I reviewed this daycare on Facebook when we first starting going and gave it 5 stars because we had a remarkably smooth transition to this new place after a rough exit from a previous place, thanks to the Busy Bee owner Kathryn (who is awesome). Now that we have been attending for over a year, I wanted to update that review. This preschool is AMAZING. We were attending another daycare in the area, and when this one opened up we just couldn't justify the cost when the one we were using was so much more flexible cost-wise and we pretty much only paid on the days he attended for a pro-rated fee since my son was only there for a few hours. But when my son started coming home from the previous daycare with bite marks and huge scratches (on his face even) and the staff there couldn't tell me what happened, and didn't even notice until I pointed it out, I was done. (And I say "staff" because these people could not be called "teachers".) Now I could say a lot of terrible things about the old daycare, but the important thing to note is the difference in EDUCATION my kid received.
Now, Busy Bee is a full time, yearly tuition based Preschool. They do have part time as well, I think MWF and TH is an option if you don't need the full week. We pay whether or not he is home sick, or during months that have breaks from school (they do a 2 week break during the summer). They recommend that kids are there at 8:30am, for the full school day until 3:00pm. As far as daycare costs go, it is reasonable. It's not cheap, but it falls under the category of 'you get what you pay for'. They offer aftercare and early drop off. And the TEACHERS are awesome.
I realized recently while hanging up all of my son's artwork that they send home just how much work was put into this art. His teacher actively puts together new and interesting lesson plans EVERY WEEK. They focused on one topic each week and every book, song, art project, and lesson was about that one topic. I am emailed the weekly plan listing everything they are going to do that week. He's not just given crayons and paper, he is being taught how to dip random items (marbles, plants, toy cars) in paint to see the shapes they make on the paper. He's not just plopped down in front of a kid's show on an IPAD, he watches educational videos with his classmates and together with their teacher they discuss and practice what they watched. He's also learning how to share, how to ask if your friends are okay, how to respond when a friend asks for space. And he's only 3! I really could go on and on about how clean and organized their classrooms are, how they teach creativity and independence, how any injury, however minor or common, is treated with care and responsibility, how much he is LEARNING every single day, but instead I'll just say this preschool is well worth the money. If my kid is going to spend a huge part of his day with anyone besides me, I want him to be here, with these teachers that I trust. read more