preschool??? what to look for?

[spu]

Hi there, long time friends! It's been ages! The twins are going to be 3 next month, and I've been so undecided about what to do about preschool this year... I have a bunch of q's so any light you can help shed would be so helpful. TIA for your valued input!

1. I've heard about different "kinds" of preschools-- what kinds are there besides montesori? How do you find these? (The ones in our town are just 'regular' preschools"

2. What's your feeling on doing preschool and pre-k, or just pre-k?

3. Do you feel it's important to be in a preschool in the same town that your child will be going to school? We have 2 preschools in our town, and I'm not sure about either of them... but I'm entertaining looking in another community...

Any advice on what to look for when interviewing a preschool would be so helpful. I'm going to go back and read a bunch of posts too to see if I can start learning some things.

thanks!!
susan

charlotte + else
7.20.02

[jk3]

The best way to find out about what might work for your daughters is to visit as many schools as possible and to talk to other parents. It's important to visit when school is in session so you can get a feel for the environment. The children should look happy and engaged. Some questions to ask:

staff/child ratio
turnover rate of staff
staff qualifications + education
curriculum
how they deal with discipline
schedule - how much time is alotted for circle time, free exploration, outside time, etc.
how so they handle communication with the parents

Jenn
DS 6/3/03

http://lilypie.com/baby2/030603/2/5/1/-5/.png

[August Mom]

Well, around here, it would be too late to get into preschool for this fall. It surprised me that schools had deadlines in January, February and March for the following fall.

I had not planned on sending DS to preschool until he was 4 and then starting kindergarten at 5. However, I guess I was swayed a bit by other moms I know all sending their kids at 3. So, I started looking and wound up going with a 1 day/week mother's morning out program at a local church. I actually view it as an experiment for us. I think it will be good for DS to be more comfortable with the idea of being away from me for a little while (we have some issues in that area), but if it doesn't work out, I will pull him from the program and have no regrets.

The PP's questions are good. I actually took DS with me to see his reaction to the rooms, teachers, etc.

Talking to parents with kids who attend there was the most helpful thing for me. I also asked about the potty training requirements and how that whole situation is handled, along with just describing what a typical day would be like for DS.

I don't feel it matters where the preschool is located. I might have a different view if I lived in a very small area and thought DS would be going through school with all the kids, but other than that, I'd go with a school you like the best, regardless of location.

Good luck.

[Karenn]

Hi Susan,
I think the definition of "pre-k" varies from place to place. In some places, "pre-k" is a program for 4 year olds. In others, it's for young fives who just miss the birthday cut off for public school Kindergarten. Colin will probably just do 2 years of preschool and go straight to Kindergarten. Claire will probably do 2 years of preschool and then a year of "pre-k" since she just misses the public school birthday deadline.

I agonized about whether or not to send Colin to preschool in the next town over or not. I was worried that we wouldn't be making friends with the kids that he'd be going on to kindergarten with. In the end, I did pick the preschool in the next town just because it has a fantastic program. The local programs were just mediocre (IMO). I've since learned that many of the kids at his preschool are not "local" either. Also, my girlfriends who did send their kids to the local preschool have said that they really don't socialize much with the other preschool families. So I'm thinking we won't be missing much.

HTH,