How to Choose a Preschool

The time has come for my sweet girl to move on to preschool. It has been a rollercoaster of emotion for me coming to the realization that she is growing up, especially knowing how difficult it could be for her (and me) to alter the routine of people and places she’s known for the last three years. These choices may establish her learning pattern for the rest of her life – Wow, the pressure! I have been stumbling through this process – but have come up with a list of basic questions I need answered in order to decide which preschool is right for my precious little one.

Let’s start with some basics:

QUESTION #1: Hours/Schedule

• Does your preschool have a traditional school schedule with many days/weeks off throughout the year or a year round schedule that only closes on major holidays?
• Is there a half, partial of full day schedule?

QUESTIONS #2: Location

• Should it be close to your work, home, or somewhere in between? Are there other more convenient locations that work for your schedule?

QUESTION #3: Cost

• Preschool fees differ widely.  I discovered two schools next to each other could vary in cost by as much as $500/month. A good tip I learned is that there are co-ops where you can volunteer your personal time during business hours at the school in exchange for a reduced cost tuition or as a prerequisite of enrollment.

QUESTION #4: Preschool Philosophy

There is a wide range of preschool philosophies. Only an Owner/Director can explain their viewpoint fully.  I categorized four core philosophies below: 

• Traditional:  This is the most common in the US and is commonly referred to as a Developmentally Appropriate Preschool. This program tends to emphasize physical, cognitive, emotional and social areas of a preschooler. It’s a mixture of self-directed and teacher directed activities.
• Academic: This philosophy puts an emphasis on early reading, beginner’s math, and other skills not usually introduced until grade school. The teacher generally guides the class and learning direction.
• Montessori: This is a structured program where children move from activity-to-activity at their own pace.  It is intended to create self-motivated, independent learners in a social environment.
• Others:  High/Scope: Active learning, Reggio Emilia: Project based, Waldorf: Creativity over academia, and Parent Co-operatives: Parent and Student working together with guidance from a teacher that shares the groups philosophies.

 Last but not least questions: 

• Teacher/Assistant vs. Student ratios
• Do they provide snacks and lunch?
• Do they separate the different age groups from each other?
• Do they admit kids that are not potty trained?  If so, is there an additional fee?
• Is there a nap time?
• How do they prepare the children for Kindergarten and beyond?
• Special Programs: Do they have Gymnastics, Music, or teach a secondary language?
• Are the teachers licensed?
• Does the school have positive/reviews? (Check your local parents’ network.)

After I complete my research and visit my top preschools with Lilah, I know that in the end, I will have to go with my ‘gut-feeling’ for my final decision. A friend of mine said that her son kept talking about one of the schools they visited and wanted to go back – her decision was made. I will admit, this hasn’t happened yet for us, but I’m hoping it will soon. Good luck!

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She’s got the Moves!

My little Dancing Queen

My daughter LOVES to dance!  Lilah at 3 years old really responds to ‘the beat.’  Spurred on by the dance reality shows and a new wave of musical television shows she is responding with typical toddler energy.  Our recent favorite – ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ on the Fox network – launches our routine of dancing with each other while the dancers perform. I started this as a distraction when I wanted to watch the show and she wanted to change the channel to ‘her show.’  Now she insists that I drop everything to lift and spin her or shake our ‘booties’ to the music. It’s really fun, and great exercise for me, but the focus is now on our performance rather than the great dancers on the show!

Lilah dancing so fast she is just a blur

On Wednesday night she decided that she wanted to watch ‘Glee’ (the antics of underdog high school kids struggling in glee club.)  I must confess to giving in to her demands – since I enjoy the shows as well!  They are filled with music, new and old, plenty of dancing and in the musical comedy Glee, a good lesson or two (although the themes are beyond her years, since it is a biting comedy.) Who knows…maybe she’ll end up dancing and singing on TV someday!  Isn’t ‘Fame’ making a comeback?

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Children’s Themed Birthday Parties

Last weekend we went to a birthday party for our friend’s 5-year old son. The invitation was cowboy-themed. The party was decked out in Western decor. The host gave away cowboy hats and bandanas, and there were even pony rides. YES, pony rides! It was the BEST party my daughter has ever been to (she exclaims this after every party she attends). It seems like children’s birthday parties are getting fancier each year, and it’s becoming a challenge to “top” the next party – not that these kids are competing. But as a parent, you don’t want to be outdone (recently, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were in the news, having hosted a $100,000.00 birthday party for their daughter, Suri, where the cake alone cost over $15 thousand!). The pressure is on if you’re only going to have a simple “cake and ice cream” birthday gathering.

We’ve been to quite a few themed events, such as:

• a Dinosaur party hosted at a children’s activity center (complete with dinosaur-related games)
• a Princess Ball, along with a dressing room filled with gowns, crowns, make-up, glitter, boas, etc. for all the girls (and the loot bag was more expensive than our present for the birthday celebrant!)
• a Pirate party with a scavenger hunt, and enough gold coins to fill Captain Jack Sparrow’s ship
• a Musical party where a music teacher came and brought boxes of different musical instruments for the children to participate in song-and-dance activities
• and the most outrageous one I’ve been to… a Super Model party. The dad even built a runway for the girls to parade down the catwalk in their fashionable attire!

My daughter has had her share of themed parties:

• Hawaiian pool party with beach toys as giveaways
• Gymnastics party where the instructors came and set up their equipment at a park, and had a “class” with all the kids
• County Fair-themed party with a cotton candy machine, an ice cone maker, face painting, and a friend who made balloon animals for all the guests.

The day after my daughter’s 4-year old party, she started discussing with me what her theme will be for next year’s party. (I’m not kidding!) She had a few in mind: a Power Ranger party, a Pokemon party, a Princess party to name a few. But the winning theme is a Pirate party – just like her cousin’s but not exactly the same. She wants it to be a PINK Pirate party and have a Pirate Princess come to entertain her guests. (Demanding for a 5-year old! And don’t even get me started on her wanting an iPhone as a present.) So, two months before her birthday, I’m already making a mad dash looking for a Pirate Princess to come to her party, and hunting down a bakery who can make custom-designed cupcakes with black and pink skull and bones. As the date gets closer and I’ve secured the entertainment and the cupcakes, I sit back and sigh, “What the heck am I doing? I’m trying to impress her 5-year old friends. Next year will be just cake and ice cream!” I say this every year, and I know I’ll be sucked into another theme party again next year.

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Kids Connections to Music – How Early Does it Begin?

It’s a common action of a mother to pick up a baby and begin swaying her hips to soothe the child. The motion seems to tie into listening to music and moving with it. Often young babies and toddlers react to music. One can see this in the market of music for children and soothing babies. Another fun connection is live music classes designed for mothers and their young children.

My daughter and I tried our first music class together, a program called Music Together, when she was about six to eight months old. The program encouraged mixed ages of children, gave the parents a song book and a cassette tape or CD of the music they taught, and loved parent involvement. The children experimented with music instruments, danced and sang for about an hour each week. We loved the classes and had fun with the other families involved.

Later (at three years old or so) we were introduced to another music program called Kindermusik. Kindermusik is oriented more at having just the child explore music and instruments. Their programs taught various age appropriate instruments to the children and parents were only invited to join in some classes. Regardless of the approach for these music programs, the children loved being involved with the music making.

I’m convinced some of these young experiences have helped influence my daughter’s music preferences now at the age of eight. She’s ready for her own iPod playlists!

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