I fall into that lovely group who doesn't qualify for Head Start Preschool, but can't afford to pay up the wahoo for preschool either. We want to send our son to a preschool that does a three half day program for a reasonable tuition and that doesn't have a "must-be-potty-trained" mandate (I mean, really, how do I know right now when exactly he will be potty trained - he just turned two!) I also want a place that will be reasonable to get him into - not a place where he has to be on a wait list for 8000 years :) Any advice?
Del Rey Hills Church has a wonderful preschool. I have included the links to the general school information as well as a link to the tuition rates. They are located in Playa del Rey adjacent to Westchester. Here is the contact info:
Tel: ###-###-####
Fax: ###-###-####
8505 Saran Drive
Playa del Rey, CA 90293
http://delreychurch.com/preschool/information.html
http://delreychurch.com/preschool/information/pdf/tuition...
I joined a small co-op for both my kids in the years before they started kindergarten. The first year was the best we had a small group of 6 moms and used the Joy School curriculum from valuesparenting.com. I LOVED it! And my daughter (3 turning 4) LOVED it! Every 6 weeks I would be the teacher and have all the kids to our house. We just did 2 days a week though. It was wonderful and very affordable and I really loved the lessons.
Then we moved and I was able to find 3 other moms but they opted to make up their own curriculum and just base the activities and lessons on whatever they chose. I stuck with these moms for my son too. This method worked too, but I feel like my second child missed out on the rich values lessons that my first got. It was cheaper though.
Hi D. -
Check out La Playa in Culver City. They are open 5 days/week, half-day, VERY reasonable, and your child does not have to be potty trained. My daughter went there and it was wonderful. The same teachers are there now and I loved both of them to bits.
The school is a co-op, which is why it's so inexpensive. Every parent needs to be involved. You can indicate your best day of the week and you put in your time helping at the school. You'll make wonderful friends and be a part of this important time in your child's life. You'll learn a lot yourself and have fun along the way, even while working. I highly recommend it!
Here's a link to their website:
http://www.laplayacooperative.com/
All the best,
Colleen
My son is in LaPlaya Cooperative Nursery School in Culver City at Lindberg Park. I had a list of preschools some of which were the must be potty trained variety. I had another list of schools that did not require potty training. LaPlaya does not require potty training and that is a huge reason we chose it. It is a cooperative so one parent works at the school on one of your childs days. It is a nice set-up and I have enjoyed getting to know the parents of the other kids. The teachers are very focused on teaching the parents how to navigate the preschool years. They have some great teaching methods to which my child has responded well. You can check out their website: www.laplayacoperative.com The phone number is ###-###-####. Good luck finding the right school for your child.
I do not know exactly where you are but I would look in to church preschools and co ops. We had the same issue, we had moved from Texas and preschool prices here are just crazy! I only work part time so I was abl;e to do a co op. I went to South Bay Adult School and they had a great preschool program. My son was in a 5 day a week program (prek) and I had to work 1 day (or my babysitter)and we paid about $500 3 times during the whole year. the 3 day program was 300 3 times a year.
We go to Beginnings Learning Center on 19th and Broadway in Santa Monica.
The director is Michelle Raz ###-###-####.
Don't need to be potty trained.
Start taking children at 18 months.
We started our daughter right at 2 years and they helped to potty train her and by 2 yr 4 mo she was "trained."
Tell them M. O. sent you!
