What are the key distinctions b/w pre-school and day care?

[Anonymous]

We are looking into pre schools for our DD as a means to ensure she's ready for Kindergarten. Several places that I've thought of as daycares state that they offer a pre school curriculum for 3 and 4 year olds and are accredited. What is the distinction then between a pre school and daycare in these instances? Is there one?

TIA!

[Anonymous]

Not much of a distinction. It's probably best to visit several different ones of each type to get a feel of what overall culture you like the best.

Advantages of day care with preschool curriculum:

1) don't have to be potty trained
2) all day coverage (probably easiest for two parents who WOHM)
3) often cheaper

Advantages of preschool:

1) teachers generally have more education
2) less teacher turnover
3) generally smaller classes

These things vary program-by-program, of course. Preschools historically started out as just that -- a part-time social setting for 3-4 year olds with some academics thrown in. Many have evolved to provide all day programs with before and after care to meet the needs of working parents. They usually have a very specific program -- play based, academic, developmentally appropriate, Montessori, Reggio, etc. Day cares started out as a place to keep your baby safe while you worked. They too evolved to meet the academic demands that most parents want.

[Anonymous]

Most daycares "turn into" pre-schools. The Daycare part means they have infants-16month. Then a curriculum starts. In our Daycare/preschool the teachers for the 3-5 year olds have education degrees or child pschy degrees. Our kid is ready for K socially and academically. DC can write all letters and numbers, her first and last name. She can read simple sentences and do simple math. All of this from a so called "daycare". My husband and I also work with DC on these things at home. Plus it is full day 5 days a week.

[Anonymous]

for the most part any daycare that has kids ages 2-5 is also a preschool/hadsa preschool curriculum. The difference between them and a place that is just a preschool is the lenght of the day. Preschools tend to be just half day where daycare-preschools are full day. The full days ones don't do "work" all day and have a lot more free play.

[Anonymous]

My childs "daycare" turns into a preshool. It's from ages 3 months to K. My child is currently in the toddler program and I wouldn't consider it "daycare". They actually do a lot of arts and crafts, music time, story time, yoga etc. and go on walks in the neigborhood. It's center based, so I would call it preschool.

[Anonymous]

A good child care has a curriculum from infant on up.

[Anonymous]

lol - so the non-English speaking "teachers" in your kid's daycare are the same as the teachers in a traditional school??? We toured a lot of daycares that become "preschool" and traditional preschools. The teachers, students, curriculum and all around feel were far superiour in most of the traditional preschools than in the daycares. There were a few exeptions where we felt the daycare was pretty good, but if you are looking for a preschool environment, than a traditional preschool is def the way to go.

[Anonymous]

It is harder to find a preschool not housed in a church if you are on a budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A good child care has a curriculum from infant on up.

What's the "currciculum" for babies less than 12 months old? Eat, sleep, poop?

Babies that age just need a consistent, loving caregiver, not a curriculum.

[Anonymous]

I've found that some daycares from infant to K can be good, but often times they are not as good as a preschool that only focuses on a couple of years. So it is mostly a management issue for me. I like places where the age my child is is the age the head teacher/director is focusing most of their efforts and money on. My friends with kids in a daycare facility like the convenience of only having to get to know one place prior to kindergarten, but often complain to me about management issues.

[Anonymous]

I was under the impression that in daycare the kids (depending on the age) just play all day - on the playground, doing crafts, play centers in the room, snack, open play, etc.

In preK the kids are old enough (3 and 4 year olds) have a set "schedule" and actual learning - open play, circle time, going over letters/numbers, learning to write/hold crayon, days of the week/weather, show and tell, etc.

Plus, preK is only a few hours a day unlike daycare which is all day.

[Anonymous]

There are many day cares that have a preschool curriculum just as good, and in some instances better than, traditional preschools. Our day care, which starts with infants, has a structured preschool curriculum that starts at age 2. Our first child was reading books by the time she was in pre-k there - which I attribute in part because of the phonics based curriculum the day care introduced at age 2. Because many kids attend day cares for most of the day there is plenty of time in the day for the center to have both a curriculum and play based activities, including free play.

[Anonymous]

I have had kids in both. The daycare was a well-known one often mentioned on this site (independently operated small chain, not affiliated with a workplace) and the preschool is a highly regarded church affiliated one. My impression is that there is no difference. Both kids equally prepared for K at public school both academically and socially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:lol - so the non-English speaking "teachers" in your kid's daycare are the same as the teachers in a traditional school??? We toured a lot of daycares that become "preschool" and traditional preschools. The teachers, students, curriculum and all around feel were far superiour in most of the traditional preschools than in the daycares. There were a few exeptions where we felt the daycare was pretty good, but if you are looking for a preschool environment, than a traditional preschool is def the way to go.

Wow, all of the pre-school teachers are our daycare speak English and they are fabulous. I can think of one who is not a native speaker, but she is pretty fabulous. And, yes, they do actual LEARNING there. My 4 y.o. can read, knows all about space, explained non-standard measurement techniques, gave me a lecture on living things in nature, etc.. All things she learned at DAY CARE. Prejudiced much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not much of a distinction. It's probably best to visit several different ones of each type to get a feel of what overall culture you like the best.

Advantages of day care with preschool curriculum:

1) don't have to be potty trained
2) all day coverage (probably easiest for two parents who WOHM)
3) often cheaper

Advantages of preschool:

1) teachers generally have more education
2) less teacher turnover
3) generally smaller classes

These things vary program-by-program, of course. Preschools historically started out as just that -- a part-time social setting for 3-4 year olds with some academics thrown in. Many have evolved to provide all day programs with before and after care to meet the needs of working parents. They usually have a very specific program -- play based, academic, developmentally appropriate, Montessori, Reggio, etc. Day cares started out as a place to keep your baby safe while you worked. They too evolved to meet the academic demands that most parents want.

Our downtown DC daycare turns into a preschool beginning with the 2 year old class. But unless I'm totally wrong, at $23K for the year, daycare is not cheaper than a standalone preschool. It's just more convenient, at leat for us, since we do both work out of the home, and it is 5 blocks from my office.