I want to put my daughter in preschool?

Question

my daughter turned 3 in april and we want to put her in preschool...is there a specific time that they enroll like high school or can you do it whenever? have i missed the time to where i have to wait till next year? is there anything my daughter needs to know for them to take her? abc's? numbers? colors? math? anything like that? or do they teach her that stuff? what age do they start kindergarten?

Answer 1

Yea, your daughter will have about two years of preschool and she'll start kindergarden when she is five. My daughter turned three in January, and we figured she was ready.

Probably about 1/4 of preschools we checked out follow an actual August-June school year. The other 3/4 were open-ended and take children whenever.

Don't worry -- they don't expect anything from a three year old. Except they want the child to be potty trained. Some want full potty trainedness (they can wipe, pull up their pants all by themselves). Others will have teachers assist.

Answer 2

It will depend on your school and location.  Some schools only accept 4 & 5 year olds for preschool, while others go much younger.

The most important date is the school date, which varies from state to state.  In my state, the date is August 1.  Our preschool offers 3, 4 & 5 year old preschool.  The kids must be 3 by August 1 in order to start.  So at your daughter's age, you will need to find the cut off date and ages accepted.

Here, kids must be 5 by August 1 to start Kindergarten.  However, those with summer birthdays sometimes wait.  Our school offers a kindergarten screening to help parents (and teacher's) realize if the child is ready for kindergarten or if waiting another year would be beneficial.

If she is old enough, I think you can enroll at any time.  Most of the time, they do offer an enrollment day, but if you don't make that, it's no big deal.

Preschool is usually pretty easy as far as what is expected of the kids.  Not much is expected.  Some do require that they be potty trained, but besides that, I can't think of any requirements, unless it's  a specialty type preschool.

What they teach also varies from preschool to preschool.  In our preschool, they don't work much on academics at all.  They focus on "free play time" and let the kids work out their own problems and roam about as they wish.  My son needed a much more structured environment, so he didn't end up staying there. Sometimes the school is just not a good fit.

Another thing to consider is that some preschools (and kindergartens) go 5 days a week, full days, while others go partial days, or 2-3 days a week.

I would suggest that you call the preschool and ask them your questions.  They will be able to help guide you in the right direction.

Answer 3

preschools are private so they will usually let you enroll at any time before the session starts, as long as there is no waiting list. Some don't have a 'session' they just operate year round, like our daycare.  The class for 3-5yo is taught with state approved preschool curriculum but goes all day and all through the summer and other typical school holidays.  They teach them all of the things that you mentioned and prepare them for kindergarten which starts at age 5.

Answer 4

Kindergarten is 5 yrs old. Preschool here is the same schedule as reg. school. My daughter will start on Sept 2nd. Some day cares have pre-preschool programs for the kids. 3 is old enough to put her in it. call around your area for preschools and find out if they are year round or just during reg school days.