Has anybody ever sent their kids to the KinderCare 3-year-old or 4-year-old preschool program at any location?
If so, would you share your experience?
It seems to me that their infant and toddler programs are more popular. I don't know anybody has sent their kids to their preschool program, nor I've found too many reviews about their preschool program!
My boy is enrolled in one of the KinderCare Preschool prgrams (3-year-olds) in Chicago. I remember you live in the West Coast, right? Not sure if my review would help though as each center may vary from one another, especially in different states.
From what I know, Kindercare is acquired by Knowledge Universe not long ago. Compared to other chain daycare centers such as Gardner School, Bright Horizon and some Montessori daycare; I found Kindercare is one that doesn't really have a strong philosophy. Not saying they are bad, but there isn't really a special characteristic you can tell about the place (maybe except it is quite expensive!). I put my son there because there are no space in all the other daycare centers I like. I looked up their mother company, Knowledge Universe, and saw that the founders are pure businessmen (I think they are two brothers). I also looked up reviews from Glassdoor and many of Kindercare staff are not particularly happy with their work enviorment and pay. My son's class is okay because the teacher seems to be very caring and experienced. My son also seems to be happy everytime I pick him up. But the one he goes to DO NOT serve organic meals... whereas I know many daycare centers (especially those who charge more) serve organic meals. They don't have many up-to-date equipments... and no security cameras in each classroom. There are some positive things about the center though: the center director is very nice and she communicates well with parents. The kids seem very polite and well-behaved... their classwork look nice and neat. I think that says a lot about the education. At least I believe the teachers are doing a good job teaching them.
Are you looking into other schools as well? Which one do you prefer most?
I have just checked out the KinderCare nearby. I considered it just becos it's only about 10 minutes from our home.
CK_Kukky,
How old did your son start going to KinderCare?
I think most kids started going there in their infant or toddler years.
Have you signed up your boy for any of their optional classes such as phonics, math, music, cooking and soccer?
It sounds a little weird to me that they charge extra for the phonics, math and music which are supposed to be part of the preschool curriculum!
I was told that they have also included phonics, math and music in their regular curriculum, but some parents just want their kids to have more individual attention and learn more in phonics, math, etc. cos the teacher-student ratio will be lower when you have signed up for those optional 20-30 minute classes.
I was told that those optional activities will be taught by their regular teachers during regular school hours. That means no extra resources are provided while you're paying extra!
It definitely sounds like a money-making business to me!
Also, I found out that they don't pay the teachers well although their tuition is one of the expensive ones! I found out that their teachers are paid at $11.x/hour or $41,xxx/year, and even the director is paid $46,xxx/year! You would earn more even if you help the local families cooking or cleaning! They only require the teachers to have a minimum of 12 ECE units and at least 1 years experience, so mostly their teachers don't even have a degree.
My boy started going to Kindercare just several months ago when he turned 3. Ten out of twleve of the kids in his class grow up there from infant/ toddler program. My son is a total newcomer and you can imagine it took him a rather long time to adjust, especially when all the other kids are already familiar with each other. I agree Kindercare try to make extra $ by providing enrichment programs. However, I still signed my boy up for Phonics, Math and Cooking because I know at least they use extra teaching materials in those classes. I also want my son to interact with kids from different classes so he get to see more different faces and hopefully he will become less shy. Other than those two reasons, I also see no point spending those extra cash on those classes...
I agree Kindercare pay their caregivers shamefully low wages. Sometimes I wonder if daycare workers would really do their job well when they are not compensated well. But what can you do? Sometimes it is a matter of luck whether you can find a truly good daycare center that suits your kids. When I was touring the Kindercare center before my boy enrolled, I saw a preschool class teacher chewing gum during class! After the tour, I talked to the center director that I want to put my son in ANOTHER class and good that she accommodated. Now his class teacher is an Eastern European lady, also a grandma, and she is pretty strict with disciplining. She also cares about the kids. For example, my son is a super picky eater and only eats bread, rice and pasta that is plain without sauce. The teacher would save him extra bread and ask the kitchen to put aside the food for my son before mixing in the sauce. There are other little things that I know the teacher did to care for my son and other kids. I think that's enough for me to feel secure putting my son there.
I have checked out Bright Horizon's web site. It looks pretty similar to KinderCare and both look more like a day care taking kids starting from 6 weeks old.
KinderCare is only 8-10 mins from my home, while Bright Horizon might be about 20 mins if traffic is good.
I agree Bright Horizon is better. I toured its center too and really liked it. I couldn't send my boy there because they gave all the spots to staff who work in the affiliated university. I ended up with the second choice of Kindercare.
I agreed that Kindercare is not very professional. I got a feeling that they tried to charge you as much as it's possible, i.e. summer registration fee for $250 and Sept intake registration fee for 100. I sent my kids there because I did not have any other options when i got a job few months ago. I doubted if their program was sufficient enough academically. My older one at 4-1/2 years old has been learning to write A to Z and 1 to 20 for more than a month. My younger one at 3 even not started writing or coloring.
I researched Bright Horizon a bit. My husband toured a center and commented that there facilities were way much better than Kindercare.
Any moms have kids with Bright Horizon now who can share their exp. with me?
Where do you live?
I heard that the facilities of BH are good, but I didn't bother to check it out as I already enrolled my girl at a preschool pretty close to BH.
The reason that I tried to find another preschool is that the preschool that I've enrolled her is not very close to our home and I heard that the traffic will be bad in the morning! Since the closest BH is also near that school, what's the point of checking it out? They're both play-based, which is the same as KinderCare. I've visited KinderCare near our home, and their academic part seems to be "ok" or average to me. If you want more academics, you would need to pay more for small group learning. Anyway, their facilities are so-so and the place is small.
The preschool that I've enrolled my 3-year-old will be mainly teaching zoo-phonics, but she already knows all the beginning sounds of the alphabets from the video and toys. So, I just let her play and social with other kids at school.
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