When did your child start pre-school?

vanillacourage

I work PT but may be taking a new job that would require us to find more formal care for DS (right now he goes to a Mother's Day Out program that is pretty loosey-goosey).

There is a center near us that would work, but they don't accept infants.  We plan to have a 2nd baby in the next 1.5-2 years.  DS will be 2 next week.  Will he most likely have moved on to a separate pre-school by the time kid #2 arrives?  If not, I'd rather place him somewhere he can stay when we have our 2nd baby.

shopgirl78

4 years prior to that she was in daycare.  

JOEBunny

No preschool around here accepts babies less than 1 year.  It is a license issue.  If they take children less than one year, they have to have a different license.  I think they have even raised the age for some types of preschools to 18 months, because I am seeing more of that. 

You have to go with daycare or private care.  Even MMO doesn't take younger babies. 

My DD started at 2.5 years, but only one day a week (4 hours).  She went 2 days at 3, and will go 5 next year, but only 15 hours total.  

jennieliz

Just shy of 2 for two days a week and this year at 3 she did three days a week.  Next year we will do PreK 5 days a week.  We have LOVED our preschool and I think it's done wonders for Addie.

vanillacourage

Oh, I'm not looking for a pre-school that also takes infants.  What I'm saying is that if DS won't have started pre-school by the time kid #2 comes, I want to look for a general daycare whose ages encompass both kids.  Otherwise I'll have to move DS yet again, or have kids at two different locations.  If he WOULD have started pre-school by then, they'd be in 2 different locations anyway and it's not something I need to factor into my choice.

Gah, I hate looking for daycares and this is the 5th time we've done it.  Suck.

DevonPow

In my state "pre-school" isn't until a child is 2.9 years old by September 1 (anything before that is daycare, or a 2 year old program, etc). DS will be starting in September when he is about 3.5.

j-w

For actual preschool here, a child needs to be 3 years old by Sept. 1 the year that they start.  There is a 3 year old program and a 4 year old program.  DD misses the cutoff, so she started at 3 years old, but turned 4, about a month and a half into the school year.  She will be in the 4s program this fall.

Andrewsgal

Our preschools start at 2.5, however our Mother's Day Out programs start at 12 months, you could probably find a MDO program that will take both ages.

cristiana

DD started a couple of months before she turned 4. We'll be starting DS at age 3 for two years of preschool.

MrsCorbin

At DD's preschool there are two classes for 3 year olds.  One is for potty trained 3 year olds and the other is called 'young 3's' and is for 2 1/2 year olds and 3 year old who aren't potty trained.

DD started twice weekly at 2 1/2.  DS is actually starting as soon as he turns two in the 'young 3's', they are making an exception for him because he wants to go so badly.

*Amy*

DS started preschool at 2.10.  The cutoff in CT is turning 3 by Dec 31st.  He did great doing 5 half day afternoons.

Angela814

DD is just in the preschool room at her daycare center. She will start 4K in the fall, so she'll be 4 yrs old. The 4K program is only 3 hrs/day, so she'll be bussed there from her daycare and then bussed back to daycare after school. I would look for a center that takes infants. They'll most likely have some sort of preschool curriculum for the older kids.

AnnapolisLari

DS will be starting in the fall at 3 3/4. He's going 2 days a week for only 2 or 2.5 hours.