How to Choose a Preschool

If you read my post last week and are considering sending your toddler to preschool, this post is for you.  Here is the link if you would still like to check it out here: LINK.  Choosing a preschool is daunting task.  Two years ago when my son was one, a few moms told me that I better start researching or he would never get in anywhere.  To say that I felt panicked would be an understatement.  The truth is that you don’t need to start researching schools when your child is one but you should start looking 3-6 months before you want to start sending your child.  How do you decide which schools to consider?  Where should you start?  I hope that the following tips help you to start your search and ultimately to choose the perfect school for your child.

Types of Schools

You might be surprised to find out that there is more than one type of preschool.  Besides public and private, there are Montessori style schools, schools within daycare facilities, cooperative schools, discovery based schools, and schools which are primarily play based.

Let’s start with private schools first:

Montessori schools feature classrooms with multiple age groups in one classroom.  They encourage children to learn from each other and work to foster relationships between both students and hands on discovery based learning.  Some schools that I looked at incorporated some of the Montessori values even if they did not officially carry a Montessori title so it’s important to ask a school what their teaching philosophy is.

Schools within daycare facilities can vary widely.  Some are more flexible with potty training because they have the licenses, facilities, and staff to change diapers.  Some are dedicated preschools which just happen to be within a daycare building, and others are highly regulated traditional “school-like” environments which are becoming popular in state of the art daycare centers.

Cooperative schools rely heavily on parental involvement.  Many are non-profit and require parents to volunteer either as teachers in the classrooms or caring for the school doing jobs such as food prep or custodial work.  Parents have a heavy say on how the school is run since they have so much involvement.

Discovery based schools are schools which focus on hands on interactive learning. They focus on learning through experience.  Students may send less time with traditional books and pencils but will benefit from personal experience.

Play based schools are more like formal play groups.  They focus more on the fostering of relationships and letting kids play rather than encouraging or pushing learning.  There are benefits in that kids are not forced to “grow up” too fast but on the same token, they aren’t encourage to learn early literacy skills which may give them a head start for kindergarten.

Public schools:

I can really only speak to what my town offers on this one but our town actually offers two different types of preschool programs.  The first program is offered free of charge but only had 10 available slots that were awarded after an extensive application program and then a lottery.  The program consists of two classes of ten kids each but half of the kids in each class are guaranteed a slot based on special needs status.  The other 10 kids which are chosen via lottery are meant to be role models for the special needs kids.  The other public program offered by our town is run through the high school child development program.  It is supervised by a high school teacher but primarily run by students.  A small materials fee is required but curriculum is set by the supervising teacher and parents usually end up with a list of potential babysitters at the end of the semester which can be considered a bonus.

Whether you choose a public or private option it’s a good idea to research the program in advance and find out what their teaching philosophy is to determine if it’s a good fit for your family.

Look for local preschool fairs in your area

One of the best ways to start researching preschools is to attend a preschool fair.  Most of the towns in our area offer one.  Our town held one at our public library.  It was put on by our town’s early childhood council.  A dozen or so schools in our area had tables at the event advertising their schools and many of them had their directors and at least one of their teachers present to answer questions.  My husband and I were able to cross a few schools off our list just by talking to the staff and another off the list after reading the school’s brochure and checking out their website.  I would highly encourage you to take advantage of a preschool fair if your community offers one.  It’s a good way to get a taste of multiple school options quickly and to start your search.

Attend an Open House or Ask For a Tour

In addition to attending a preschool fair, it’s also a really good idea to attend an open house or better yet to ask for a tour of any schools that you are seriously considering.  My husband and I toured 3 different schools that we were considering and it made a huge difference in how we viewed each school.  The public school did not offer a tour but if you are paying for private school, I think it’s more than reasonable to ask for a tour.  Touring a school is more than just about seeing the actually facility and meeting the teachers; observe how the classroom is run.  Does the teacher have a good command over the classroom?  Is the classroom environment chaotic?  Do they children appear to be having fun?  Are the children listening to the teacher?  Are the children interacting with each other?  Do you see any kids being bullied?  Can you picture your child becoming friends with any of the children?  Can you picture yourself becoming friends with their parents?  These are the kids that your child could be spending every day with for the year so these are important questions to consider!  Also observe how your child reacts at the school.  Each school that we toured invited us to come during preschool hours and allowed our son to participate in the class as an honorary student while we were there observing.  Does your child appear comfortable?  Are the other kids accepting of a new student or do they completely ignore your child’s presence? My child is very socially outgoing and at one of the schools he had a very difficult time joining in with the other kids, to me this was a red flag.  At another school, we saw a student being bullied by another kid – also not a great sign.  At the same school, the teacher appeared to have almost no control over the class.  We were told that the teacher was relatively new but unfortunately, as a parent, what I was seeing didn’t instill a lot of confidence in me.  At the school we ultimately chose, the other kids were thrilled to have my son as a visitor for the day.  Several of them asked him to join in the activity that they were doing and they all wanted to know his name and if he was going to come to their school.  I loved how welcoming the kids were.  The director also told me that they gear lessons to each individual child, not to the group as a whole.  I love this because every child learns at a different pace in a different way.  Once kids get into grade school, it’s very difficult for teachers to individualize lessons but in my opinion, children flourish under individualized instruction if it’s available.  As a parent, you know what environment that your child will flourish in.  Don’t be afraid to take that into account when looking at potential schools.  They are not all created equally or run the same.

Compare Details

Once my husband and I had narrowed our school choices down to two or three potentials, we found it helpful to write out pros and cons of each.  It helped us to compare the schools more equally on the points that were most important to us.  We also took into account logistic factors such as cost and location before making our final decision.

My son has been attending his new school for about a month now and he absolutely loves it.  We know we made the right choice because he gets excited to go and sad to leave at the end of the day. I hope that you are able to find the perfect school for your toddler too.  Have a question about the process for choosing a school?  Ask in the comments.  I’m happy to help in any way that I can.

My son on his first day of preschool!