Preschools in Hinsdale

My daughter just started at Hinsdale Community Preschool (8th & Madison in the Community House). It is a play based school and we love it so far. It is a co-op so there is a parent board and required parent participation (I will be the parent helper 5-6 times a year). Her class (which can have up to 20 kids)has 3 teachers and 1 parent helper every day. This is one of the best student/teacher ratios I found. The teachers and staff are so friendly and helpful.

My son went to Hinsdale United Methodist, 55th St and Garfield, for three wonderful years. The staff is loving and nurturing.

Hi H., we live in Hinsdale and our 4yr old goes to Zion Lutheran preschool. Excellent school, I did alot of research before i decided on Zion. An alternative is Union Church w/c has rec. lots of great reviews.
Hope this helps and welcome to the area.

D.

If you don't get any recommendations, you can always search the NAEYC's (National Association for the Education of Young Children) database. Go to www.naeyc.org, click on 'search' and enter your ZIP code.

NAEYC is an accreditation body that has very strict and high standards for childcare facilities. Only about 10% of places (they include day care centers and preschools) receive the notation and many consider NAEYC centers to be the cream of the crop.

We live in Hinsddale, but my daughter started at Kensington School in LaGrange Highlands when she was 2. It's academic-based and we were very happy with it. We have now switched her into Union ECP (play-based), and we are very happy with that school as well. Our reasons for switching were to find something a little closer to home, and something that offered infant/toddler programs for our other daughter. I think most of the preschools in the area are great and you just need to find the one that seems like a good fit with your child and your desired approach to teaching.

We go to Union which offers a playbased program and is NAEYC accredited. To my knowledge and surprise, there is only one other NAEYC accredited program in the Hinsdale/CH area. Zion is comparable but a little more of a religious dose. Covenant is popular and considered more academic. Grace Lutheran has a good reputation. Celebrations is popular but for reasons I can not see. Hinsdale Community Prep is a co-op and seems like a good program.

Most programs have registration in January. But, you should be calling before then to not miss out. I think Covenant is one that you really need to get in early (like in the fall).