Anyone regret moving from daycare to preschool/PreK early?

[Anonymous]

I am interested in getting people's take on this situation.

In the midst of our school tours for pre-preK, pre-primary, or nursery (I wish they could stick with one moniker), we were notified that my wonderful, work-based daycare center suddenly had a spot in their preschool 3's class. And we're wondering whether to just take it and defer private school until kindergarten.

The pros:

Cheaper
12 mos/year coverage
provide lunch
have a better sense of what we're getting in to
heavy emphasis on arts and student-led learning
Moving her out of mediocre daycare situation sooner than August 2010

The cons:

This would be her 3rd daycare center in 12 months (we moved to DC this spring); we may not love the current place but she does
Kindergarten may be harder to get into than PreK 3/Nursery School
Gut feeling that she is ready for more stimulation than she is currently getting

What would you do?

[Anonymous]

OP here. To clarify my last point, I worry that moving her now would be trading of short-term gain (a much better setting for the next 10 months) for a longer-term loss (could really benefit from the beefier program with more "specials" she'd presumably get at St. Pat's, NPS, Lowell, etc etc starting next fall).

[Anonymous]

Faced the same dilemma. Keep in mind that even though the programs are Pre-primary, Nursery, etc... it is still school. Having to navigate all of the "real" school dynamics for a three year old is overkill. Stay in daycare. Save the money for pre-K or K (although your odds are slimmer).

[Anonymous]

See if you get in. If not, then you'll have more opportunities to apply.

[Anonymous]

Ditto the PP. If you don't get in, the decision was made for you. If you do, I would ask to observe at the schools you are interested in and keep your child in mind as you observe.

[Anonymous]

I see people saying "see if you get in" but the way I read it the OP is being offered a spot now -- she won't know if her child gets in for another 5 months.

I chose a daycare over private school for the 3 year old year, and have no regrets. I think that the continuity of spending the day with one set of teachers in one room (as opposed to bouncing from "before care" to "aftercare" etc . . . don't think he missed out at all because they didn't got to another room for Spanish, art etc . .

In addition, I think that all the schools you mentioned add significant numbers of kids at 4 (St. Pats for example goes from 2 classes of 14 - 16 to 3 classes of 18), plus there are lots of other great options that start at PreK. So, you should be able to find a great slot, and at 4 it's probably going to be much more clear what kind of learner your child is and whether she'd do better someplace traditional like NPS, someplace progressive like Lowell, or somewhere in between like St. Pats.

I'd move, spend a year and half at the daycare and then think about whether you want to stay for PreK or move in 2011.

[Anonymous]

We tried moving our DD to preschool at 2 3/4. Academically (that's the best way I can put it) she was ready - she knew her numbers and letters, was conversant, all that good stuff. However, she was just not emotionally ready or mature enough, and we pulled her out after 2 days when it was clear it was not going to work. By the time she was 3 1/2, she was totally ready, but then had to hang out in daycare for about 3 more months and was really antsy.

However, when she started again at 3 3/4, it worked out GREAT! I couldn't be happier that she's in school, and she's confident and happy too.

Since you are talking about a center (it sounds like) that has babies up through preschoolers, I think that sounds like a nice transitional place. You know your DD best, and if you think she can handle it, she probably can. We were hesitant about our decision, I think because we knew that it wasn't going to work out.