I have a dumb daycare/preschool question

[pugz]

does your daycare center also offer a preschool curriculum once your kid is 3-4 years old?  Or do you switch to a preschool when your kid is that old.  

I'm trying to put together a list of preschools to check out and having trouble discerning which places are only daycares, and which ones also offer curriculum.  Seems like "child development center" denotes it is also a preschool.  

all the SAHMs around here just send their kids to part day preschools, usually at a church.  I want to consider all of my options especially if I am going to keep working after we have a second kid and DD moves on from her in home daycare to preschool.

[cricketwife]

If it helps one of the centers here that has "dsycare" and "preschool " said to me on a tour "daycare is preschool that's here longer." So you get all the preschool curriculum in daycares. At least that's true at all the centers I visited.

[Ashley&Scott]

Our center starts to introduce a preschool curriculum at 2.

[madringal]

My DD's daycare went to a preschool program in the 3 yo room.

[pupcake]

Our daycare is also a preschool. They advertise as a preschool and a daycare. If you go there for daycare your kids automatically do preschool. There is nothing different for the preschool then the daycare. They do the same activities in the same room. They advertise preschool starting at three now that the school district has a 4k program. Before that it was at age 4 preschool started

[starlily]

Yes, ours starts a preschool curriculum once they start in the 3s classroom.

[pierogigirl]

Our daycare is also a preschool. That seemed par for the course when we were looking at centers.

[sporklemotion]

Ours goes through pre-K. Honestly, I am not sure how structured the curriculum is; when we toured, we saw some learning-type activities, and they do publish the curriculum. DD is almost 9 months, so we aren't worried about it yet. If she is still there when she gets closer to preschool age, we will probably pay closer attention.

I know they read with the kids and do activities, but I think it is mostly play-based and getting them ready for more structure in the day (circle time, sitting quietly sometimes, etc.). I am fine with this, because it seems like the best way to get her used to the idea of school without too much pressure.

[cjeanette]

My daycare is a preschool and starts really in infancy with learning but when they move out of infant academy it really starts.

You know where I went I think.

[ginkgoleaf]

Our daycare is also a preschool. DS is in the preschool room now . They have a curriculum for in the mornings and then afternoon is less structured play. Most places near me that advertise as preschool instead of daycare are 1/2 day programs, usually 2-3 days a week.

[hski2349]

Our daycare has a "curriculum" starting at infant. They are big about sending out calendars each month about what is going on. Most of the daycares I visited talked about their curriculum in each of the classrooms. Only one did not.

Are you looking for full day? Our local elementary school offers a 2 day a week preschool program.

[turtletop90]

Our daycare didn't offer preschool curriculum. It was an in-home and the kids usually moved on at 3ish or 4ish.

I can't help you with the distinguishing between. lol. Ours has preschool in the name, and accepts kids 2-6 yrs old. They don't really have a super structured curriculum because it's play-based. But she learns so much just being around the older kids. It's pretty amazing actually. They really only do the K prep with the 4 year olds.

[Brie]

C's daycare's official name contains the word Preschool so technically he's been going to preschool since he was 3 months old, LOL.

At his age now they do preschool stuff like letters, numbers, shapes, colors already along with more fun stuff like art, outside play, gymnastics class etc. Most kids at our center go straight from there to Kindergarten.

[redheadbaker]

Ours has "transitional preschool" for the 3-year-olds, then preschool for the 4-year-olds.

[speckledfrog]

All child care centers should offer a curriculum at 3. Some start at 2. Typically a center/daycare offers full-time care and a preschool offers part-time care.

[laurenh]

Yes, they do preschool and kindergarten because most of the districts here don't have full day kindergarten.

[mlvmd]

DS's school starts at 2yo with a preschool program. That is the earliest age at the school. Prior to that he was in an inhome daycare. There aren't a lot of centers from infant through preschool where I am unless I take DS to work with me and that was not optimal.

[lauralala]

Aug 26, 2014 17:02:18 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

Seriously, y'all. What is a preschool? Now I'm wondering if the one here is up to par and if we need to put him in one lest he start K behind. (You already know we are crazy about education).

You are fine. He will learn the same stuff at BH as he would at a separate preschool.  Each of the centers that DS has gone to started preschool activities at 2. I need full-time care, so as long as he is learning, I am not worried about whether the school calls itself a preschool or a daycare.

[londoncalling]

Our center does preschool curriculum for the morning, then lunch, nap, and then more "fun" activities in the afternoon.

For example, last week they did insect curriculum during preschool time and then integrated that into a bug scavenger hunt outside in the afternoon.

[ssmjlm]

Our daycare is actually a "school" per their name and does preschool. Technically even the infant room has lesson plans, it's just tailored to the age.

[leonard131]

The daycare M goes to on Fridays starts a more structured curriculum at 2 .  This so one of the reasons we decided to not put him in "pre-school". I figured 2 mornings a week would equal the one full day he goes on Fridays.

[browneyedgirl9]

DS in home daycare follows a preschool curriculum. Its a large in home daycare, so 10 kids. They have a seperate teacher that works with the older kids on kindergarten readiness skills.

[hocus2]

Our program is officially a preschool in the 4's classroom. They are on the state curriculum and have evaluations through out the year.  I would expect that most centers have some formal program in their oldest classroom. It may be more or less rigorous  than others. You just have to ask what they do and how they prepare kids for K.

[redheadk]

Aug 26, 2014 17:02:18 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

Seriously, y'all. What is a preschool? Now I'm wondering if the one here is up to par and if we need to put him in one lest he start K behind. (You already know we are crazy about education).

A preschool is going to offer some sort of educational curriculum. They will do things like circle/calendar time, probably have some centers/work stations, work on pre-reading skills, learn about the alphabet and do some basic math. Keep in mind that these things might not be completely obvious but all together, it should be obvious that it's educational.

The polar opposite would be the cheap daycares that pretty much keep your kid alive and fed, nothing more. I doubt anyone on GBCN sends their kids to a daycare like that but they are most definitely out there.

[8675309]

My DD (4 1/2) was in a part time preschool and then for the rest of the day she was with an in home DCP. My 2 1/2 yr old was with the DCP all day.

We moved both of them last month into a full time preschool. I cannot even begin to tell you how much this has improved my DS's language and communication skills. Not to mention, he's tired when he gets home and doesn't fight bedtime because he's going all day. They also try to help potty train which is a massive bonus.

They are both thriving on the structure and it's seriously the best decision I could have ever made for them. (And I actually had a really hard time with this transition because I loved our DCP!)

[shellbear09]

Ours is a school that goes to K so yes it is preschool.

[whitepicketfence]

Our preschool is part of a parochial elementary/middle school rather than a daycare. Since I've been a SAHM, my kids have never attended daycare so it made more sense to send them to the elementary school we planned to send them to anyway. It was also MUCH cheaper than a traditional daycare and financial aid is available. My kids only attend until noon but there is an afternoon enrichment program offered as well as before and after care.

[Deleted]

Technically, yes. J's daycare had a preschool program. That said I would have moved him even if he was still there. Other than a couple of the day cares around here most do not have the type of preschool "curriculum" I'm looking for. But there are a few that do. I've spent so many hours researching and touring preschools

[stealthmom]

Preschool started at 2. Not sure if there is a formal curriculum before that.


Proper pre-schools end at 2 or so.  And you can pay for a school day at our DC.

I don't know any DC center in our area that doesn't have a pre-school curriculum at least starting at 3.

[arch01]

Ours starts at 16m or whenever they move into the Toddler Is room. So far it has consisted of colors, shapes, days of the week, months of the year, counting to 20 in English (I think they go higher than that, not 100% sure), counting to 10 in Spanish, animals and so on.

The "official" preschool starts at age 3ish, then pre-K and for those who aren't ready or miss the cutoff, TK.