Forest Edge Playhouse
Akhilesh A
Be very cautious before putting your LO in this home day care. We did a mistake and realized it soon. When we visited first time, the care provider assured us that she would take personal care of our 11 months old. She assured that she would not enforce their daily routine and would mould her slowly.
On first day we had put our LO for just one hour and for full day on second and third day. The very second day, she asked me that how would our LO sleep at 1.00pm as she took her short nap between 10am-10.45am, she will cry and other kids will be disturbed. I requested her to take my LO in other room if she doesn’t sleep and if other kids are sleeping. She refused to do that and said that all the caretakers take their lunch at that time and some rest. How can they think that 11 months old will get into their routine in just one day? Those made us realize that how less they care about babies and their needs.
The baby crib mattress was very thin just around 1-2 inches. When I asked her for thick mattress, she explained that it came with crib and they are not going to replace it. We did not like either the mattress or the response and the way she responded. We knew that the mattress was uncomfortable. We even repented that we did not notice it during our first visit.
Same day I visited in afternoon to check, my LO was sleeping with her bib. They did not even care to take that off while she was sleeping. They explained that my daughter drools. My daughter did not ever drool but she might have because of crying too much.
Third day in the evening when we went to pick her up, she had food all over her face & hand. She had her snack at 3:30 according to their daily chart and we picked her up at 4:40. That means our daughter was like that for almost an hour. Both I and my husband were in huge pain to see her like that. In evening, we also realized that her voice was changed. We are sure it must be because of her constant screaming. We do not think that anyone harmed her but we were very sure that nobody cared enough to soothe her or calm her.
We immediately decided to take our daughter off the care. To top all this, caregiver did not show slight touch of humanity. She kept money for whole week along with registration fee which we felt was reasonable. But she did not return full deposit as well. We did not care and happily agreed.
Other points to note – She keeps just one assistant in the evening along with her for 12 kids. She allows other young girls in the kids area. This should not be allowed in a professional home day care.
About Our Staff
Welcome to Forest Edge Playhouse, our licensed home daycare and preschool in Reston, VA. I’m the owner and lead teacher and I have 20 years of experience in providing quality child care and early childhood education. I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Education and Master’s Degree in Psychology. Before opening my daycare in 2006, I worked as a teacher in different countries. I really love working with children, and this made me decide to open my own daycare!
My staff and I are CPR and First-aid certified, as well as MAT trained so we can administer medication to all children in our care. We are a team of moms, and like all parents, we want what’s best for your precious little one! We strive to create a nurturing, happy and safe environment where every child can learn and grow, and develop their full potential.
Philosophy & Curriculum
We believe that each child is unique, so we provide individualized attention and tailor daily activities to their needs and abilities. Daily activities help develop fine motor skills (e.g. puzzles, writing or coloring), gross motor skills (e.g.large block building or outdoor exercise), manners and hygiene (e.g. washing hands and proper greeting) and of course, socio-emotional skills with free play!
We know that children learn best through play and fun, engaging experiences which is why we allow them to explore new things and have fun while learning. Forest Edge Playhouse follows the Play-based learning principles – an effective approach to develop each child’s valuable skills. Our place has lots of educational and fun activities in store for them such us circle time, rhymes, yoga, reading, writing and much more!
We have a school readiness program and teach our students according to their abilities. We also teach the children until 2nd-grade level, so they are ahead of the class when they get to Kindergarten. We create a specific, dedicated binder for each child with a unique curriculum plan that we develop, based on each child's learning level and style.
We are enrolled in Fairfax Library's Early Literacy Program. A county officer visits our facility half an hour once a month to read a storybook, sing a song and play games. She also gives each child a book, coloring sheet and some references for other books. Teachers encourage each child to speak English, but we can also expose them to foreign languages upon request (we speak Spanish, Arabic, Punjabi, Urdu, and Hindi). We also teach them the American Sign Language.
Our Program
Our child care and preschool program is open year-round from 7:30 am to 6:00 pm. We provide full-time and part-time care for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers between the age of 1 week and 5 years old, including children with special needs. We serve morning and evening snacks and provide milk and juice to all kids attending our program (all these are already included in the tuition).
We have a backyard playground and we are also close to the community playground where we spend our outdoor play-time every day. We have a yearly picnic, Christmas party, Sports Day, Halloween and other small fun parties. In the summer, we bring out the pool and do water play.
We have an open door policy, so parents can come and visit anytime and see what their child is doing (once they enroll in our program, we give them the door code). We also give parents a daily form to give you an update of your child's day (their activity schedule, what they had for lunch, etc.)
Location
Forest Edge Playhouse is within walking distance from Forest Edge Elementary School and close to Reston Metro Station. We're right off Wiehle Ave (route 828) and Baron Cameron Ave (route 606) and have easy access to these major roads: Leesburg Pike (route 7), Dulles Toll/Access Rd (route 267) and Fairfax County Pkwy (route 286). Please email or call us to schedule a visit, we look forward to meeting your family!