After getting ONLY negative feedback on the Children's Court in Hurst on Mid-Cities, I have knocked them off my list. However, I have heard that not all Children's Courtyards are created equal. So now I am looking into the Children's Courtyard in Bedford and Haltom City. Also the Primrose on Mid-Cities in Hurst is an area of interest(I live in Hurst off of Mid-Cities - therefore wish to stay close to that location if possible).
K.-
We had a bad experience with Children's Courtyard in Bedford. Primrose of Bedford is amazing- we love it there. Let me know if you want to talk more about it. MY 3 year old is speach delayed and is doing wonderfully since we moved him.
M.
Since you live in Hurst, why not try a preschool in a church. I have heard wonderful things about Martin Methodist Preschool in the Martin UMC. They offer preschool as well as extended care for working moms/dads. Their hours are 7:30-6:00. Rates are very reasonable there also.
K.,
I, too, had a terrible experience with Children's Courtyard. The big difference is that both of the places you mentioned are technically day care centers rather than schools. I would encourage you to look into local Montessori schools (I'm in FW and there are tons here). Also, some local churches have very strong preschool programs (usually just part-time, though).
My son started at a Montessori school when he turned 2 (he's 3 1/2 now) and we LOVE it. (This was after six awful weeks at Children's Courtyard). He has absolutely flourished in this environment. (He screamed every day we took him to CC).
Good luck in your search! Please let me know if you need any help!
I used to be a Director of a Children's Courtyard. Each daycare is separate. If I was looking for daycare now, I start on the Texas Department of Regulatory Services website and look up Child Care you can read the reports on the daycare centers. You can see what problems they have had and what complaints they have gotten. I would visit the day care a couple times as well. Meet the Director and see what you think. Meet the teachers. See what kind of turn over they have, how long have they been there. See if they will let the children stay for a little while before you decide to see if they like it. (It will depend on ratios and if you stay or not sometimes if they will let them stay--they have to be in compliance with the state ratios).
when you look into the Children's Courtyard, look to see if they are NAYCE certified. That changes a lot from those centers that arent. There are more requirments and standards that have to be met
Hope that helps out your search a little
I would really look into the church-run preschools in your area rather than these commercial daycare facilities. In a church-run preschool, your child will be with more children that have SAHM's and less likely to send sick kids than daycare kids. I had a friend who used a preschool - I believe it was Methodist, close to the Hurst rec center and loved it. You will probably find more of what you are looking for at a church - just my opinion.
Hi K.,
I recently pulled my 4 year old son out of a Children's Courtyard in the Roanoke area. He hated the two hour nap and many of the various times that I picked him up in the afternoons there appeared to be a huge lack of structure. I also had concerns about their discipline system, which didn't seem to creatively go beyond "stop doing that" and "if you don't stop you'll go to time out."
Five years before the birth of my son, I worked at the Primrose School in Grapevine for two years. The curriculum there far outweighs that of Children's Courtyard in my opinion. We were teaching 4 year old academic principles that CC wasn't even touching. I think Primrose has a longer nap time though so you might want to take that into consideration.
If you are searching for a more academic-based program, I would head to Primrose.
Hope this helps!
R.
I had just moved back here to the DFW area last june and decided to go with a local daycare in bedford. I choose Children's courtyard based on location. My daughter has been in a few different day cares in NC since she was 6 months old. After only a week of school my daughter was very afraid to be left alone there. She had told me one night after school "The teacher hit me". I took it for what is worth from a 3 yr old, but after discussing it with the Management they never gave me a straight answer. This is not something that a 3yr old says just out of the blue. I immediatly pulled her out of the school and took some time off from work to find her a good school. After 2 weeks of looking, interviewing and research, Primrose in bedford was the answer. After her first day, I noticed a dramatic change in her behavior, actions and her overall happiness. Hands down, Primrose in bedford is the way to go.
