The Family Academy of Bethesda
The Family Academy of Bethesda
My family absolutely adores the Family Academy of Bethesda. If we had not recently moved abroad, our two children would still be with them. Our daughter started at 3 months old and went through all of the rooms and thrived and was supported and encouraged in each room. She left, at nearly 4 years old, a confident, kind, engaged, friendly, smart little girl prepared for kindergarten. Our son Jameson started at only 8 weeks old, but knowing how fabulous the infant care is, I had no worries about his starting so young. All of the staff and teachers at FAB are so kind, warm, communicative, and caring. I cannot recommend the Family of Academy strongly enough. We miss them very much!
The Family Academy has been an intimate part of our family’s life now for almost 5 years. All three of our children attend the academy and we cannot think of a more a nurturing and caring environment. The asset of the school starts with its teachers who are devoted to inculcating values and manners into the children from an early age. In addition to these life skills, the academy’s teachers provide focused instruction on a daily basis to reading, writing, math and language skills. We have no doubt that our children will be more than prepared for elementary school when they are sadly ready to matriculate from the academy. In short, The Family Academy provides a culture of caring and learning which complements the objectives we strive to teach at home.
We searched for an extraordinary amount of time and interviewed a number of facilities before finding The Family Academy of Bethesda for our daughter. We really can’t have imagined a better place her to begin her “formal education”. The environment is a very safe, energetic, loving and a nurturing one where each child is made to feel incredibly special. The teachers are so wonderful with the children, we feel confident leaving her in their care.
Our daughter is excited about school and never wants to miss a day. We began to realize more and more that this was an extraordinary place for her to be! The experience she has benefited from a Family Academy has been astonishing. The teachers are passionate about their role and educate the children with a dynamic curriculum and promote learning through a variety of activities in order to understand the subject matter in detail.
The materials are so engaging and the curriculum is so enriching, it has placed in her a love for learning. She has excelled academically in math and reading. As she matriculates into the School District, she is remarkably far ahead of the rest of the students her own age by at least 2-grade levels. We owe this to the staff of Family Academy.
The Family Academy of Bethesda is everything we could ask for in a preschool! We couldn’t be happier with the choice we made.
We were recommended to the Family Academy by a work colleague when we first moved to the area for our, then, 3-year-old son and 9-month-old daughter. We had experienced 4 different daycare/preschool environments (in the Connecticut and Colorado); we love FAB by far the best. The highest testament to this place is that my children were always excited to go to school, which was not the case at other preschools. For me, the nicest part was the genuine, warm smiles that we as parents received every morning from the teachers. I strongly believe that the warm environment created by these small gestures were examples of the reason my children were so comfortable here. We always felt that the teachers were working with us; never unduly blaming or accusatory (e.g. even when we forgot socks, lunches, forms, etc.).
This was also our first Montessori environment; now we know why it is so popular. The foundation that a Montessori curriculum provides cannot be underestimated. The attention to awareness of the atmosphere you are creating (e.g. not disrupting the learning atmosphere) was so valuable to our son. The life skills that Montessori stresses are remarkable. And of course, the magic way Montessori teaches very young children to read was amazing to experience (our daughter now reads at 3 years old, which our son did not). We have moved now, but have chosen another Montessori preschool for our daughter because of these positive experiences. Ms. Sithy is the glue and foundation of FAB. She truly cares about the children at the school and went out of her way to help us many times. This generosity of spirit has beyond doubt made a difference in the lives of our children.
Our two-year-old daughter has been with Family Academy since she was four months old and we cannot believe our good fortune to have found such a wonderful place for her. The teachers in all the rooms have given our little one such wonderful loving care and treated us, as new parents, with kindness and gentle suggestions. New parents can be vulnerable to criticism, but we have never experienced anything but helpful, considerate guidance from FAB staff as we navigate parenthood. Our daughter Leela is very happy and comfortable in FAB’s classrooms and is eager to go to daycare each day. She is learning more than I could have hoped to teach her myself (sign language, the alphabet, numbers and more) and has friends and experiences she talks about when she comes home. We could not recommend FAB more highly.
Choosing the Family Academy was one of the best decisions my husband and I ever made for our daughter. The day that we dropped her off as a 3-month-old was hard for me. I was a new mom and very nervous. Her teachers in the infant room were kind and gentle. Not just to the baby, but to me as well! I was sold from day one. The teachers were a source of guidance, security, and love from there forth. Our daughter is happy and active throughout the day at the Family Academy. We love it and could not recommend it more highly.
Our infant started at Family Academy of Bethesda when he was only 7 ½ weeks old. He was under the care of Miss Tuma, and the other wonderful teachers, in the Infant Room until 9 months old. He has absolutely thrived under the caring and educational environment of these extremely supportive women. Miss Tuma made sure our son was well taken care of and helped him reach all kinds of milestones. FAB teachers are well aware of what a child should be doing at each month of their early lives. They made sure our baby got plenty of tummy time early on and helped him learn how to roll over. As he got older, they helped him learn to sit up on his own. Then they helped him learn how to crawl, clap his hands, and encouraged him to stand and talk. His developments have far exceeded our expectations and he has reached many milestones earlier than infants who are not in this daycare. Since this is our first child, they also helped us learn the ropes of taking care of an infant. Miss Tuma would give us helpful suggestions about diaper sizes, how much formula or food our baby needed during the day, and best of all, she got him on an amazing napping schedule. He now sleeps like a champion at home. I trust this daycare implicitly and have a lot of confidence in them. The teachers are superb and we have been beyond delighted to have our son attend Family Academy. The teachers have felt like a family to us since the first week our son attended. We are forever grateful.
We can’t recommend FAB enough. Our son thrived in the infant and young toddler classrooms, and he/we adored his teachers, who were loving, patient, dedicated, and dependable. FAB provides a nurturing environment, and our son achieved great progress during the seven months that he spent there. The daycare is well organized and well managed, and we enjoyed interacting with the directors, who were always willing to listen and help out. FAB combines the advantages of a big center (support teachers, drop-in program…) and those of a family daycare (simple procedures, home-like atmosphere, house-like buildings). We always received precise information about our son’s day in writing. The daycare has direct access to the Georgetown trail, which provides a great place for daily walks. We chose to transfer our son to another daycare which works better for us in terms of location, but will truly miss this unique place. The only (minor) drawback I can think of about FAB is that the play areas are not very large, and somewhat limited compared to bigger centers’ playgrounds.
“So much love for the Family Academy. Our son attended here for years, starting from the time he was 6 months old. Each classroom was led by caring, creative teachers. Under the center’s care, my son truly blossomed. Well before we expected, he was singing songs to us, identifying letters, counting, and more. And most indicative of this center’s awesomeness–my son was always so happy to go to school. It also meant a lot to me that the staff and teachers made genuine, impactful efforts to include our family’s culture alongside mainstream culture, for example welcoming us to send in books about our holidays, directly engage the class in activities, and share ideas for the teachers to use. Would recommend Family Academy to anyone!!”
Family Academy has taken such wonderful care of our two children in our time here and we cannot recommend them enough. FAB took us in during the height of the COVID Pandemic and at no point did we ever feel unsafe or unsure of our decision. From Day 1, our children’s development, safety, and happiness have been prioritized and nurtured and it has been a joy to see them grow and blossom. The staff has always been professional, responsive, and friendly and the teachers have been, to a one, absolutely magnificent. The depth of concern and feedback provided on a daily basis has been comprehensive and reassuring. In conversation with friends of ours who have their children at different child care centers, FAB always is reviewed the highest to the point that multiple friends of ours have brought their children to the center. Our children were treated with love and support at all times and we have and will continue to always sing FAB’s praises. A top-tier organization through and through.