I saw an ad for a preschool that is going to be open in September. They are charging $350 for 5 half a day (9-12 PM) and $200 for 2 half days. Is this price a good price? What should I be looking for in a preschool that is opening first time this year?

Not sure on the pricing - however, here are some of the things that you need to checkout in a preschool - i am sure other ATers would like to add/edit the list:

1. Accredition / Licensing
2. Insurance
3. Facility
4. Average Teacher experience, accredition
6. Teacher/Child ratio
6. 1-2 week Try-out programs
7. Daily curriculum
8. Potty Training
9. Bullying Policies, if any

I think you need to basically answer yourself the question: What would make you comfortable handing over your child to some stranger for either half-day to whatever schedule you decide.

Hope this helps.

I think newly opened Preschool in a way is good. New teachers will have that enthusiasm. Some times you have to see it this way, if the experienced teachers or certified teachers will cut it why are all the elementary schools NOT doing well? New management and new staff will try to prove themselves and our kids will be benefited.

Madhu wrote:


Doing well or not doing well is an opinion based on your expectations. Some schools do better/worse than others in standardized testing. Is it due to teachers or students? Unless there is extensive test data on students with identical/similar IQ and home environment but going to different schools and/or teachers, all conclusions are speculative in nature.

Hi Lela,

Is it the Discovery child development center which u r referring at. Even my daughter is 2 and i am lookin out for options in morrisville.

Manoj has a good point. Kids spend about 40 hours out of 144 hours week. If you include holidays and vacations they spend most of their time at home. So, parents have the major responsibility for the kids behavior, discipline and how they do at the school. If parents are disciplined and teach it then kids will also learn better. My two cents.

BD,

Genes, parents, school, friends, general health, environment and fate have share in growth of children. Schools are important.

Kids sleep 8 hours per night i.e. 56 hour out of 168 hours. So that leaves 112 hours...more than one third of time at school....Don't you think that one third of time is important?

BD wrote:

Sure, schools do have an important role. But, Parents have an opportunity and responsibility to play a greater role than the school. I keep hearing the gripe about schools, day care, etc and just wanted to point out the Parent should own up and work with their kids if they want them to be successful.

Sorry, may be I took the discussion different direction. To answer Lela question. I think $200 for 2 days and 350 for 5 days is a very good pricing. Now about the quality I still think we should give new people a chance as they like to prove themselves.

Very well said...

BD wrote:

Thank you. Sangeetha I was referring to the new Leap N Learn Preschool. I heard lot of good thing about there Math and Reading program, but my daughter is 3 years only. I want to try there preschool.

Is not finding a right school good parenting? Responsible parents would research schools and day cares for various aspects to ensure

1. Child is learning.
2. Cost effective.
3. Environment is good.

That is exactly these people are doing...

BD wrote:

Thank you all. I enrolled my daughter at Leap N Learn Preschool.

We joined our daughter 4 years too at Leap N Learn Preschool. Where do you live Lela? may be we can car pool. They offer $200 off till Sep 1st it seems