how did you decide on a preschool

[calv]

what ?'s did you ask? I'm a tad overwhelmed about this whole preschool thing. I know it's not rocket science but like all parents, I want the best for our kids. HELP!!

Any tips/advice on what to look for and ask would be greatly appreciated!

[emily_gracesmama]

We just went through this. We looked at 4 schools, the most highly rated ones from many people that I spoke with. Two were jewish, one was montessori and one was sort of a combo of different philosophies, montessori, elkind, gardner and greenspan. Liked one of the jewish ones, the other I felt like I caught the teachers with their hands in the cookie jar..they were just sitting around, not doing much with the kids, the montessori actually kind of freaked me out, I didn't like that they would not let my daughter go in the class to "try" it out, they said it would upset the balance in the room and the combo, well, we all LOVED it, my daughter didn't want to leave. It is also the only one we saw that was NAEYC accredited. I think you will get a feeling for the right place and just know, good luck..

[o_mom]

I called several (maybe 5-6?) and visited three. I kind of just knew when I visited. I really view these two years as mainly social for DS1. All the ones I called were church-based preschools, 2-3 days a week. Some of the things that swayed me to this one:

Size - class size as well as school size. There are 10 3 yos with a teacher and an aide (both with degrees). There are only two classes in the school at a time, so maximum of 20 kids/parents on 3 yo days. This makes car line for pickup shorter and easier for the director to know all kids.

Siblings - siblings are welcome to class events and field trips. This was important to me because I want to be able to drive on field trips for safety reasons, and I didn't want to have to pay for a sitter all the time for other events.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I had a list of things that I was interested in. My biggest things were that I wanted a developmental/ play based preschool, a convenient parking lot (parking is a concern in the city), and I place that I just felt welcome.

Security was a concern but not majorly because all the places seemed fine. Only one place (a JCC) had a red flag on security because the kids played in the gym and all JCC members had access to the gym. On one occasion my ds was with the gym's baby sitter while I worked out and she took him to run around with the preschoolers. I was able to go in and talk to ds and no one noticed that I was there. Eek! I could have been anyone!

In college I took an early childhood education class and the professor was also the director of the university's preschool. She recommended simply asking them their potty training policy to help determine if they were a developmentally based program. She said that with a developmental approach they would not require it by a certain age. Even if your dc is pt'ed before the cut off age it still may be worth considering this aspect because it could extend to other philosophies.

Some things I also would consider are:
-staff turn over. My preschool had the same teachers forever.
-snacks and meals. Ds' new school has awesome snacks for the kids but preschool just had pretzels and goldfish just about every day. Not a huge deal, just throwing that out there. Also, if ds will have lunch there can they heat things up for you (a very nice feature)?
-lots of fun, engaging toys and pretend stuff.
-ratio of kids/ teachers. I am glad that ds didn't wind up getting a spot at one school, in hindsight, because their class size was huge. My ds really did well in his small class (8 kids, 2 teachers).

For the pp, there were times that my ds' teachers were just sitting around during open play or outside time. They were still supervising but letting the kids just play together. I learned that that was an ok thing. I remember when I originally toured preschools and saw that going on that I was bothered. But, when I talked to my SIL who was a preschool teacher at that time she told me not to make such a big deal about that. Teachers need a bit of a break too, she said. So long as the kids were being attended to it is ok that a teacher isn't always right there. If you see a child come over and try and engage the teacher and not get the teacher's full attention then I would have a problem with that. Look for that. Otherwise, it is ok to let the kids do their things during open play time. I imagine the teachers are more involved when it is circle time and other structured times of the day.

Also, it is not uncommon that your child wouldn't be allowed to come and try out the class. For liability reasons as well as simply the structure of the day and school some schools just don't like to do that. i wouldn't rule on out because of that. However, it is good to go with your gut and figure out what would be a good fit for your family.

Beth

[erosenst]

I agree with the PP's in general - go to a few, and your gut will likely guide you.

A few differences:

* At licensed facilities in Indiana, a child MUST be PT'd to be in the 3 year old room. No exceptions. (Note that church/synagogue ones are often not licensed, but fall under "ministries", and can therefore be flexible.) So it's not always a reflection of their philosophies.

* Read the materials, but also observe what's going on in the room(s). The materials for ours, which I love, make it sound like a very classical/hardcore (?) play based structure. While I wanted play based, I still believe it's appropriate for children to be required to sit at the table (not eat, but sit) during snack/meals, and to sit (not necessarily participate) in circle during circle time. Some programs pride themselves on NOT requiring this, and the literature made it sound like this was one of them. But it's not.

* Some things to look for, which I wouldn't have known:

- Do they have tools to help the kids learn boundaries and appropriate social interaction? (One very common one is a rug that's used for circle time and some "center" based activity. The activity must stay on the rug.)

- Do they create ways for the kids to learn through play/manipulation? (Another common one is to have nametags with velcro on the back. The kids must place their nametag at the "center" area - when the spots are done, the center is full. This helps teach LOTS of things - name recognition, numbers/counting (there could be a sign saying "4" or however many are allowed), sharing (when Tommy's finished there you can have a turn) etc.

- As a PP pointed out, they should have time for unstructured play (there may only be a few options of toys at any one time...but they play undirected with the specified toys). It's very important to have time when the teachers are NOT specifically directing the activities. So even though it may have looked like they weren't doing anything, good teachers will be sitting doing their planning, chatting, whatever....and still monitoring the noise/activity level in the room and interacting where neceessary. But "where necessary" may mean saying "you and Tommy need to work out how you're sharing the toy" for example, not always solving the problem.

- If they nap while there, make sure nap time is long enough. The final stake in one program we considered was that nap time was only an hour. Abby definitely needs more nap/quiet time than that. (She's there full day as I work away from the house.)

If I think of more, I'll come back!

HTH -

Emily
Abby 4

[calv]

this is all very helpful! Thank you so much everyone. KEEP the posts coming. Sorry so short, NAK at the moment.

[belovedgandp]

I went by word of mouth to find the initial schools I visited. I eliminated a few of them very quickly solely based on the start/end time or cost.

I actually had my son (just turned 4) enrolled in two different pre-schools until the first week of August. I kept waffling between the two day a week church pre-school and the four day a week public school program.

The public school one would have been my first choice if it had been fewer days. I was very uptight about sending my son four mornings a week. I preferred it over the church one for several reasons:

- same sized class but more teachers - 10-12 kids with 1 master level teacher and 2 aides.

- facilities - bigger classroom with attached bathroom (not down the hall), school library to visit each week, well stocked and age appropriate play equipment outside only for kids in the pre-school (all 5 and under)

- diversity - hard to find in our area of suburbia. Peer model program offered both a variety of ethnic backgrounds as well as kids with disabilities

- cost - peer model was less per month for 4 3 hour days then the church program was for 2 2.5 hour days

The only cons I had before starting last August was that there would not be any religious education and the four days a week factor.

I finally decided to just go for it. If we absolutely hated it once he started in mid-August I was confident I could find a spot in a 2 day a week church program. In the end, it has worked out for all the right reasons. We love having the routine of four days a week. My son hasn't napped since he was just over 2, so we still have plenty of time for fun things in the afternoon.

[pittsburghgirl]

My DS is at a NAEYC accredited preschool and I am a member of the board of directors. I know a lot of more than I did when I enrolled him!

Things that were important to me: class size, play-based curriculum, music program. I was familiar with the physical space because it is at my church (but not religious).

I do want to say that for NAEYC accredited schools, the teachers have to spend a certain amount of time every day observing and making anecdotal notes on each child as part of an assessment process (at least when re-accreditation is nearing, a process which happens every 5 years). I have observed my DS's classroom several times and when it looked like his teacher was just standing around, she was actually observing very carefully and making notes for later input into the children's portfolios.

Most of our teachers have been with us for many years. (As Board Treasurer I can attest to the high salary cost of long-term teachers!) This made me particularly comfortable enrolling my DS there. He has been there since a Parent-Tot program starting at 18 months and will be in a pre-K class in the fall.

[s7714]

I can't find the list of questions I asked, but I did get 99% of them from preschool threads here and on the Toddler board. There was one really good thread that had a whole slew of questions, but I can't find it now and my bookmark is gone since we changed formats. If I have time I'll try to find it later tonight!

To be honest, I found that it wasn't the answers to my questions that really was the deciding factor. It was more the way I and my DD felt at the school. I went to a number of places myself and then took her to my top three. I told her nothing about the places, and just kind of stood back to watch how she responded at each one. After we left each place I asked her what she liked or didn't like about that particular place. In the end, there were two that both she liked and met our list of requirements, so we went with the one that had a few more pro points. I've heard there are preschools that don't like to have potential students come in during a visitation, but I never encountered any of those in my area so I guess you'd just have to go off your own instinct with places like that.

[wencit]

I'm currently going through the same thing and was wondering if some of you really just went to the preschool with DC without an appointment and asked to look around. I've read that any preschool that won't let you do this is a big red warning flag, but I can't imagine that teachers would welcome that kind of disruption in the classroom.