Preschool - at what age?

[Anonymous]

At what age you think it's important for a child to be in a more structured daycare/preschool environment as opposed to home daycare or nanny care? We have a 2yo currently in home daycare, but wondering if he would be better of in a setting where there are more children in his age and all activities are done for this age group. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Does your home daycare have other kids close in age to yours? Do they get a lot of outdoor play time? We switched at 1.5 and DC was very very ready, but our home daycare had a very small group (great for a baby, less fun for a toddler if they don't have same-age playmates) and almost no outside time (ok for a baby but not for a toddler). If you already have playmates and playground time, I would probably wait until the 3-4 yr range to switch to a more structured preschool setup.
As for nanny vs. group situations, DC has loved being around other kids since getting mobile, so I wouldn't have wanted a nanny past the infant age unless she had several hours of playdates lined up every day. However, this is probably very kid-specific.

[Anonymous]

3yo is very popular but can u work out part time. If you want the lil shows and lil projects etc I think splitting would be good and then def by 4 or the year before kinder (5yo prek). My YD home daycare is changing because the slightly older kids are "graduating to preschool"
but some will still come partttime or when there are closings