Looking for Downtown Chicago Day Care and Pre Schools

Unfortunately, they are all quite costly.
Little Green Tree House in the West Loop ($74/day and academic based, organic catering too, not sure what the infant fee is)
Chalk School in Lincoln Park near the big Whole Foods they have both full and part-time programs
Spouts Academy which is opening up in the River North area in early 2010
I do know CPS is $10K per year for preschool 3-5yrs a tad cheaper than what you pay for some of these daycares...

Good Luck!
J. W. MPH
Maternal and Child Health Educator

Hi A.,
You should try some of the Bright Horizon locations by looking on line. There are four and five downtown and they are beautiful! They have them in the city, suburbs and around the world...they are amazing! Also, the Chicago Public Schools has alot of great locations, just check out the website for your section of the city and a whole bunch will come up. And definitely the Catholic Schools are another great option.

Happy New Year and all the best!

Schools in the city are definitely expensive. Not sure exactly what kind of school you are looking for, but some cheaper options are Lovebugs on Larabee north of division and Creative Scholars on elston. The Intercultural Montesdori will be right across the street from us so I thought I would check it out. The philosophy seemed interesting to me, but I wasn't sure it would mesh with my daughter. My daughter applied and went to the admission playdate. I watched from the window for the hour and must say I did not see a lot of learning or fun. The kids did their tasks independently or on occasion with one other student or staff. One kid sat at a table and looked out the window for an hour and did nothing else. My daughter did her tasks and then was given playdough. She made tortillas and wanted to share with the other kids, but staff told her to sit back down. I am sending her to school to learn how to socialize and I did not feel that was encouraged. The staff were nice, but I was not overly impressed. My daughter was accepted, but we decided to send her to Catherine Cook. I do not remember the exact cost, but it was not cheap and I think you have to give to their annual fund. You can check out Chalk preschool too.

I can't provide a silver bullet, but check out www.smartlovepreschool.org!

A.

My baby is 21 months and he started his daycare when he was 5 months. I am taking him to Easter Seals and I am very happy with this place. Great staff, clean, everybody is nice, kids happy.

I don't know how is your budget but you can always check it out.

http://chicago.easterseals.com/site/PageServer?pagename=I...

I can give you more information if you want,

Good luck

M.