If we're only speaking of infant care, this is something of a moot point, as the River School waiting list exceeds a year and a half. You'd have to apply a good 3-6 months BEFORE conception to get in a 6 month old. I imagine the few little babies there I've seen are younger siblings of other enrolled children.

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Our son is in the baby room at growing tree as well. We are very happy with it. He is always in someone's arms or active. He is thriving. Frankly I didn't see anything going on at river school that was not at least matched by GT.

My daughter is at Growing Tree, in the infant room. It is not cheap ($1200 per month), but the caregivers there are absolutely wonderful. I looked at a couple places before I checked out GT2, and I was extremely impressed by the way the classroom is set up, the way the school is organized, and, especially, the way the teachers and the children interact. Most of the caregivers are mothers themselves and they love babies, really really love them. The head teacher for the infant room has been working with very young children for over 50 years. She is an amazingly energetic and loving woman who has published a few books on child development. The babies there get age-appropriate exercise every day, they have all sorts of activities going on through the month, and it's just a great place. Going back to work and putting my precious child in the hands of strangers was incredibly hard, but I feel better knowing that she is being cared for by a group of amazing, loving, competent women. Thumbs up.

My baby is there at Grow, Play and Learn. Basically it is custodial care. He is two and I am now swithing him to a more structured environment. Sarah is very caring and takes great care of babies, but it is not a learning environment.

Thanks, linky.
I called them yesterday and they will send me the brochure with more information. The lady told me that they have lots of kids are from my community (society hill)....so that she recognize my address when I read to her.
They open from 7 to 5:30, but has extend hours to 6pm. The full time tuition is $825 per month inclunding meals (breakfast, lunch, snacks). I have never been to the facility before. However, I heard lots of good review and was very surprised that they don't have a crazy long wait list like other daycare. I don't have any religion preference. My son is currently in Jewish nursery and we are not even Jew....

My son (2 year old) has biting problem recently when he had fight with other kids. I am afraid that he got kicked out by his daycare. Therefore, I start to look for other backup option. However, it's also good to know that there is other option. They accept infant from 6 weeks old up to 5 year old.

My sister's baby goes there. She really likes it. The cost is definitely reasonable...........much lower than River School. I went there to pick up my nephew, and it was a nice facility. I think they are open until six or six-thirty. I've spoken to several people who really like the pre-school as well.

Sorry, I don't have a whole lot of details, but my sister is very satisfied. I think a lot of people don't go there because they are not Catholic. It's worth going there if that's not an issue for you, especially if you live in the area. I don't think there's a big wait list either.

anyone has more detail information regarding this center? (tution, time, teacher, program, etc.) do they have wait list?

After 19 months River School has finally called to say my son is off the waitlist. We have just a few days to decide if we want to move him from Baby Galileo. We're generally fine with where he is now, but do want him to be in the best possible setting. The decision is complicated by the fact that the River School is significantly more expensive. I'm specifically looking for comments from anyone who has moved their kid from Baby Galileo to the River School, but any firsthand comments about River School are welcome. Feel free to send me a PM if you'd rather not comment in public.

River School has extremely long wait list, especially for toddler. We have been on waiting list for 1 year now, and we still did not hear anything from them. I've heard that all space has been filled by babies from infant room and siblings. Therefore, they don't accept from wait list at this time. Therefore, we put our son to Sunnyside Academy at port liberte when he was 14 month old. However, it's getting more expensive there($325 per week up to 5:30pm), so we transferred our baby to Bayonne Jewish Community Center Nusery last month. He seems happy there and learn a lot as well.
For information purpose, I have checked with Beyond Basic Learning in Hoboken, they will charge $16XX per month for my son's age group. It's getting really pricy for daycare around the area......I think I probably will get a nanny if I have second baby...

We've been taking our child to Baby Galileo about 2 blocks from the Grove St. Path station (Newark Ave and 1 block North on Manila Ave).

I have nothing but GREAT things to say about this facility...The owner Louiza is very hands on, and the caregivers are extremely attentive. One important thing to note is that Baby Galileo assigns 3 children to 1 caregiver?This is important because the state mandates 4 children to 1 caregiver. More attention to my child is PRICELESS!!! This was the main reason we choose this daycare.

As you?ve probably read in this posting, there are other options in the area, but I can only speak for the daycare we?ve decided on.

Good luck and welcome to Jersey City!

Future Generations on Palisades is another great option. It is on the Heights/Journal Square border. We send our son there and really like it.

Hi, have you checked Learning Tree II on Fifth? I know nothing about the place but a couple of people in a listserv I subscribe to like it...

I used to take my son to Baby Galileo but opted for a nanny - so I don't have any current information of how things are going at BG.

Hi,
We are going to move to Exchange Place shortly and are looking for a daycare center closeby for our 1 year old. Besides Waterfront and River School which have long waiting lists, are there any other in the area where he can start asap?
Thanks.

Yes. We just moved our 16 month old son to Future Generations from Baby Einstein. Since your child is three, they are probably eligible for the free abbott program there, which is supposed to be great

We really like it, and more importantly, our son seems to as well. He really misses the staff of Baby Einstein but there is more structure, awesome outdoor play areas for them (they get outside alot) and fun activities/visitors (zoo, visiting pony for pony rides, visiting hula dancers, etc). The staff seem great at F.G. as well. Email me if you want to talk more about it. sam264w@aol.com

Does anyone have experience with Future Generation Daycare on Palisades? we're looking to place our 3-year-old in daycare up here (currently is at Manhattan Kids Club in Manhattan) and need feedback. Any other suggestions?

My husband, son and I are moving to JC quite unexpectedly at the end of the month. I am in urgent need of recommendations from parents for Day Care centers near the Grove Street station. I understand there will probably be wait lists but am completely clueless about the area and am hoping other parents can help guide me! My son will be 15 months by the end of the month? Our new home is near 3rd Street and Erie.

Thanks!

I remeber I have the same situation at the beginning of last year. I had hard time to find a good daycare in the area for young baby. I was target River School on Warren and Baby Galileo. River School is pricy and has extremely long wait list and my baby still cannot get in till now (18 month now). However, if you have older kid, it might be easier. One of my friend moved from Chicago to JC and ask me about daycare for her 3 year old. Luckily, she got a spot when they just moved here last Nov. Now her 9 month old got in because of sibling policy. Both my neighbor and I have been on wait list since last year, but we hear nothing (I have 18 month and my neighbor has 2 year old).
Baby Galileo is ok. The environment is not as good as River School, but it's cheap. I gave up that place because I got a job in City (I was working in Newport area at that time) afterward so that the place is not convenient to me anymore. Additionally, I was not really comfortable to leave my baby with those caregivers who speak no English (I am afraid that they might be illegal and I cannot communitcate with them for my baby's daily routine and performance)

Therefore, it turn out that I have to ask help from my mom and she sent my aunt over from my country to help for the first year(I paid her). And then I put my baby in sunnyside academy at port liberte when he was 13 month old. However, even the environment looks nice, he still got sick every month, but not serious though. And the price is vry expensive. They increased to $325 per week now and it's only upto 5:30pm. You have to pay extra $10 daily to extend to 6:30pm. It's even more pricy than River School. But the good thing about sunnyside port liberte is sibling policy. The second one is half price for the first year. However, we might not be benefit from the policy because my son probably goes to pre-K somewhere else when the second one is ready to dayacare.

Now we are planning to have second one and I am so afraid the same delima will come again. Besides to put the baby on wait list in River School, I really consider to take early train and bring my young baby with me to the City and find the daycare around my office as I cannot find anything good in JC. The price is almost the same as what I am paying to sunnyside at port liberte now.

I checked out the River Schools, Baby Galileo, and The Growing Tree:

The River School in Newport won't take applications if you don't live in the LeFrak buildings. Otherwise it would be convenient, because there's also a pediatric clinic in the same building. Free parking is also available on the streets after 6pm on weekdays. This one was the most expensive out of the four.

The other River school has a 1+ year waiting list, and siblings have a higher priority than new applicants so the cribs don't free up as easily. There's a bar across from the school but I've never seen it open when I was checking out the school.

The staff was friendly at Baby Galileo, and the tuition is the cheapest here, (plus I think they have a sibling discount). No waiting list, but seemed a bit overcrowded, and they didn't seemed to use tissue paper in the changing area like they do in other daycare centers. I know your baby won't be using the outdoor playground, but I'd check it out anyways. Also, the stroller storage was inconvenient. It was in the basement.

Growing Tree's staff are also friendly, and the tuition is more expensive than Baby Galileo, and less than River school's prices. There's a scholarship program, but I think it may apply to toddlers 1+. They take babies from six weeks and up.

Hi, ErieSt

Is your baby currently with Baby Galileo? How old is he now? I visited them couple hours right before the delivery of my son last December..:) I remembered the environment is ok, but I like the environment in River School better. I probably will stop by some time this week to visit again. I've told them to reserved a spot for us in Feb 2007. Probably my son and your son can be classmates.

I did not know that waiting list for River School is so long. When I worked in Newport, I've called River School at Newport, but they said they preferred resident at newport first and asked me to call the one at exchange place because they do not have waiting list. That's why I was surprised when I visited them 2 weeks ago and they told me they have 75 people on the waiting list.....

We chose Baby Galileo. We liked what we saw when we were visiting places. Like the other poster said the painted windows on other daycares in town gave me the creeps. That and the fact that you couldn't drop unannounced at Smile, for instance, even if you were a parent.

Since then, we've stopped by BG several times and the babies there all seemed well taken care of. It may be silly, but the fact that they have that huge window facing Grove Street makes me feel better. When I had my baby with me and stopped by, the caregivers always showed interest in him and played with him.

We are still waitlisted at River School. I signed up as soon as I had a heartbeat - early December. Crazy. They had a vacancy for a part-time this month but it didn't work for us. Part time there was nearly 1k. BG is about 900 for full time.

I've heard good things about St. Elizabeth's, but we figured the morning routine will be hard as it is without having to drive the baby anywhere.

We live in Society Hill, which is off RT 440. Both my husband and I work in NYC. We take light rail and then transfer PATH in exchange place to get into the City. I work in midtown and my husband works in dowtown Manhanttan. I am looking for daycare for my baby, too. I visited River School in exchange place recently, but they told me that they have 75 people on the waiting list and will try to clean up by the end of this month. However, there is no guarantee and Manager Lisa wants me to keep looking for other options.
Therefore, We want to stop by Sunnyside Academy at Port Liberte yesterday, but we cannot find the place. simonJC, could you tell me where is the daycare location? I drove from Garfield Ave and turn right on Chapel Ave, but I did not see anything like daycare around. Additionally, how is the traffic around the area in the morning rush hour? My housband is afraid that it will take us at least 30 minutes to drive to daycare in the morning rush hour and then another half hour to drive to the light rail parking.

So far We only have a guarantee reservation at Baby Galileo because I still worked in Newport area when I was pregranent and I drove and parked in Newport Mall. The environment looks ok, but a little bit small. However, I got another job in City now so the location is not that convenient to me. Baby is 10 month now and will be only 13 month when we have to drop him to daycare. I don't think it's good idea to take him with me to the daycare in the City, isn't it?

Anyone has better suggestion to us?

It's not exactly downtown Jersey City but the daycare center at Port Liberte is very nice. I can vouch for it b/c my 8 month old son goes there right now. If you work in downtown NYC, it might be an ideal place to put your child b/c you can drop him/her off and take a 13 minute ferry ride to downtown manhattan from port liberte.

The only daycare center in the downtown area I would entrust with the care of my child is the River School on Warren Street. The cost is $1345/month. My daughter has been there for a year, and we are very happy with them. I did a lot research before I decided it was worth it to shell out the ridiculous amount they charge for tuition. Some of the other daycare centers I visited in the area were dirty, some places had caregivers who spoke no english, and some made me feel unwelcome and I was I told to make an appointment, which is a very bad sign...you should always be able to visit a daycare center without an appointment. The only other daycare center in JC I would consider is St. Elizabeth's on Garrison Street near Journal Square. The place has been in business forever and it is half the price of the River School.

Can anyone recommend a decent Day Care Center in downtown Jersey City, preferably in the Grove Street area?

Would also love to hear which day cares, if any, are to be avoided.

Thanks in advance.