Goodard Schools - Anyone Have Experience with Them?

My daughter attended the one in St. Charles for about 1.5 years beginning at age 3. It's like any other preschool/daycare, there is some good and some bad. We loved her teachers in the 3s room, but were not at all impressed when she moved into the 4s. All of the Goddard Schools follow the same cirriculum, but are independently owned, so there is a great deal of difference in teachers, policies, etc. between the schools. We wound up leaving because we needed to switch a day and they wouldn't accomodate us.

Yes I was going to say what MomtoOne said. I don't have personal experience but a close friend of mine used to be a preschool director and has experience with many different places. The Goddard School curriculum is good and all of the schools use it as a base, but there can be so much variation b/c they are basically franchises that you should make sure you take a tour and interact with some staff and students before deciding.

My oldest daughter went there 1/2 day from ages 1 -4 because I worked PT at the time. Frankly, if it wasn't for the Goddard school I would not have gone back to work. I thought they had the best security of any school, I loved that they had a fenced yard and my daughter always had fabulous teachers.

On the other hand, once I became a SAHM I choose a local church's preschool that was just 2 1/2 hrs per day.

If you are not looking for daycare then I would find a regular preschool.

My grandkids went to Goddard school. For 2 years each. It was wonderful. They loved it and yes it is a daycare. But the do a preschool curriculum in the mornings. You can choose 2 or 3 or 5 day programs. We loved it.

Hi,
We sent our daughter to the Goddard School for preschool. We live near you; sent our daughter to the one in Hawthorn Woods. She was in a home daycare, and when it was time to start preschool, we couldn't leave work to pick her up. The daycare was part of what attracted us. We were pleased with the preschool curriculum. Our daughter was beginning to read and write by the time she was off to kindergarten.

The preschool portion of the day began at 9 am, so students there before that were playing. Some children only came for preschool. Lunch, naps and more of the daycare type of stuff was typical after the preschool session was over.

It was pretty flexible with us getting the days we needed. One year she went on t/th and the next year m/w/f. The only drawback for me was that preschool was conducted everyday since many children are there everyday. My daughter would sometimes miss certain activities or events, but the teachers were good about including her by saving some projects for her and such. If a party occurred on a day we did not attend, she was welcome to go as long as an adult stayed with her.

I was glad went sent her. She was well- prepared for kindergarten and loved her teachers.

Also, they offered vision and hearing screenings which caught an issue with my daughter's vision. The eye doctor wanted to know which preschool she went to and said they did a great job catching her eye issue so early!

The Goddard school my son went to was wonderful! I had to take him out & go to a park district preschool when I lost my job. I could tell right away the difference. He was ahead of the kids in his new school. That being said, it is a franchise & I have heard complaints about another one in my area. Just ask around about the one near you.

When I went back to work after 8 weeks I put my son at the Goddard School in LaderaRanch in California. So loving and wonderful. It was really hard to hand over this tiny baby but I felt incredibly comfortable with the staff the owner and the daycare. He was there for 2 1/2 years then we moved to Northern California. There was not a Goddard close enough there but when we moved to Chicago almost 2 years ago I found a Goddard right in the city where we live- he was in their junior kindergarten program and did really well.
Each Goddard is different with maybe hours or summer programs but Goddard "Corporate" evidently has a pretty strict program guide and they really require a lot of each franchise to comply with safety etc. They are super expensive and worth every penny.

Highly recommend!
Good luck!

Been at Goddard for over 5 years now and confident I made the best decision for my kids. We absolutely LOVE it! Love the curriculum, love the guidelines, love it all. While it is a daycare, they have all the same requirements as a prechool if not more. They even do testing in Pre-K to make sure the kids are "at expectation" for their learning and prepared for Kindergarten. I could go on and on... Momtoone is correct though. They are a franchise and while curriculum is the same, it can depend on the owners and the school director. Ours have been absolutley great.. it's family run and they have kids of their own who went through the school. One other thing about the "center" vs "preschool" My kids go full day so as working parents I never had to worry about getting them from point A to point B on certain days.

I was a daycare center teacher before I opened my home daycare. There are amazing curriculums in place at most of them, with full days to do the stuff that preschools squeeze into a few hours.

Look at the supply closet. A well stocked supply closet is the insider way of knowing if a preschool/daycare is a good place to send your kid. :)

Hi. I live VERY close to you. My husband and I relocated up here from the city when our son was 9 months old. We knew we wanted to start him in early hold hood learning around a year. Not daycare. We had strict criteria for where we wanted him to go and researched a lot of places in the area including multiple Goddard locations. For us, it needed to be a place where he would learn. A strict curriculum ensuring he would e ready for kindergarten. It needed to teach more than one language since that's what we started at home. Safe. Secure. Friendly. Goddard of RL was the only one that met all the criteria. We then asked for people's opinions. My husband asked at work and I asked parents that had their children in a playgroup we were attending. It was conclusive. He has been going since he was 17 months. As with any child in a new situation there were tears at drop off but within 2 weeks he was running to the door to go in. Your hold would be entered into the same level my son is currently in "chipmunks" and I an tell you that he teacher is wonderful. Actually, all the staff that we have met is great at that location. I hope it works out for you and your LO. It is a huge decision.

I did not have a good experience there. However, it probably depends on which one you are looking at. When I looked for a daycare/preschool change for my daughter, I did visit a couple of times. It seemed great when I went as a parent at naptime, but when I brought my daughter back for a "visit" day, I was utterly appalled. It was about 6-7 years ago, however. The teacher was very negative; didn't have age-appropriate expectations, and there weren't even enough materials for all the kids they had. I think they had opened not too long before that, but even the outdoor play area was too small for the number of kids they had. Most of the teachers I had contact with did not have good training in helping children resolve conflicts positively, and it showed. I have taught preschool through middle school, and am a parent of two, now elementary/middle school age. Quality varies by center, management, teachers, etc. so definitely go visit when there are children there and there is long-term interactions; make sure to visit the exact room your child would be in. We stayed for 2-3 hours, and I was watching, and I would never go back. I got a totally different impression when the kids were awake. Glad others had positive experiences, but I'm guessing it was not the same location. Good luck!