Picking a School for Our Child

Which daycare, preschool, nursery or kindergarten? Public or private? Montessori, Progressive, or traditional preschool? Questions I asked and answered while choosing the right preschool for my child.

When my son was about to turn three, I realized he needed more social interaction and explored sending him to preschool. I wanted to choose the best preschool, nursery or daycare--whether it was public or private, Montessori, Progressive or church-affiliated. I also wondered if I should home school until kindergarten. I asked some of my friends and neighbors, and I received overwhelmingly positive feedback on their children's preschool or daycare. This led me to believe that choosing the right daycare, preschool or kindergarten is a very personal decision, and everyone's opinion varies. I needed to identify our priorities, so I focused on what I really wanted in my child's first school and what would be a deal-breaker.

I read a very informative booklet published by the U.S. Department of Education that had a series of questions to ask ourselves and the elementary school. Some of the questions applied to nursery schools, preschools, daycares, and Montessories. This booklet reiterated that in reality, there was no "best school" only one that was the best fit for each child and his or her family.

Since I was open to the idea of relocating, my choices were varied and included 1) local public preschools, 2) public preschools in some other districts we were open to relocating, 3) private preschools, 4) daycares that followed a preschool-like curriculum, and 5) home schooling. I ruled out exclusive home schooling since we wanted social interaction for our child. Amongst the private schools, there were several affiliated with religious faiths, and others than were co-operative or Montessori.

Can we afford private preschool tuition? Annual tuition for private preschools in our area ran up to $19,000 for full day programs. While this was definitely cheaper than several Manhattan schools that charged $30,000-40,000, obviously my husband and I needed to prioritize our own retirement, our children's college education, etc. above private preschool and elementary school. Since school taxes were approximately half of our property taxes, sending a child to private preschool also meant not reaping the benefits of paying those property taxes.

We were not ready to make our decision based on finances alone. Some other questions I considered were:

* What is the demographic mix and will our child fit in?
* How long is the school day?
* Is after school care available?
* Does the preschool run through higher grades?
* What is the meals policy?
* How close is the school to our home?
* Do we have a preference for Montessori, Progressive Education or another special curriculum or philosophy?
* How involved do we have to be in school activities on a daily basis?
* Is there a preferential sibling admissions or tuition discounts?
* Will our child make the school age cut-off?
* What role should religion play?
* Do classrooms have computers?
* What is the discipline philosophy?
* What is the teacher to student ratio?
* Does the school offer special education, enrichment or advanced classes for children?
* Does the school have an honors or gifted and talented program for higher classes? * What does the school do to help develop character and citizenship?
* Where do graduates pursue their higher studies?

I narrowed the choices based on the answers to these questions. I attended Open Houses and toured a few preschools and met with both teachers and administrative staff. There are several public preschools in our city, and assignment was random (and varied from year to year). One of our key concerns was I could not meet the teacher of the class, and my child may have new classmates year to year.

In the end, I chose a private Montessori preschool that ran through kindergarten. What attracted us most to the preschool was that the curriculum was flexible to a certain extent, with the pace driven by the child's unique strengths and challenges. I also loved the mixed age (3-5 years) setting, which allowed my child to mentor younger children and learn from older ones. Although the Montessori method is not for all families, it was the right fit for ours.