Early Pre-K at 2.5 years?

Eastie156

This is a tldr:

H and I have started the Pre-K process for the fall but in doing so, have come across a program at a Preschool center that offers Early Pre-K at 2.5 years. So Ethan could attend in March. He doesn't have to be potty trained (he's working on it but he's regressed since Abby was born) and it's a two day a week, 3 hour program with a circle time, activities, etc. I'm just wondering, how different is an "Early Pre-K" from an older Toddler room at a Daycare center? When I called another center, this time specifically a Daycare center that offers Pre-K, they said their older 2's class does circle time and projects. I guess what I'm getting at is this: IS an early Pre-K 2's program a glorified Daycare program? What are the benefits of it? I think an early Pre-K program could be great for him-he's so bored at home and loves to count, sing his ABC's and do art projects. Thoughts?

willy_gert

I would see if both places could be more specific about what they offer so that you can compare the two.  Or if you are on a local moms board ask if anyone can tell you about either or both.  

Luci's daycare center offers Preschool at the daycare and they do circle time and projects.  Unfortunately the lost a big group of the older 2's to a former employee who started her own daycare and so Luci is now in this "preschool" program with all kids younger than her.  It doesn't seem to be progressing quite like the other classes have simply because they are all so young.

I would just try to find out as much information as possible and compare the two.  I like that I don't have to pay for preschool and she can be there all day everyday so she knows her teacher well and I can talk to her if Luci is having problems.

kelbel527

I think the main difference that the Pre-K program could offer you vs. a daycare is that the pre-k program is doing all the learning in the 3 hours that you'd be sending Ethan there.  

I think the skills they are teaching is basically the same as a 2's room in a daycare, but when kids are in daycare for 8+ hours a day, they are working it in around their daily routine as well.  For instance, I notice they will do circle time with a felt board story or a learning song right before lunch, because the other teacher is busy getting lunch set up.  And they always do free play in the morning time until probably 8:30 because kids are getting dropped off at varied times.  

I don't know if that makes sense.  But what I'm trying to say is that yes, it's probably the exact same stuff as a daycare center, but the pre-K program is going to structure it for a short 3 hour time period, whereas a daycare is probably focusing on learning throughout the entire day and it may not be the best routine if you're only looking for something for a few hours.  

To answer your other question - the benefits I see from having a kid in daycare that does all of this stuff is that he's exposed to so many activities and ways of being taught things that differ from what I do at home.  And he does and learns so many things because there are other kids there that are doing it too, so he may try something he wouldn't normally try at home.

hmp1

I only have experience with preschool at a daycare center and love our program. I think early pre-k is just another term used for preschool, as our daycare is set up as Preschool starting in the 2 year old class and Early pre-k when they turn 4, and you go to the Pre-K class in Aug the year before you start K. They have a set curriculum for each classroom and the teachers can provide that to you, so ask to see it when you tour. Leo is in the 2.5 class now and it is really just a continuation of the skills introduced in the 2 class but focusing on mastering those skills before they move into the 3 class. There is no requirements for moving up though, it is just the goal to have the skills mastered.

linzeek44

Honestly, it's probably not very different. From my perspective, if both places are doing developmentally appropriate things, you're going to have some teacher directed group times with songs, stories, etc and some child-directed exploration time. Older toddler room, preK, etc- all similar just called different things at different places. 

hmp1

Our center differentiates between the toddler and preschool (starting at 2) rooms by having the preschool rooms start the school daily activity program. M-Spanish, Tu-Science Experiment, W-Computer/typing lesson, Th-Art (they color/paint every day but this is the big project for the week), F-Health/Fitness class. And they do core learning for reading/writing/arithmetic/sign language daily.

Eastie156

willy_gert said:

I would see if both places could be more specific about what they offer so that you can compare the two.  Or if you are on a local moms board ask if anyone can tell you about either or both.  

Luci's daycare center offers Preschool at the daycare and they do circle time and projects.  Unfortunately the lost a big group of the older 2's to a former employee who started her own daycare and so Luci is now in this "preschool" program with all kids younger than her.  It doesn't seem to be progressing quite like the other classes have simply because they are all so young.

I would just try to find out as much information as possible and compare the two.  I like that I don't have to pay for preschool and she can be there all day everyday so she knows her teacher well and I can talk to her if Luci is having problems.

This was the only difference on paper that I could see between an "Early 2's Pre-K" and a "Toddler II" room at another daycare. The Pre-K program is all children 2.5 years and older until 3. The Toddler II's class is 24 months plus, so the age range does vary.

Eastie156

One more question:

One of the two preschool programs we are looking at (we are looking at three places, only one is a daycare) offers a calendar year program and it's a cooperative Pre-K. The other Pre-K is not school calendar year and is therefore open on all holidays. The Daycare Pre-K is open holidays as well. Is there a benefit/downside to a Pre-K that runs on a school calendar year?

Sorry for all the questions, this is a little overwhelming.

Eastie156

kelbel527 said:

To answer your other question - the benefits I see from having a kid in daycare that does all of this stuff is that he's exposed to so many activities and ways of being taught things that differ from what I do at home.  And he does and learns so many things because there are other kids there that are doing it too, so he may try something he wouldn't normally try at home.

I agree there are definite benefits to daycare, but we can't afford to pay both a nanny/childcare provider at our home, plus daycare, unless the daycare is a Pre-K program specifically. It's just too much $ around here to send E to a daycare center just for interaction. I wish we could, but it's ridiculous here.

hmp1

Eastie156 said:

One more question:

One of the two preschool programs we are looking at (we are looking at three places, only one is a daycare) offers a calendar year program and it's a cooperative Pre-K. The other Pre-K is not school calendar year and is therefore open on all holidays. The Daycare Pre-K is open holidays as well. Is there a benefit/downside to a Pre-K that runs on a school calendar year?

Sorry for all the questions, this is a little overwhelming.

Holidays are not the issue here because all daycares take the holidays too. The big difference in some of the programs I looked at were the school year ones were out all summer which does not work for a working family.

Eastie156

hmp1 said:

Eastie156 said:

One more question:

One of the two preschool programs we are looking at (we are looking at three places, only one is a daycare) offers a calendar year program and it's a cooperative Pre-K. The other Pre-K is not school calendar year and is therefore open on all holidays. The Daycare Pre-K is open holidays as well. Is there a benefit/downside to a Pre-K that runs on a school calendar year?

Sorry for all the questions, this is a little overwhelming.

Holidays are not the issue here because all daycares take the holidays too. The big difference in some of the programs I looked at were the school year ones were out all summer which does not work for a working family.

That makes sense @hmp1

Eastie156

I keep thinking of more questions- Is a 3 day program vs. a 2 day program any better? The cooperative Pre-K program is 3 days a week, they also offer a 2 day a week program. The other two Pre-K programs we are going to look at only offer 2-day a week programs.

hmp1

I'm also a big fan of year round school (not offered here, sadly) so I would select a year round preschool program even if I was staying home. 

kelbel527

Eastie156 said:

kelbel527 said:

To answer your other question - the benefits I see from having a kid in daycare that does all of this stuff is that he's exposed to so many activities and ways of being taught things that differ from what I do at home.  And he does and learns so many things because there are other kids there that are doing it too, so he may try something he wouldn't normally try at home.

I agree there are definite benefits to daycare, but we can't afford to pay both a nanny/childcare provider at our home, plus daycare, unless the daycare is a Pre-K program specifically. It's just too much $ around here to send E to a daycare center just for interaction. I wish we could, but it's ridiculous here.

That makes sense.  And I consider our daycare to be a "preschool program," so I was using the words interchangeably - those are the benefits for me of any preK program for our kids at this age.  

One reason we love our daycare/preschool is how much they focus on curriculum and learning at a young age.  There are lessons planned each week,  so each art activity / books / learning center is focused on that week's topic.  And they have activities to focus on the major skill sets at this age.  They group them into different categories:  gross-motor, fine motor, art, literacy, music, cooking, math, sensory.