Massachusetts Preschools

MassachusettsPreschools.org is focused on one thing - parents helping parents find the best preschool available in Massachusetts. Preschool is a difficult time for children and parent alike. For the first time we are separated and for the child, they are both separated and away from home. Layered upon this is the reality that so much research has demonstrated; that the preschool years are the most important in a child’s development. Trusting your child’s immediate care and long-term feelings about school and themselves is one of the most difficult decisions a parent can make. However, while there are many “child care” and “day care” programs available in Massachusetts - many of them are glorified babysitting. Even some that call themselves “schools” are staffed by teenagers that have no skills, education or experience in early childhood education. Given the importance of these years to our children’s future - we cannot waste them on babysitting (or worst).

While looking for preschools ourselves we found that information is sorely lacking. Many of the “accreditation” programs are simply marketing programs set up by national “non-profits” in which schools must buy the accreditation to remain attractive to families that don’t realize the “accreditation” is purely marketing. Still others purport themselves to be licensed schools but turn out to be both unlicensed and not up to even meeting fire codes.

With this in mind and through the generosity of WordPress (who hosts this site free of charge), we have created this forum for parents to share their experience and knowledge of the very best of preschools in Massachusetts. We do not accept advertising and will delete any posts that are “marketing” and/or otherwise spam. We also will review the Commonwealth records to insure that any school suggested by a parent is at least licensed and without outstanding complaints or violations. Before posting a supportive recommendation we will search confirmation from at least three current or former parents of the school.

Discussion take place in the general geographic areas of Massachusetts:

• Boston Metro
• Metro West
• North Shore
• South Shore
• Cape & Islands
• Berkshires

Each region has a dedicated page. For general Q&A, comments and experiences use the home page.

We launched this site on February 1, 2008 so please be patient as we populate each region in the coming weeks with the work we had posted on the old forum.