Windy Hill School

The daycare center that Aiden has been attending since we moved to NH could not be more logistically convenient, since it's located directly across the street from our house. I know that over the past year or so, this has made Aiden feel secure in a sense, that his home is right across the street from "school" - he can see the whole front of our house from the playground, see it so clearly that Andy has to sneak home for lunch every day so that Aiden doesn't spy him and mistakenly think his Dadoo is coming to get him early. And the place across the street was really the only one with spaces for two year olds when we first moved here, so it was also the only game in town. But lately we've been frustrated with some aspects of his daycare, and wanted to find Aiden a more stimulating place to spend his days. I'll spare you the details, except to say that it's very frustrating as parents working full-time to see all of these great nursery school options for kids- waldorf schools and montessori schools and other progressive places where the kids get to garden and bake muffins and go for long hikes in the woods - and to know that there's no way you can offer that to your child since the hours are, at best, 9AM to 2PM. Monday, Wednesday, Friday. To put it mildly, our choices are limited. Limited to 8AM to 5PM - FIVE days a week!

Which is why we feel so lucky that we did find a great nursery school option for Aiden. He's going to Windy Hill School which is run by Colby Sawyer College here in New London. It's a "laboratory school" in that college students in the early childhood education program lead small group activities each day for the kids (there are full-time permanent teachers there too) as part of their college curriculum. They have a nice big playground, the whole campus to play on including a cool swamp and 1oo acres of conservation land, the college gym to run around in on cold winter days, a big library room, and lots of activity and playrooms. It's not directly across the street, but it's close... a 10 minute walk, or a 1 minute drive... you can't beat that! We can drop him off at 7:45 and there's an after-school care program from 2:30 to 5:30... and, the best part... the kids get to garden and bake muffins and go for long hikes in the woods! We are so excited for Aiden to really start his education here!