We brought our first/only here almost 2 1/2 years ago from when he was 6 months old, on a part time basis (couple half days a week). He's learned so much in the precious time he has at EPC. Now, at almost 3, he runs into the school each day. He loves the staff, knowing many of them by name, mentioning them in conversations outside EPC. When we needed to have him stay longer one day due to stuff us parents had to do it wasn't a problem, and he enjoyed it so much he wanted to stay longer the next day he was there.
The staff have been great with him. He's taught to clean up after himself (we teach/reinforce that as well), he gets to express empathy (he apparently brings unhappy classmates their favorite toy to try to make them feel better), and we get feedback both formally (like if he bumps his head) or informally ("he was really quiet from 11:00 on"). Early on he learned basic sign language and that let him communicate things before he could talk to us. We get pictures of him in action during his time at EPC, it's great, and it set such a high standard - when we had a babysitter look after him we both commented that we almost expected to be emailed a picture of him because "that's what EPC does".
One of the things that's impressive is the sheer amount of kid-specific things they have - kid size toilets, low sinks, great cribs and changing tables, nice cots for slightly older kids, a huge decontamination thing for toys and cots and such, padded gym shape things, a ball pit set up, food (and a menu), outdoor playground stuff for most every room, and toys and books of course. There's no way we could have all that stuff at home.
Another thing that's impressive is that we will get reports of a classmate that had a particular illness, like redeye or whatever. We look at each other and think, "Oh boy, we're in for it" but he normally doesn't get sick with the same thing. The sanitation controls in place are super effective.
We're torn with the fact that we'll need to send him full time soon because that means one of us won't be with him. However the positive side is that he'll be at EPC and he'll have a fantastic learning experience, one that is realistically more complete than anything we can provide here at home. As first time parents our world is now centered around our child and EPC has made us feel absolutely secure and comfortable in having him in their care.
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