teacher, who now is no longer there, was strict but had the desire to "teach" the kids, which I can understand and appreciate. I saw significant improvements in my son's alphabet reading skill, vocabulary usage, communication skill, and discipline. The Pre-K3 teacher had informed me that she was asked to "not teach too much", which I believe is the reason for her leaving. I totally support the concept of letting kids be kids and just play at this young age, but I saw this teacher made learning "fun", so it's a shame that she was asked to tone it down with her teaching.
Pre-K4...Here is where many things were done wrong. Perhaps the school followed the same theme as Pre-K3 about limited teaching or perhaps it is just the Pre-K4 teacher. I had also considered perhaps it was my son's issue but have since discussed with other parents and received similar feedback, which is what prompted me to write this review for parents considering TMH Pre-K4. My observation is the Pre-K4 teacher (Ms. Jessica) just wanted "authority" over the children but did not know how (or want) to teach the children. Unlike many other teachers in TMH (and I want to be clear that there are many good ones), the Pre-K4 teacher was not engaging or caring. It seems as if she was just going through the motion, exerting just enough effort so that parents can't really complain and end up accepting the situation in hope to finish the year soon and then start kindergarten fresh. However, I regret doing so in retrospect as I may have wasted a year of my son's life since he could've learned more and developed better at another school with a better teacher. Just something to keep in mind if you are considering TMH Pre-K4. My intention is to share my experience and thoughts, but you should form your own opinion after visiting or talking to the school. Also, the teachers do come and go. My Pre-K4 opinion is on the current teacher and is not forever, just to be fair. read more