This is the time of the year that many parents are considering their options for preschool or a kindergarten for their young ones. Depending on where you live, the options are numerous and daunting. I will tell you how we found our preschool and the things we are looking at for next year’s kindergarten selection.
We all want what is best for our children, and the two biggest things we focus on are foods and schools. Many families have a pretty good care system in place by the time their little one is preschool age. In fact, we have to step out onto the limb and take our child from this system that we spent years to get in order and place her in a new environment. I do realize that there are those whose day cares also have a Pre-K, but many do not.
For us, we had to make the choice of pulling our daughter from an in-home sitter to take her to school. Our daughter is not shy and has no problems making friends. However, she never was involved in anything with a school-like structure and this was our driving factor to get her in Pre-K. My son is the opposite, he is a great listener and can handle the structure; however, he is not the social butterfly that my girl is.
Some other great reasons to choose preschool are that kids who attend preschool have been proven to get higher test scores and can handle academic pressures better than those who have not attended. Some believe this is because the children learn to function earlier in a social group and are getting the early jump on math and literary skills. The only downfall I have discovered about preschool is the cost and finding the “right†one.
Where I live, there are more choices than I care to re-live. To narrow them down: you can ask friends where they take their kids and how they vetted the school, read online reviews, Facebook stalk them, etc.
For us we knew my wife would be taking my daughter on her way to work, so we wanted something either close to her work or close to our home. We narrowed down the list by talking to friends and online stalking the rest. This still left several candidates.
From this point, it is time to step foot on the property and get a tour. You will know almost immediately if this place is somewhere you would want your little one to stay. When my wife found our preschool, she knew it the second she stepped in the door.
Now, our city has several options for kindergartens too. We have been exploring our options using the same tactics.