Preschool questions

[gardenmommy]

DD will be 3 in August and I started researching preschools this weekend. I am so so overwhelmed!! What I have found ranges from 2 hours a week to a few days a week a couple hours each day to full on 8-5 everyday. And the prices vary just as much.

I SAH so full time care for DD is not necessary, I just want her to have a good experience. So my Questions are...

When did your DC start preschool?
Were they fully potty trained?
How often (days and hours) do they go?
What are the costs?

Any additional input you can share would be super appreciated! TIA!

[AlisonCO]

DS

When did your DC start preschool? at almost 4 years old, in the 3-4 room
Were they fully potty trained? yes, they had to be
How often (days and hours) do they go? T,Th 9-1
What are the costs? $149/month



DD

When did your DC start preschool? she will go at almost 3 in the 3-4 room
Were they fully potty trained? yes
How often (days and hours) do they go? T, Th 9-11:30
What are the costs? $125

The biggest things for us when we looked at preschool:

not attached to a daycare
small classes
100% play based learning
exposure to things that I don't do at home - music, science
calm atmosphere, positive "discipline"


We found all of this at a church based preschool and love it. The teachers all have degrees, the classes are very small, they do something different everyday (science experiments, differents art mediums like clay, chalk, music, instruments) and the atmosphere is wonderful. Our cutoff is Oct 1 so DS went as a old 3 and DD will be a young 3. They have to be 100% independent with the toilet. We take turns bringing snacks and provide lunch everyday. They focus on not wasting/trying new foods, recycling/bringing reusable containers and except for b-day celebrations, the snacks must be healthy and they only drink water.

[dal]

My oldest DD:

When did your DC start preschool? The same month she turned 3.

Were they fully potty trained? No.

How often (days and hours) do they go? She went Mon/Tues/Thurs from 8:30-1.

What are the costs? $450/month. Breakfast and lunch included.

My youngest DD:

When did your DC start preschool? She was a little over 2.5.

Were they fully potty trained? No.

How often (days and hours) do they go? Mon/Tues/Thurs from 8:30-1.

What are the costs? $475/month. Breakfast and lunch included.


The only thing in particular that I was looking for when I was visiting preschools was that they not require potty training. I wanted to be able to approach that at our own pace. Other than that, I just visited a bunch of schools and chose the one that felt right. I knew right away that I'd be sending my kids to this school. I had visited 2 or 3 others.

[jmvan74]

My son hasn't started, yet, but he will start in Sept.

He'll be 3 when he starts.
If he's not potty trained by the end of July he won't be able to go.
He'll go 3 days a week from 9-11:30

Cost: $180 a month

When I was looking, I talked to a lot of other moms and got references for the places I was looking at. I wanted a "play based" program. I really just want him to start getting used to a classroom setting. When he's 4, he'll go 5 days a week (half days). Kindergarten here is full day, so he's going to need practice. :D

[Geranium]

When did your DC start preschool? 2 1/2
Were they fully potty trained? Yes
How often (days and hours) do they go? At 2 1/2, MTRF 9:00 - 11:30. At 3 1/2, MTRF 9:00 - 3:30
What are the costs? about $1100 a month

We chose DD's school because it is a language immersion program that starts at pre-K and ends at the 5th grade level. We loved the teachers and that the program is designed to meet long-term goals for each learner.

[ThreeYell]

When did your DC start preschool?
DS was 2.5.

Were they fully potty trained?
Not even close.

How often (days and hours) do they go?
This year, MWF 8:45-11:45. Next year will be M-F, 8:45-11:45.

What are the costs?
This year was $2200. Next year prices are going up and he'll go more days so it's about double that.

I didn't do much research. My niece and nephew already went to this school and it has a great reputation in town. All the staff is so sweet and DS loves it.

ETA: DS will switch to "real school" for pre-K so the preschool decision didn't seem like such a big deal to me. Real school, OTOH, has been stressing me out since he was born.

[maggieb]

This time last year I was searching, searching, searching for a preschool. I ended up looking at about 16 here in the DC area and was pretty discouraged because of the lack of quality and/or crazy competitiveness. Luckily, here in DC we have some charter schools doing some incredible teaching. The bad part was that it was a lottery system. We could only get in based on luck.

Helena was admitted to a public charter school located four minutes from our house. I was ready to go back to teaching so I interviewed at the school and am now teaching 5th grade there.

I was so scared at first because it's an all day program, but Helena has thrived at school. She loves her teachers and her classmates and it has really opened her up and she has just blossomed.

When did your DC start preschool? She was 3
Were they fully potty trained? Yes, she had to be
How often (days and hours) do they go? Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri from 8:15-3:15, Wed from 8:15-1:15
What are the costs? free, it's a public charter school

[Ferris]

He will be 3 when he starts preschool in Sept.
He is already fully potty trained
He will go MW 9:00-11:30
It costs $130 a month

[DisneyGirl]

DD will be 3 when she starts preschool in Sept.
they need to be fully PT by the time school starts in september
She will go MWF 9:00-11:30
cost is $155 a month

cost vary in the town I live in. I have found prices from 110-180 for the same day and time.

[spps]

DS was 27 moths
Not PT in the least
He goes Tue & Thurs 9:30 - 12:30
Cost: 180 month

[dana b]

she was 3.3 mos
had to be pt'd
she goes 2 days a week from 9-12
the cost is around $250. a month

[Chylynn]

DD was 2 1/2
Did not have to be potty trained (was already, though)
She went 2 days a week from 9-12
Cost is $210 a month with me volunteering 6 days a year

Next year she will go 3 days a week and the cost will be $260 a month with me volunteering 7 days a week. The following year will be 4 days a week, with us paying $310 a month. Then she will be going to kindergarten at the same school (it is a Catholic school and preschool) and I don't even want to talk about how expensive it will be then!

[kristin]

DS was 2 1/2
No potty-training requirement
He went Mondays and Tuesdays from 9-11:15
It was a co-op - so I was in the classroom once every 6 weeks.
Cost: $131/month (and this is in the NYC metro area - I am amazed how much some of you are paying for only 2 days!)

[karlatta]

Mine is in MDO right now, but it will change to a Preschool environment when he's 3.

He will start when he's 3 (3 years, 4 months).
It is required that he is potty trained.
He will go 13 hours/week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday).
It is around $225/month.

DD will start a year after DS, when she's 3 years, 1 month.

[gretazmama]

When did your DC start preschool? 3.5 years
Were they fully potty trained? Yes, since 3 years (and had to be for preschool)
How often (days and hours) do they go? Monday/Wednesdsay, 8:45 - 11:15 a.m.
What are the costs? We go to our YMCA and it's supercheap: $40 for a 12-week session! It's play/movement based, but they also learn colors, calendar, numbers, and a 'value' like honesty, caring, etc. every week. It's been good for her, but we'll switch to 4k in the fall, which will be Monday-Friday, 8:30 - 11:00 a.m.

[Renrel]

When did your DC start preschool? 2.7 yr but it was a transition from his daycare center. he was in a younger class till he was almost 4 and then transitioned to the 4yr old class where he will be till almost 6, given his late birthday.

How often (days and hours) do they go? m-f, 8:45am to 5:30pm, year round. I work full time so it is also daycare. If I could I would do half days, not because he can't handle the full day, he does fine with them, but so we could do more together and do enrichment stuff, like gymnastics or music lessons and visits to musuems and things. FWIW He eats and naps better at school than at home.

Were they fully potty trained? Yes, but the school helped with this and would have allowed him to transition even if he was not.

What are the costs? $180 a week, including lunch and two snacks. It is a great price for preschool in this area.