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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Academic Adventures (again)
HawkeyeBride - are you still taking your LO there? How's it going (wow it's been almost a year!)?
Anyone else go or have any experience with it?
I haven't even visited yet, but it's become my best option for my kids once my oldest starts school next fall (sob, yes I like to get my worrying on early). I want it and need it to work, but I want to find out if anyone has had any bad experiences.
Mostly, how do you like the staff?
thanks to jennied 
Re: Academic Adventures (again)
Hello! I can PM you with any specific info you may want but we absolutely LOVE it there- can not say enough good things about our experience!
Kennedy is in the 2nd infant room (6-12months) which I don't think you would need but her teachers are fabulous- just awesome people who seem to genuinely love her to pieces as much as we do- I was in absolute awe at Christmas when the individual teachers got her gifts- which of course has nothing to do with her experience there but definitely made me smile. She gets excited as soon as we enter her room which I love-
Blake is in one of the preschool rooms and will move to Pre-K when he turns 4. We have had experiences with two different preschool teachers and love them both- the one he initally had moved to pre-K at the start of the school year and Blake moved to the new preschool room. All 4 of the preschool and pre-K teachers are great- I am not positive on all of their educational backgrounds but I know some have their BA degrees and all have several years of preschool/pre-k experience. And the part-time late afternoon teachers in those rooms are great as well- I have noticed and been told by a few of the teachers that a lot of the PT teachers and daycare know the director through their church b/c I have noticed that they are very respectful and way more mature than many 20-23 year old people I know!
I also like that they have some male staff members which Blake has really liked!
Definitely PM if you have more questions or specifics...and if you wouldn't mind me giving you my name as a referral if you go visit that would be aweosme- they ahve a great referral program!
Wow, I just breathed a huge sigh of relief
That's mainly all I wanted to know. I want to know and trust the staff. I'm used to a one person show with my in home so it will take some getting used to having multiple people a day per kid.
I was thinking of you when I saw the pricing sheet and their referral program
I'll be in touch to get your info when we eventually move forward. I'm dragging my feet a bit now b/c of kindy and leaving my current provider will most likely kill me emotionally. But I know I need to get my butt in gear since I'll need to place 2 kids there.
Thanks so much!!
thanks to jennied
No problem- if you have any more specific questions let me know. I think they are just about going on one year of being open and are very full- I know the infant wait is 3-4 months right now - not sure on any other rooms. I know someone else who recently toured and plans to enroll in preschool/pre-k so I think they have those openings. Would you have one school age and one in the daycare FT?
I think another aspect I like is that a lot of the staff know each other- 3 of them came from another daycare (after the first one started and liked it the other 2 followed) and the director and assistant director and bus driver/cook are all family which I like as well. They had a fabulous christmas program where they rented out a local elementary school gym and had santa come and bring gifts and cookies and juice, etc. For school agers I know they have a full summer program. I heard that they had some kinks in it last year as far as field trips, etc but it was also the first year so I would think that was to be expected somewhat. I went to Valas with Blake's room this year which was a lot of fun.
It probably will take some getting used to multiple people caring for your children. We started at an in-home and after a horrible experience went to another center and then moved to academic adventures and it was our best move by far!
I was glad to read this as well. This is one of the closest places to our house and I would imagine a likely candidate for my kid when he starts preschool. Do you guys know how much it is for preschool age kids? Does it get cheaper when he turns 4 for Pre-K?
Have you both always been in a center, or were you in in-home? We are in in-home right now, and I've started to wonder how it's going to work out with that....do most people just switch to a center when their kid is preschool age?
Pre-School and Pre-K is $162.00 for FT and they also offer 2-day and 3-day options.
We had Blake in an in-home until he was almost one and then something happened which led us to move to a center- he was at the previous center until academic adventures open (he just turned 3 when we moved)- he was just starting preschool at the previous center so the timing of the move was great b/c we approached the new center as "preschool." It took a few weeks to transition but it went pretty smoothly. I know you can start in the preschool and pre-k rooms at anytime but each fall at the start of the school year they have new kiddos start and have an open house, etc. and start the new curriculum.
Thanks! We are paying $155/week FT at our in-home right now, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch at least. He will turn 3 next February, so I may just wait until the fall to move him if he's ready. Hopefully there won't be a crazy waiting list then!
When I would essentially like to start, we'll have a 3 yr old and a pre-k (who will be in kindy in the fall). I guess I should get my butt in gear and expect to pay to hold a spot or switch over quicker. Waaaaa!
This place is seriously so close to my house, I live in that neighborhood behind it. It couldn't be more convenient. And when I read on their sign that they transport kids to the grade schools (while I was stressing over the bus or carpool lanes) I was sold.
My kids have always been in an in home. I sent my oldest to preschool (2 hours 2x a week) last year just to get him a taste of what a more organized environment would be like (not that my daycare isn't, but you know what I mean) so pulling them out of an in home is not necessary. Our daycare provider taught my oldest everything from his letters to counting to writing (way before preschool did) so he's good to go there. I think it would depend on how much your in home is working on pre-k skills and if you feel they need to experience what school might be like, before they have to go full time. So personal preference. I personally haven't heard of many people pulling their kids just to go to a center if they're happy with their current in home.
To back up a bit, we moved across town from our current daycare 3 yrs ago but have continued to drive the kids all the way over there since it was such a great place. She's in a different school district and we don't have before/after care for the oldest, etc etc etc, and it doesn't make sense to keep driving one kid there and drop the other at a place where kid #2 could potentially go. That's the only reason we're switching.
thanks to jennied