Who is using all these preschools?

[Anonymous]

I starting to look into future options for DD for when we're ready to move her out of her current in-home daycare. I want to send her somewhere with a great program, whether play-based, montessori, whatever, I haven't figured out yet, but so far I am struck at how unfriendly these set ups are to families with two working parents. They only run during the school year, charge extra for after-care that only lasts until 5 ... what's the deal? It seems the only people that can use these are families with one parent at home or part-time hours or maybe a with a nanny that covers the other hours. Am I missing something? If I need care from 8 am to 5:30pm, year round, am I better off sticking with daycares that have programs aimed at older children. My DD was born in December, so I'd really like to find somewhere that she will not bore of, given that she will be nearly 6 when she enters kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it is families with nannies, or one spouse not working or working part-time. If you need full-time care and don't want to have a nanny, then a daycare is your best option.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like your child is destined for more daycare.

[Anonymous]

I have 2 kids in preschool and my husband stays home with them. At our preschool (Arlington) it is pretty much all stay at home parents or families with nannies/au pairs that bring the kids to preschool. I think that most day care centers function pretty much as preschools for the kids that are older (2 - 5 yo). Are they introducing the letters, early reading skills, early math skills, etc? Not sure about the montessori as my kids are in a regular play based preschool. If you are happy with your daycare I would just stay with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Am I missing something?

Yes. Preschool is school. Teachers in preschools have degree in education and various certifications to keep up. A great preschool has NAEYC accreditation.

Daycare is babysitting.

So target a few preschools, find out if any parents at these schools do nanny shares, and then make your decision. Early childhood education is very expensive--hence the push for pre-K in public elementary schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Preschool is school. Teachers in preschools have degree in education and various certifications to keep up. A great preschool has NAEYC accreditation.

Daycare is babysitting.

This is crap (and I say so as a parent with kids in an NAEYC-accredited preschool). There are lousy preschools and great preschools; there are lousy daycares and great daycares. DC is fortunate to have a number of NAEYC-accredited daycares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Am I missing something?

Yes. Preschool is school. Teachers in preschools have degree in education and various certifications to keep up. A great preschool has NAEYC accreditation.

Daycare is babysitting.

So target a few preschools, find out if any parents at these schools do nanny shares, and then make your decision. Early childhood education is very expensive--hence the push for pre-K in public elementary schools.

This poster knows nothing about quality daycare. There are daycare programs with preschools in them that are excellent and are accredited. Some have specific pre-K rooms which are great for the late fall birthday children. Do a search on the NAEYC site based on your zip code.

[Anonymous]

School for Friends goes all day and year round.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone name a daycare in DC that has all certified teachers with advanced teaching degrees?

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks for confirming my thinking, pp's. I think it's kind of sad that the very best programs (or at least the widest variety of programs) are basically unavailable to families with two full-time working parents because they can't accomodate longer hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for confirming my thinking, pp's. I think it's kind of sad that the very best programs (or at least the widest variety of programs) are basically unavailable to families with two full-time working parents because they can't accomodate longer hours.

Is that not the same as school? What will you do for after school hours when the children are older?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for confirming my thinking, pp's. I think it's kind of sad that the very best programs (or at least the widest variety of programs) are basically unavailable to families with two full-time working parents because they can't accomodate longer hours.

I didn't catch where you live, but in MoCo there are preschools with daycare hours. Our preschool is 7:30-6:00, all teachers have degrees, no "assistant teachers" without degrees like you might have in a daycare, run like a school, and there are part-time options for kids who have a parent/nanny at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for confirming my thinking, pp's. I think it's kind of sad that the very best programs (or at least the widest variety of programs) are basically unavailable to families with two full-time working parents because they can't accomodate longer hours.

Is that not the same as school? What will you do for after school hours when the children are older?

Don't most elementary schools have after-school programs associated with them? I will either use those or try to arrange something with neighbors, etc. I don't consider that as much as a problem because it's for a shorter period of the day and is less likely to impact their future academic development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for confirming my thinking, pp's. I think it's kind of sad that the very best programs (or at least the widest variety of programs) are basically unavailable to families with two full-time working parents because they can't accomodate longer hours.

I didn't catch where you live, but in MoCo there are preschools with daycare hours. Our preschool is 7:30-6:00, all teachers have degrees, no "assistant teachers" without degrees like you might have in a daycare, run like a school, and there are part-time options for kids who have a parent/nanny at home.

I live in SIlver SPring. What is your preschool?

[Anonymous]

Don't buy into the idea that a preschool that is 9-12 a few days a week is better than a daycare. Someone is hijacking the post, again.

Obviously a part-time preschool (generally for those with one parent who doesn't work outside the home) and full-time daycare are very different, mainly because of their hours and their goals/focus. There are many quality preschool-style daycares out there, though.

Both my kids were in in-home daycare until age 2, and then we found a preschool-style daycare for when they were over 2. It's basically structured like a combo of preschool and daycare.

Look at some of the childcare centers that you may have researched when you had an infant. Often the waitlist for older kids is low or non-existent, and the prices are lower because the ratio of care givers is less because of the law. (Infants need the highest ratio of caregivers.)

My children go to a daycare that is not NAEYC accredited (only something like 3% of daycares are nationwide) but I still feel confident in the quality of care and that they're in a loving, safe, clean, fun, and affordable environment.