Preschool Search

Cutie Pie just turned four. Since he is a January baby he won’t start Kindergarten until he’s 5 1/2. I decided not to put him into preschool when he was three, so I’m starting the big preschool search now. We’ve already been to a preschool open house fair to obtain basic information on the preschools in the area, three evening open houses and an open play hour at several local preschools. I never realized just how different preschools can be from each other! Full co-op, partial co-op, full tuition, class walls covered with words, colors, artwork, class walls being movable dividers with very little color in the classroom and no visible words/labels, preschools that take field trips, play-based learning, child-led learning. It all boggles my mind!

In this area of NY state it seems important to have at least a year of preschool experience. Our school district offers Universal Pre-Kindergarten, however, they don’t have enough spots for as many children who need it, so the children who enroll are selected randomly through a lottery. This means if we want our child to have any sort of preschool or UPK experience we have to do the research and then register them for both preschool and UPK and take the loss of the $50 preschool registration fee if they get into UPK due to the different timelines for registration. I know Cutie Pie is ready for UPK, which is five days a week for 2.5 hours each day, and being a single income family we’re really hoping for the free UPK program!

One thing I know for sure, Cutie Pie absolutely loved being part of the open play hour at the preschool we visited most recently. He got to play with the toys there and meet some kids, and he also experienced his first circle time and really enjoyed it! He’s said for a while now that he can’t wait to go to school! He’s trying to do more things by himself, helping more readily when asked, following directions more accurately…My little boy is getting too big too fast!