closer one; its preschool OP.

My daughter is now in her late teens and, to this day, her two best friends are still the ones she made in our neighborhood preschool. Being in or close to the neighborhood will make a huge difference in future friendships. IMO, this is more important than whatever this "better" preschool has to offer.

I would do the close one regardless of how long my kid were at school but for a half day it’s a no brainer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Closer one. No doubt. Your kid won’t be materially better off from the amazing preschool, but that commute will he such a PITA over time, since the time in school is so short.

Also, the closer school is more likely to lead to friends who live closer.

I agree, the close one!!
They will be friends from the same neighborhood, school, etc

Yes, this is so helpful. My neighbor and I had toddlers who were the same age. I sent mine to the pre-school very close to our ES and she sent hers to one 20 minutes away. When it was time for K, we both sent our kids to the local public school and we knew so many kids entering K that year. She didn't understand why, even though I explained that this was one of the reasons that we chose to close preschool from the beginning.

My older child went to a farther away preschool (though it was closer to 15-20 min drive than 25) because we really loved the school and it was the only one like it where we lived (it was a co-op style school so parents volunteered in the school/classrooms a lot plus it was just a really nice community of people and we had several friends also going there). We would've made the same school choice for my younger child because we loved it so much but we moved to a different state by the time my younger child was starting preschool so we had to find a different school anyway. Second time, we picked a school 5 minute drive away primarily due to the short commute. We also liked the school itself but I realized based on our older child's preschool experience that my kids would be happy and do well in virtually any preschool environment. As long as there are nice teachers and a nice school community, any preschool should be good. You just want warm, kind, caring, patient teachers who truly love little kids. That's literally all preschool kids need to have a good preschool experience.

For us, the shorter commute was great because it gave me more time w/ my child her last year before going off to full day school and it allowed us more time to hang out w/ other kids from preschool since they all lived close by--we could just last minute decide to meet up at a playground or have an impromptu play date since we all lived near each other it was easy to make those social connections.

If it were an outdoor preschool where they got fresh air and activity for more than 50% of their day then yes I would make the drive. But that is also what I value and what I believe children need. The closest one to us is 1 hour and only part-time so it is not tenable.

Otherwise, 5-minute wins.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Closer one. No doubt. Your kid won’t be materially better off from the amazing preschool, but that commute will he such a PITA over time, since the time in school is so short.

Also, the closer school is more likely to lead to friends who live closer.

This. No way I'd want to drive 25 minutes to learn their ABCs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Closer one. No doubt. Your kid won’t be materially better off from the amazing preschool, but that commute will he such a PITA over time, since the time in school is so short.

Also, the closer school is more likely to lead to friends who live closer.

+1

And more likely the same friends will be at the same base elementary school when it's time for Kindergarten

+2 building those neighborhood connections is so valuable.

What's so special of the family daycare far away? They are all licensed and with great teachers. Children are learning all the time, let then be children. Any place they go they will have a nice staff, caregivers, love and patience.

I prefer the close one, much better for everyone

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Closer one. No doubt. Your kid won’t be materially better off from the amazing preschool, but that commute will he such a PITA over time, since the time in school is so short.

Also, the closer school is more likely to lead to friends who live closer.

I agree, the close one!!
They will be friends from the same neighborhood, school, etc

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Closer one. No doubt. Your kid won’t be materially better off from the amazing preschool, but that commute will he such a PITA over time, since the time in school is so short.

Also, the closer school is more likely to lead to friends who live closer.

+1

And more likely the same friends will be at the same base elementary school when it's time for Kindergarten

Mine goes to a great family daycare with a preschool teacher every day

Close one.

We did this. But the 25 min away place was all day (so really only 10 min different in commute to work / home included in the time) and was almost 1000 a month difference. For half day, while working from home, it is already hard to get kid to the 5 min away program and pick up before older comes home from elementary. Would not want to be in the car with them during commuter hours and back at that time (an hour in commute traffic without needing to be....no way).

Bare bones like the classrooms are not flashy or the playground is not the latest and greatest but the kids are happy and teachers are attentive - fine. But bare bones meaning mostly "free play" and not much social interaction or structured activities, would not be happy

Anonymous wrote:What’s amazing about the amazing preschool? I’d probably go for the closer one regardless I’m just curious. If the close one has outside time, teaches songs, has playdoh and is not drilling on worksheets that would be enough for me..

I’d agree with this — but it’s hard to tell without knowing what makes one school amazing vs the other. Lots of outdoor time, water play, neighborhood field trips, and great outdoor space might be worth it.