cooperative preschool opinions?

Bride2Be7/2004

I am looking into preschool for my 2.5 year old and found cooperative preschools. I am curious about what experiences have been with this type of preschool and what your thoughts are. I have called and left a message with one asking them about how much involement a parent is required to have as I do have a baby at home as well, was the involement an issue for you if you had a baby at home?

 

Thank you for any insight into this, i appriciate it!

Zenya

I'm touring one on Thursday.  I asked about the childcare thing and she said that a lot of the moms swap childcare on their 'work' mornings.    Our school requires I think 8 mornings a year.  Or you can pay 30% more tuition to not be involved.

Bride2Be7/2004

wow sorry for the typo, that would be opinions.... I tried to delete it but it does not allow me to

JOEBunny

My friends have to work 1 day a month (out of 8 days on average their kids go).  They also have to do 3 "community projects", which are things like grounds projects, school events, ect.  and they have to serve on on committee.  It is too much for me.  One of my friends has to get a baby sitter 2X a month for her baby to go do things at her sons co-op.  The ones here are not cheaper either, they are super competitive and considered very "good", and are actually as much as, if not more than the church run regular schools.

DevonPow

The pre-school we are hoping DS gets into (there is a loooooooong waitlist) is a co-op. I assume all of them are different, but for this one each parent has a "job" that they do throughout the year and there are two weekends where all parents work at the school doing repairs/clean up, etc. The jobs that parents have can vary a great deal and they do take into account schedule as well as skill set (e.g. a woman I know who is a parent thre is a lawyer so her "job" is to provide legal counsel if/when it is necessary).

I really like the idea of a co-op, both because I want to be very involved with DS's education (and for him to see me and DH involved), and also for the sense of community it fosters.

lsufan

Ours is a church-affiliated co-op preschool. ?It only requires 9 mornings a year (for the 3 day a week program), so that works out to once a month. ?If you have a baby under 12 months at the start of the school year, you can pay $40 extra a month to not do your co-op days. ?I opted to have MIL watch Bennett this year on the days that I co-op, because I really like being involved with the school and seeing what goes on in the classrooms. ?It helps me get to know the teachers, other parents, and Evan's classmates. ?That being said, since I'll have a newborn next September and two children in the school (which means more co-oping days), I'll probably opt to pay a bit more and stay with the baby.

There are other schools around here that cost much less and require many more co-op days per year or other responsibilities. ?It just depends on the school.?

Chrisy-Wyobride

Winnie went to one last year.  It was great (though we changed for other reasons).  I had to volunteer 2-3 times a semester plus do a clean-up/tear down/set up day (usually a Saturday morning).  I had a baby & DH stayed home those mornings & watched her while I was the helping parent.  If not for him, I am not sure what I would have done, I did not know the parents enough to ask any to watch my baby for me.

Purrrfect433

Ben started one in September. We are almost 6 months into the school year and I have mixed opinions. I love the environment, the teacher and the other parents. I think it's been great for Ben and I know he loves it. I have issues with the amount of involvement our school requires. We have to work in the class once a week(he goes 2 days), attend a monthly parenting meeting/class, a bi-monthly all school meeting, have a job within the school(anything from play-doh maker to laundress, to Social Events Coordination Assistant, which is my job). We are also responsible for working at least 2 fund-raising hours, one work-party and one weekend maintenance. It's just A LOT for us, because we have another toddler and my husband works retail hours(so the weekend and evening events are really hard for us to swing).

Also, they have a parenting philosophy that's a little too touchy-feely, "let's talk through EVERYTHING" and it's not really my thing. But, over-all, we're very happy with the school itself and know better what is expected of us next year. Everyone says the first year is the hardest and most of the families have had multiple children attend throughout the years. They must have fully drank the Kool-aid by some point;)