Working Moms: Preschool and Transportation

I am a single mom and work full time. My daughter attends Primrose School in Gahanna, and they're open from 7am to 6pm, so I just take her before work and pick her up later. She has been going to this daycare/preschool since she was 18mos old and is now 4.5. She absolutely thrives there. She knows the letters and which sounds they make, can write her name in lower case and in uppercase letters, and LOVES to go to school. They have a great summer program too, so she just attends year round. It's a bit pricey ($950/mo), but I think it's well worth it. Good luck!

My first DD went to a all day preschool/daycare. My youngest DD will go to a 3 day a week preschool from 8-11 and my husband and I will use our lunch hour to pick her up and take her to the at home sitters, who is just down the road from the school. The school is about 5 mintues from each of our work places and they do not offer extended care for PT preschoolers.

I volunteered to drive a little boy to preschool. The daycare he went to was 4 houses down from where I lived at the time it was the only way e could go. Talk to some other moms in your area (story hour is a good place to meet some) or contact the school. Some preschools if in an elementary school will provide bus transportation if you explain the circumstances and your daycare is in the district. It's the end of June so it's kind of late to e looking at preschool (at least in my area) they fill up in April.

I work full time and my son attended preschool this past school year. He went 2 days a week from 9-11:30. Given the times, I was not able to provide transportation either way. When we initially signed him up we were in in-home care and the provider agreed to provide transportation (her kids were in school and after they got on the bus she only had my 2 kids). A month or so after we signed up, our childcare provider informed us that she would not be able to continue watching our children (we were with her for over 3 years). In the past year we have had many issues with childcare. We had one person for over 3 years and then had 4 in the past year - AWFUL! I felt that my childcare options were very limited as I was determined for my son to attend preschool. We tried the nanny route and the in-home route (2 of each!). A nanny should definitely be able to provide transportation but we had difficulty finding one that we really liked and was reliable (and could afford). There are a few in-home providers that may be able to provide transportation but you will need to search for them. Another option would be to contact the school that you are interested in and see if they have any suggestions (i.e. if you want to stay with your current provider, is there any other kids in the area that attend that school?). I made it work but with the childcare issues that we encountered (unrelated to preschool), it was VERY difficult. As a result of all of the issues, we got through the school year and my children started a full time daycare (that includes preschool curriculum) a few weeks ago. My son with do his last year of preschool here before going to kindergarten. To answer your question, my son attended Indian Run Preschool in Dublin and, yes, I would recommend it. If you would like to discuss anything in more detail, please let me know. Good luck!

There's lots of preschools that go all day. Keep searching!

I don't live near you so I don't have an answer for a good preschool in your area. However, my husband and I both work out of the home and went through the whole logistical problem of preschool. The first year, my father in law would pick up my son and either watch him for the rest of the day or take him to the babysitters. It was a very tense situation so I decided that we could not continue that way. My son had met a friend at preschool and I would chat with the mother occassionally. We met at the park a few times during the summer and came to an agreement that this mom was willing to help transport my son to the babysitters. I would joke she was his taxi cab. I was very nervous because we had never let anyway else transport our children before, but it worked out fabulously. I decided to pay her because I did not want to feel that I was taking advantage of her. After all, I would never be able to return the favor. We paid her $10/day. It was a bit expensive, but worth every penny. I did not worry one bit (after the first week or two). I talked to this mom every few weeks and would ask my son, the preschool teacher and my babysitter how things were going. It worked out so well, that even though my son is done with preschool and her children is done with preschool, I believe she is going to help with my daughter's transportation next year.

Another thought is with the preschool itself. My son went to a preschool at a church and they had volunteers. One of the volunteers was my son's teacher's mother. They were available for arrangements. I never did this so I don't know what the deal was, but it is a thought.

My kids go to a long daycare centre with a certified preschool program. It is a not-for-profit, Christian-based centre (we're not Christian, but I don't mind a bit of god now and then) which means that all profits are channelled back into the centre and not into shareholder's bank accounts. I love it. The teachers are wonderful, the facilities are superb, and my kids think it's great (most of the time). I drop them off around 8.15 am and pick them up around 5.30 pm. I think there's lots of places around that have long hours for preschool.

I work 8:30-4:30. I only work about 10 minutes from my house. So I would go to work for 45 minutes leave & pick him up from my house (my MIL watched him) & take him to school right by our house. When school was over I would do the same thing. My work allowed me to use my lunch "hour".

In my child care years I often went and picked up kids from half day preschool and half day kindergarten in my car. It was cheaper and I was the only center in town willing to do the half day. I still got a full day pay for each of the kids due to them being in the center's care for over 4 hours.

If you look around you should find a home child care center or child care center that will pick them up. Otherwise you may just have to skip it and let them stay with their regular care giver. Not every child goes to pre-k. Some just start Kindergarten right off and they do fine too.

Day cares like Goddard, Kinder Care and others like that are also preschools, so the kids attend while on day care with day care hours that accommodates parents with regular working hours.
My eldest graduated preschool from Goddard and although he was happy there (and so was I), sometimes I feel the academic part could've been improved. Another friend changed her son to Kinder Care for the second year of preschool for that reason and said she liked it better (in terms of academics, not necessarily the day care setting).
Good luck, I hope you find the best option for you and your child.