Looking at preschools:where to start???

cs1007

Okay, I am going to sound naive here, but where does one start with looking at preschools? We have lived in town for almost 5 years, but don't have friends here who have sent their kids to school yet, so we don't have any recommendations to go on...

There are several preschools in the area, and in the neighboring town. How do you choose? How do you know what to look for? And lastly, how to you set up a time to go in and check it out? Just call and go check it out (with LO?) during the day to see how they operate?

I know I may be getting ahead of myself, but registration starts at most of the ones around here in January, and I figure things will be crazy with the holidays...plus I am pregnant with baby #2, so I want to have all my 'ducks in a row'

RoxBride

I'd start by visiting their websites, see what types of activities and goals they have. Look at price, see what their philsophy is.

Then call up the center and tell them you are interested. They'll take it from there, telling you how it works to make a visit, etc.

Consider hours, sick policies, allergy free or not, ratio of parents to teachers, if they have field trips, etc.

Stellar1

Look online first to see their websites and the ones that look like they have potential call to see when you can come in. They should say to come in at any time for a tour. I would be concerned if they had a specific time that you had to go. Then go in and take a tour. See how the teachers and children interact. Check the cleanliness. Pretty much, check your gut feeling. We toured quite a few but weren't happy with most of them for various reasons. My 2.5 year old LOVES the school we chose for her. She is so excited the days she goes and has learned so much.I also looked online to see reviews of the school and they were all positive. We actually chose a pre-school about 20 minutes away bc we weren't happy with any of the schools around us. Good luck!

thanxbaby

We toured about 5 or so preschools and were not able to get into our school of choice because we waited too long, so it's great you are looking now! 

My next best choice of preschools for DD is great too but it is a school that is open earlier and stays open later (till 5ish) so the majority of the kids in this school are there all day everyday while my DD only goes Tue/Thur in the morning.  I am really disappointed about this because we rarely see other parents at drop-off/pickup and are not making connections with the other moms like I had hoped for.  Somehow this is something I never really considered when looking into schools, I thought the majority of the kids would go in the am (not all day).  That is something to look into if it's important to you.

Alex26

I'm starting to look now too, and what I did was called a state agency in Cali called Child Resource Center.  They were able to give me a list of pre-schools in my city that are licensed.  They even gave me a checklist of what I should look for when I tour the different centers.  They also provided a phone # where I can call and find out if a particular center has had any problems in the past.

Maybe your state has a similar agency that can give you a list of centers?

Wally3

Start looking at websites and then make calls to the ones you like and check prices and times and policies.  If they seem like they fit then schedule a tour.  I usaully try to avoid early afternoon because that is nap time and I like to see teacher and kids interact.  Sometimes I bought DS sometimes I didn't I did whatever was convientent.  When I was pretty sure on the preschool I wanted to send him to a brought him for a visit.  They actually encourged it and then let him play on the playground.  That was one of the reasons I liked them - it is good to see how they interacted with him.  

You will get a feeling when you tour and will know if it is the place for your LO.