She has sent both of her children — now 7 and 4 years old — to First School in Centerville. “I knew the minute I walked into this school, it was the place for my kids,” she said. “I would recommend to any parent questioning if their child is ready for preschool to start looking at preschools in their area and asking questions to the director and teachers.’’
If you are thinking about enrolling your child this fall, now is the time to start looking, as many programs hold enrollments during winter. No matter where you decide to send your children, picking the right preschool is important. Quality programs offer their 3- and 4-year-old charges more than just a few hours of play time. Ideally, kids are learning and practicing skills that will help them excel in kindergarten, which can launch them smoothly into their schooling years. It’s not as big of a stretch as you might think to say that preschool starts children on the right track to a successful career and life.
How to find a preschool
One of the first places local families can begin their search is at 4C for Children, a resource and referral agency for early education and care in the Miami Valley as well as southwest Ohio and northern Kentucky. Parents can visit www.4cforchildren.org or call (937) 220-9660 or (800) 256-1296 for information and advice on preschools, including checklists for selecting a quality preschool. Staff counselors can provide referrals to families looking for licensed preschools based on their specific needs. Online, you can use a searchable database or submit a form for a response via email.
Another option is to visit the Step Up to Quality program website, at www.stepuptoquality.org. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services started Step Up to Quality as a voluntary quality rating system for licensed child care programs, including preschools. Participating programs are closely evaluated and can be assigned one, two or three stars for excellence for going beyond the required licensing benchmarks in areas such as curriculum, child-teacher ratios, staff qualifications and health and safety. The website has a searchable database of licensed providers and copies of state inspection reports.
Another resource is the National Association for the Education of Young Children. The NAEYC accredits childcare centers and preschools nationally, including ones here in the area. Visit www.naeyc.org/accreditation to find local programs.
Good old-fashioned word of mouth doesn’t hurt, either. Many parents say they found their children’s preschool through other parents who had children already enrolled.
What to look for
Let’s say you’ve done your initial research using the resources above. You now have a few potential preschools in mind, but need to decide which one is best for your child.
Here are a few things to consider:
Visit the schools: Donna Keith, director of Atrium Family YMCA Children's Center in Middletown, said she won't enroll a parent unless they have visited the facility. "It can be overwhelming if you've never visited one," she said. "I tell parents to go by the sounds. You should hear happy sounds: children laughing, music and singing. Even the teachers supervising should be doing it in a positive, nice way."
Roseann Pratt, director of Precious Gifts Daycare and Learning Center in Springfield, encourages parents to do their research. “I would advise parents to check around. Not every program fits every child,” she said.
Pay attention to how you feel. “As a parent, you know where you feel comfortable,” said Lorna Chouinard, director of 4C Miami Valley. “If you’re not comfortable, you wouldn’t want your child to be there.”
Ratio of students to teachers: Schools must comply with state ratios. In general, the lower the ratio, the better the program.
Linda Walker of Bellbrook said she found small class size to be very important for her son, after his first experience with a preschool didn’t go well. “Over the next year he matured and we looked for different things in a preschool that we had overlooked before, most notably small classroom sizes and small teacher-to-student ratio, and also an environment that would allow opportunities to learn at a student’s own pace,” she said. Walker enrolled him at Minds in Motion School in Springboro and said he now looks forward to going to school.
Staff qualifications: Check to see if the teachers have degrees in early childhood education. Preschool teachers are not required to have degrees, and some excellent teachers don't have them, but it can be an indicator of quality for a school.
Curriculum: This is a big consideration, and it encompasses a large part of what your child will actually be doing during the day. "You want to be structured, but not too much," Keith said.
It’s important to know what type of instructional program a preschool offers, Pratt said. “Be sure they are educational-based and teaching the basics,” she said.
Diane Perry is an early intervention specialist with Hamilton City Schools. She said a good preschool will help your child develop cognitively, or, in other words, help him/her learn how to learn. “You want them to offer a wide variety of experiences,” Perry said. “Do they offer play centers? Sensory experiences? Strong language materials and activities? Stories? Songs? Finger play?”
Ask whether the school helps children develop listening skills. “Every instruction given to a child until they can read is given to them orally. If they don’t know how to listen and remember, they’re already behind when they start kindergarten,” Perry said.
Look for a center that helps children learn how to interact socially with others. “Do they help develop that teamwork of giving and taking, sharing and waiting your turn? It’s all of the things that you can only learn when you’re with other children,” Perry said. At the same time, consider whether the school helps teach independence, such as showing children how to put on their own coats.
Preschool is an age when children should be developing their motor skills. Does the school give kids the opportunity to play outside or, if inside, to crawl and bend and stretch? Fine motor skills should be strengthened through activities like scribbling, finger-painting, cuttings and playing with Play-Dough. “If they don’t learn the fine motor skills, they may struggle to hold a pencil when they start first grade,” Pratt said.
Nutrition: Do parents provide snacks or does the school? Does the school participate in food programs?
Parental involvement: Check to see if a school has a parent board or open-door policies encouraging you to stop by at any time. "You want to look for some form of parent communications, whether it means they offer parental conferences and nights, newsletters and information boards," Chouinard said.
Getting involved has been a very positive experience for Eve Jorczak, whose son started preschool in September at Timberlane Learning Center in the Northridge Local School District. “Two months ago, I joined the PTO and it has been wonderful to be involved in decisions made for my son’s school,” she said.
Cost: There may be a difference in cost between sending your child to a nonprofit (in a public school) versus a for-profit (inside a daycare) preschool, but not necessarily. "The cost really, really varies," said Chouinard of 4C Miami Valley. "A lot of centers at non-profits have sliding scale fees or multiple-child discounts, but sometimes the same is true at for-profits."
Transitioning smoothly
You’ve found the perfect school. Now the real work begins. Children learn at their own pace, and a good preschool with meet them where they’re at, but parents can do a few things ahead of time to help.
Encourage responsibility: Start teaching your child how to take care of their own things and give them small tasks to complete, such as helping to set the table.
Give your child time to adjust: Angela Chandler of Bethel Twp. enrolled her 3-year-old daughter this year at Saint Peter Early Childhood Center in Huber Heights. She said they kept the transition into school low-key. "We talked about it daily for months leading up to the start of school and made sure we went to the open house and met her teacher and visited her room. School can be very overwhelming and since my daughter is shy, I knew she would be nervous," Chandler said. Her daughter is now thriving. "Kelli has learned so much and loves going to school."
Stay involved: "It's important that you know what's going on so you can go home and expand on it," Chouinard said. "If the preschool is teaching your child about plants, work on a garden at home. You want to expand those learning experiences so it becomes more concrete to the child."
Keith suggested taking a few extra minutes when picking up or dropping off your child. “You want to ask the teacher how the child is doing,” she said.
Know that you’re doing something positive for your child. “Preschool helps ease that transition from no or minimal structure at home, to kindergarten, where you are required to be very independent,” Chouinard said. “The continuum of being prepared for life starts at a very young age.”
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