Anonymous wrote:Nothing.

Not true. The charter we ended up in was heavy handed with the academics. Needless to say we aren't sending our son back for PK4.

No the same as having a friend over to your house for a playdate.

Im not knocking daycare, My DD goes to a daycare.
I used to be a nanny though and the kids loved having their friends back to our house for lunch and to play.
When they started school and wanted a friend over who was in daycare after school it was so much harder to arrange.

My DD will miss this unless something in our family life changes.

Anonymous wrote:If you want your kids to have have play dates with other kids then preschool is a better choice. The kids are more likely to be home in the afternoon and be available.
Its hard to arrange playdates when everyones kid is in daycare all day.

Um, or they can play with friends all day at daycare/school.

Not much difference these days.

If you want your kids to have have play dates with other kids then preschool is a better choice. The kids are more likely to be home in the afternoon and be available.
Its hard to arrange playdates when everyones kid is in daycare all day.

My experience is that they are pretty much the same, but that pre-school implies a curriculum that they teach, e.g. lesson plans in a specific order and including certain concepts that they are focusing towards preparation for K+ schooling. In daycares, they teach lessons, but less structured and less formal. For example, in our center, the individual infant and toddler rooms come up with their own lessons that they teach based on the individual teachers planning. The pre-K classes use the same curriculum and focus on the same lessons through the course of a given season/semester in preparation for the children leaving for kindergarten in the fall.

Anonymous wrote:Nothing. At centers, it's often referred to as daycare when the kids are little - say under 2. Ours has a preschool curriculum, very low turnover, etc in the upper classes and a waiting list for the preschool age.

In-home daycares often don't have the curriculum aspect for older (2-5) kids.

Not a formal curriculum but lots of in home daycares do all the same activities that are in the curriculum

Thanks, everyone. That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure.

Nothing. At centers, it's often referred to as daycare when the kids are little - say under 2. Ours has a preschool curriculum, very low turnover, etc in the upper classes and a waiting list for the preschool age.

In-home daycares often don't have the curriculum aspect for older (2-5) kids.

Anonymous wrote:Now's a good time to check in with the director to see what the preschool room looks like at your daycare. Our daycare started a preschool orientation last year that was really helpful - we met the teachers, they took us through the daily schedule and showed us sample activities and how they connected to learning goals.

DD is now in her final year at the daycare, in the upper preschool room, and I'm really impressed with the pre-academic things they're doing. Her letter writing is bounding ahead every week, she has lots of interest in words, rhyming and some simple spelling, and she's doing really fun science and cooking projects. And, like PP noted, there's a ton of fun play! It's been a great atmosphere, and I like that she's been in a consistent environment for these years with teachers who are familiar and known to her; that familiarity was a huge reason for us choosing to stay there instead of moving to a different preschool for her last year before kindergarten.

this can also happen though in a daycare or while child is at home with parent. So it sounds like a good program but not specific to it being a preschool. It sounds like your daycare just changes the names of the rooms as the child ages. Many do this because parents seem to prefer the word preschool to daycare.

Now's a good time to check in with the director to see what the preschool room looks like at your daycare. Our daycare started a preschool orientation last year that was really helpful - we met the teachers, they took us through the daily schedule and showed us sample activities and how they connected to learning goals.

DD is now in her final year at the daycare, in the upper preschool room, and I'm really impressed with the pre-academic things they're doing. Her letter writing is bounding ahead every week, she has lots of interest in words, rhyming and some simple spelling, and she's doing really fun science and cooking projects. And, like PP noted, there's a ton of fun play! It's been a great atmosphere, and I like that she's been in a consistent environment for these years with teachers who are familiar and known to her; that familiarity was a huge reason for us choosing to stay there instead of moving to a different preschool for her last year before kindergarten.

All daycares and all preschools differ depending on the curriculum they use. I tend to think of preschool as half-day on a school year scheduled and not starting until age 2 or 3 and daycare as full-time, year-round and starting with infants. Some daycares may simply be full-day babysitting with no curriculum. Either a daycare or a preschool could teach pre-academics and either could be (should be) mostly play.

Nothing.

You probably don't. Daycares just tend to have more turnover both with kids and teachers and sometimes less structure and less qualified teachers but not always. Preschools operate on a school year schedule.

I don't really understand the difference. Aside from the target age, is there a substantive difference in the activities, care, etc.? My son's daycare has lots of educational things (reading, math, etc. "corners"), field trips, activities. What would a preschool provide that would be different from this? Obviously, if I can get into a (free) DCPS pre-K, then I'll go with that, but I'm not sure if I'd need to switch him from his daycare to a preschool if we don't get into pre-K. Thanks!