Lighthouse Preschool

this review is for their elementary school summer program.
Parents beware. The worse program I’ve experienced. The program isn’t organized well and they do NOT disclose pertinent information ahead of the signup, and there’s no refund once you’ve paid, even though they didn’t disclose any changes during the program.
The quality of the program is terrible. Teachers are college grads who’s trying to find a job and take this as a summer gig for a short term. My child came home with so many bad attitude and behavior since attending their summer program!
Needless to say, i will never go back.
hope this is helpful for some parents. I tried to search for reviews for their summer program and couldn’t find any, so i signed up to try this year… and it turned out to be a horrible experience.

I would just like to say that some of the past reviews just make me laugh. I have been a part of the lighthouse program since my children have attended. I met the principle several times and I can tell you now that she does speak English and she is not from china. Anfno where do thry discriminate against those who are not Christian. They don’t force the religion on the children, they just tell the stories to them. As for the fees, they to straight back to the children in forms of more supplies and lunch parties for parents on thanksgiving and Chinese New Year.
For parents who rather have their kids play all day, bring them to a different school that acts as a babysitter. As a fellow teacher in public school, I am grateful that lighthouse has helped ease the children’s transition into public school where they ARE required to learn and do work. I am all for children being children but if my child is doing something that is harmful to themselves to other children, then I agree something needs to be done. If the teachers and principal believed that my child does need evaluations or services, then I’ll think about the future of my child rather than the superficial fear of my child being labeled (which will happen regardless once they’re in cliques in school).

When we first placed our son there at 2.5 years old. It took him a 8 weeks to stop crying when we dropped him off. My spouse and I were worried and did not like the feeling of not knowing what goes on behind the closed doors and not being able to visit whenever. Later we did realize that if we or other parents are able to visit unannounced it would disrupt the kids and their schedule.
Our son learned a lot while he was there until Sept 2011. They taught him many things and prepared him for the Gifted and Talented exam. He missed by two points.
This school may not be for everyone but it does prepare them for the next step and they are not too costly as other preschools that we were looking at.

This review is about my experience of finding the right preschool for my oldest. My oldest is now six and my second child has just turned 2 and so I am on my quest again to look for any newly established daycare and see if I can find one worthy of visiting.
Anyway, I came across this school. again and I feel that it’s my duty to share these information with all the prospective parents out there in Chinatown.
When my oldest was just two, I started to look for a bilingual English-​Chinese preschool. I want my son to grow up among both Chinese and the American cultures. In other words, I want him to have Chinese friends. We live in the East Village and going to school in Chinatown wasn’t exactly the most convenience choice.
Anyway, let’s get on.
The first time I visited the school was at around 10 am. I wanted to see how the children learn and interact with each others. Most importantly, I wanted to see the teacher (s) in action. I figured that everyone would be done by breakfast, and they should have already transitioned into whatever activities that their teacher had prepared for them. It’s before their lunch and nap time, so I wouldn’t bother the children.
I rang the door bell and rang the door bell and finally someone buzzed me in. I walked up to the second floor and she blocked me out by the door. Just like that, out at the front door, the lady who came out told me she was the director and that I can’t «SEE» the school because I didn’t make an appointment. I didn’t even get to step inside the school.
Shocked, but I was mostly embarrassed because she was so mean that I felt like I did something wrong. I didn’t want to go back or schedule a tour but my mother insisted that her friend heard it from another friend that this was a very very good school.
So, I called back and made an appointment with her. I remembered it like it just happened this afternoon. I went there with my mother the second time and she actually said I can’t see the school because I didn’t brought my son with me. NO CHILD-​NO SEE SCHOOL!
The purpose of this review is not to say that the school bad. Honestly I wouldn’t know because I didn’t even get to step inside the school.
My point is that getting information shouldn’t be so difficult especially if you are going to pay almost 600 a month (that was 4 years ago).
Good luck to all parents out. Hopefully you will never run into the same situation like I did.

**BEWARE! LONGGGG REVIEW FOR THE ADMIRATION OF THIS PLACE**
If I could relive those 3 summers I’ve spent with Lighthouse, I definitely would.
I spent my 1^st year at this location, and the next 2 in P. S.1. They actually have 3 locations… PS1, Anchor (Chrystie St.) and this location. The first year I’ve spent here was when I finished 4^th grade and they had every grade up until 8^th, I think. Then, I think they «relocated» the higher grades at the Anchor site, which isn’t bad.
Lighthouse and Anchor does get real cold sometimes. From what I can remember, my first year here was so-​so (it gets better, read on.).I remember I had a teacher named Mr.Ben.he was nice also tough though and since the principal is at this location, it was a bit strict. She barely allowed outside food, which I can respect. There was actually a lot of fun stuff here… movies and computers and for lunch, we’d always walk to 130 2 blocks away.
PS1 was the bomb! So many amazing memories here. The staff were definitely nice. Even though it was an old school, everything functioned just fine! Played dodgeball everyday, which was the best, computers and board games. A bit old-​fashion compared to Lighthouse and Anchor, but it’s alright. They even had ping pong (with the real board, yes!) this one time. Probably all the teachers and staff that were there when I attended, are all long gone now but I can never forget those memories.
And every Friday is trip day. There’s always trips to the movies, bowling (even though I never went), Liberty Science Center, and my most favorite, Fun Time USA (which is now closed).
I really recommend people, especially if you have kids that are aged 10 – 12 years, to join their summer program. I don’t know if it is the same as back then, after all it has been a long time. There’s a bunch of nice people there. When I left this place, I was only 12, which was 7 years ago (now you know how old I am!).