Mountain Park Play School

Both of my children have attended The Playschool at Mountain Park for 2 years since they were 18mths and 2 years old. I like to call it my Playschool family. The director, teachers, parents, children and staff at the MPHOA are hands down the village that help raises my family. I am very thankful for the care and teaching based on the principles of respect, responsibility, and community through exploration and discovery in a supportive and enriching environment based on the interests of the children through a self-guided curriculum. The play based curriculum is proven beneficial for later engagement and more motivation in school. This play based preschool helps my children be more independent, more proud of their accomplishments and improve their social skills. \r more

My almost 3 year old has attended Mountain Park Playschool in Lake Oswego since last September; the Playschool is located at 2 Mt. Jefferson Terrace, about 5 minutes from the Portland Community College's Sylvania campus. You don't have to be a member of the Mountain Park homeowners association to enroll your child in the Playschool; we live in SW Portland, just north of Mountain Park. Kids range from 2 to pre-K. The school claims to follow the Reggio Emilia instruction philosophy, but I must admit I don't really know enough about this approach to understand if it is truly applied. I just know that the teachers are mature and loving, the kids experience a wide range of activities throughout the day, and my son always tell me he had a great day at the end of the day (and it usually takes about 10 minutes to get him to leave the place). When we moved to the area last summer, we visited several places, observed the kids, talked to the teachers, and both DH and I ranked Playschool as our top choice. The school is located in a residential area; it has a really extensive playground area surrounded by greenery. (Two other schools we visited had chain linked fences and were located right off busy roads. The environment just feels really different.) The teachers are long time mature employees, unlike a few other places we visited where high turnover or very young teachers seem to be the norm. One thing that we considered when looking at preschools was the school's use of computers. The Playschool has a couple of computer terminals donated to the pre-K class and the kids get very limited supervised use of those computers on occasion. (We visited two other preschools that had computer terminals in the 2s and 3 year old classes as well, and we were told the kids have computer play time as part of their free choice every day. Such early and extensive exposure to computer play (and TV) just doesn't fit with our child-rearing philosophy.) Cami, the Director, is terrific. We have dropped our son off at various times during the day -- from before 9 am to after 11 am -- and picked him up at various times in the afternoon -- from around 3 pm to 6 pm; so we've had the opportunity to observe the staff and kids in a wide range of periods. My son has also spent time with all the teachers since enrolling. I really think everyone there is wonderful. The school staff had no previous experience with cloth diapers, but Cami was not even hesitant about having the teachers learn to use cloth when I asked if they would be willing to change cloth; I used the pocket diapers for daycare to make it easier on the teachers. They were really flexible about the start of enrollment, and we were able to visit and hang out several days over a week's time to get my son acclimated before officially enrolling him. If the location is convenient, I really recommend a visit to the Playschool for all parents shopping around for preschools. more

My daughter started attending The Playschool at Mountain Park July 2011. In the short amount of time that my daughter has been at the school she has not only made a bunch of friends with lasting memories, but she is always teaching me something new everyday she comes home from school. She has learned better manners (better than mine most of the time), she was potty trained by the staff (THANK YOU STAFF!), she has been learning sign language, songs, everything that a child of 4 should know. I never have to worry about my daughter when she is in the staff's care. My daughter wakes up every morning wanting to know if it is a ""school day"" or a ""home day"", if I break the news that it is a ""home day"" she is bummed out! Thank goodness for The Playschool at Mountain Park and the best staff around! more

Child warehousing; unstructured and poorly organized. Long on ""play"", short on ""school"". Examine the schedule carefully, many days are filled only with playtime in the yard. ""Teachers"" are often seen talking among themselves as children run about playground with little or no interaction or supervision. Only passive, sedate children need apply. Any children expressing anything else are separated and demeaned before others. I was fortunate to find an actual preschool at which my child excels. Proper if you are only looking for child-minding and a fenced yard. Do not expect more. ""Oswego mum"" is spot on. more

This is not a good place for children. There is no structure at all to the children's day and they do not learn any concepts at all. Furthermore, the staff does not know how to handle normal age-appropriate tantrums and behavior. As an example, my son was repeatedly told that he was bad for having an accident in his underwear the first day of school. He came home saying he was bad. He went for five days and we had to pull him out. He is now thriving at a new school, which he calls a ""happy place."" He still asks me whether he ever has to go to the ""sad place"" again. more