The Watermelon Patch Preschool

The Watermelon Patch is the best little school! My daughter loves going to school each day and has learned so much. She has built relationships with her teachers, made friends with her classmates, and has even conquered some sensory issues while attending. The teachers and staff love my girl like she is their own child. It is such a blessing to find a school with people that you know will keep your child safe, happy, and loved on while teaching her so much. At a fresh three years old, she can count to 20, identify all basic shapes, identify all basic colors, identify most of the alphabet, understand days of the week, and so much more. Each day, they work on social skills through classroom activities and playtime. They even help teach/reinforce table manners!

I could go on and on...

We still have two and a half more years before kindergarten and I'm already sad about leaving.

I would like to elaborate on the previous review. Our experience with the teaching staff was wonderful. Unfortunately, the revolving door of teachers for our sons grade/class led to much miscommunication. We were unsure of the reason why until we had a few encounters with the owner, at which point it became obvious. During a meeting at the end of his first year, she insisted that our son was behind the curve in several areas with which he is undoubtedly proficient, which was insulting to say the least, since he is an extremely smart child and with his teachers' help, by the age of two, he knew all of his colors, shapes, could count to at least twenty, and speaks with the vocabulary and conversational abilities of a 4 year old despite only turning 3 this month. Last week, we were not made aware that his (newest) regular teacher was out sick for the entire week until the end of the week, at which point we learned that the owner had stepped in to take over his class. Bear in mind, we only ever got negative comments about his behavior from her specifically, aside from the occasional acting out that children do. But for the most part, his teachers always sang his praises while the owner nitpicked him. After asking for the footage that they claim can be given at request, my wife was told that it would not be possible as the cameras were down (coincidentally) the week that she was his "teacher." This is not the first time we were denied video footage of our son's "misbehavior" but it would be the last. After calling out that fact, and asking to simply speak with his normal teacher upon her return to duty, we were told that our son had been a problem for them for too long and with zero notice, kicked our son out effective immediately. My wife and I both work 40+ hour a week jobs with no one to be able to keep him for the remaining 2 months until summer. Thankfully, a family friend of ours knew of an opening at another daycare/preschool. That being said, let this be a warning to prospective parents: be prepared to conform and don't ask questions, or be hung out to dry with possibly no other options.

I am giving one star, because the teachers there are fantastic and are always so helpful. I am giving such a low rating due to the owners way of running her business and lack of communication. Once your child has a "label" it sticks with them. A big selling point was that they have cameras, but it always seemed to be an issue with the cameras or it would take so much time to retrieve it and I never would get the footage. I only received it one of the times that I asked and it was Abigail in the office that worked with my request. I never had any negative communication with teachers, but the owner had nothing but negative things to say about my son. She expects two year olds to sit for 30+ minutes and not move. My son was apparently not to her standards, because he would want to get up and move around, as a two year old would and "act out" once seated for so long. I questioned as to why his so called "negative actions" were not told to me weekly like the positive actions were. I was ALWAYS asking how his day went and 90% of the time, by the teachers, I was told he was good. It isn't until she takes place in the classroom that I hear anything negative. I believe my son when he said that she was mean to him, because it has been said to us several times by him and unprovoked. I would ask about his day and the first thing would be "Nae Nae was mean to me." Since August, he has had at least 3 teachers in his classroom, due to the turnover rate, which I highly believe is because of her attitude and the way she treats others.

The teachers are fabulous and care about all of the kids so much. My son loves going to school everyday!

Was so excited for my son to start a program because he had only stayed home with until this point. We have two older children and was excited to be a SAHM for a couple of years until we were ready for preschool. I heard about WPK and was excited to check them out!!!! We went in for our tour which was about 45 minutes. Basically the tour seemed to be their open opportunity to hand pick their students. My son was just turning 2 and the owner/director kept insisting I have my son checked for autism, because he was not talking yet at 25 months old. Her words about my son really hurt me all weekend long. Monday morning we decided to not send my son their(not that she was going to give him the opportunity to go there anyway, she told me it was best we decided to go a different direction). I just could not believe it, this lady could tell all of this from a 45 minute interaction. I actually was such a nervous wreck about her autism comment I had set 2 different appointments about it. My sons pediatrician kindly reassured me, and reminded me some people like to give their opinions, even when it's not needed. She said she saw zero signs of autism in my son, which honestly we were not thinking that anyway. Since this experience...we have put off preschool hunting. I'm thinking of looking again for once he turns 3. We have been working a lot of him talking more. We mostly wanted the social interaction for him bc he only has two much older sisters. I will never recommend this business to anyone!!!

My child enjoys it here. The environment seems pretty clean and there is a large variety of games and toys. Most of the electronic toys need batteries, but there is much more to keep them entertained. The staff need a some work as far as people skills and they could be more clear on pricing.