Looking for a Recommendation for Preschools

My daughter attended preschool at Singing Hills Elementary. It is off of Singing Hills Road and part of Elizabeth School District. We loved it there! The teachers are really good and the curriculum is great. Due to her other preschool closing late in the year we were on wait lists at all the other local Parker schools but were able to get into Singing Hills without any trouble. It's considerably less expensive than the Douglas County and/or Parker schools too. Depending on what area of Parker you are in, the drive could get to be a bit much. It was about 10 minutes one way for me. Anyway, best of luck with your search! If you would like any more info feel free to email me. :-)

Hi~ I have a daughter that is finishing her second year in the Douglas County Preschools and having spoken with several other Moms (also attending the MOMS Club of Parker West preschool fair in January) I would/should have taken her out of Douglas County and placed her in PEPC. The program is longer (9-1?) vs. 2 1/2 hrs at DC. Also, my friend's kids are writing sentences on lines and my daughter is still working on her name. DC says they only go so far because it will come when it is important and meaningful to the kids but I think that they just have their hands full. However, I LOVE my daughter's teachers they really work incredibly hard! My friend also had her daughter in DC last year and her son this year and she is putting him in PEPC next year. I agree with the last gal ~ stay away from Sunshine. I walked into a classroom there and wasn't noticed or acknowledged for several minutes, (certainly long enough for something bad to happen) the teachers for that room were in a back room and the classroom was unattended. Also, I have heard some other pretty bad things about that place. The director/owner has yelled at moms and she could not carry on a conversation with me, she seems extremely nervous and could even complete coherent thoughts! She told me she gets nervous talking to parents, so I asked around and was told that she is ok with the kids but what if my daughter has a problem we have to work together on???
Other than that, I haven't visited or seen a program in Parker that I wouldn't send my daughter to.
ALSO, you need to sign up NOW for the fall. Some programs are ready filling up! PEPC is enrolling now and DC is soon (I am not sure when their open lotto is but I am pretty sure it is in March) you can go to the Douglas County schools website and they have info there.
Good luck!

I think the Douglas County Preschools are good. Two downsides are they put you through a lottery and you may not get into your home school or near your home. The other is it looks like your son will have his birthday in June??? If for some reason you felt he would benefit from an extra year of preschool and you wanted him to start late the district will refuse your son into the program if he is five and tell you he needs to go to kindergarten based on chronology and not his level of development/social maturity. (This was of importance to me as I have two August babies and felt it was best to keep them back.)

The Edinborough School is a private school---the teacher does it out of her home in Rowley Downs and is currently accepting enrollment. She will only be doing all day next year. She used to teach in the Douglas County School District so she is familiar with what's expected for the kids to start kindergarten. She bases her philosophy on the Reggio-Emilia style.

I have heard good things and toured the Renaissance Montessori Academy. I was impressed with what they had to offer. You have to sign up for a minimum of 4 days a week but you have the option of full or half day.

Sunshine has the reputation of teaching with worksheets, I have been told. I have never actually toured the school (just popped in to get some info) but other teachers I trust have informed me the kids are mostly drilled with worksheets. I know some of the kids' parents are teachers and would question their qualifications.

I know a lot of the churches have preschools. I have heard good things about the school at both Joy Lutheran and Trinity Lutheran. Southeast Christian opinions from parents were mixed to negative feeling the program didn't prepare their children well. I know nothing of the PEPC church next to the Ave Maria Catholic church and I don't know if Ave Maria offers PreK.

Hope this helps. I would put Douglas County at the top---they usually have a teacher, an assistant, speech pathologist, occupational therapist and a psychologist regularly in the classroom and if there were any questions surrounding your son's development they would help identify that earlier rather than later. The ratio some days with all these people brings it to 3 kids:1 teacher. If you were interested in knowing more about Edinborough let me know and I can forward that on---I would recommend Edinborough. Just google Renaissance Montessori Parker and that will take you to their website---haven't actually attended there but was impressed.

Best wishes.

Hi A.
My name is R. I work for a wonderful Preschool. It is called Sunshine Preschool and Child care. We are located on Parker Rd and Plaza just behind Bagel Stop. We offer Child Care, Preschool, and Pre-K . All the teachers are wonderful and the child care staff is loving and fun. I have been there since Aug. 2007. My daughter goes there and this Aug will be starting Preschool . We offer a lot of options for preschool classes. if interested the director is Lori Ferguson and the Assistant for Child care is Laura Hartley she is the one you would most likely talk to. We are also offering a Summer program and that is lots of fun we have water day, bike day , firefighters come and talk to the kids, we have channel 9 news come and talk to them and Zoo personnel bring in different animals to show the kids. As far as prices we are the best priced center you will find. Trust me before I started there they were the only preschool I could afford. If interested the number is ###-###-#### ask for Laura or Melony. Hope to see you there. If not good luck in your search.
R.

Hi A.,

My kids go to Little Blessing Preschool at the Parker United Methodist church, and I have been very happy with their experience there. The staff and teachers are wonderful, providing my kids with lots of fun and educational experiences. My boys love going to preschool! Here's a link to their website: http://www.parkerumc.org/app/w_page.php?id=11&type=se...

They are currently enrolling for next fall. Good luck!

We live in Parker, but our son wernt to preschool at Belles and Beaus Academy in Englewood (Havana and Arapahoe). I LOVE THIS SCHOOL. He's outgrown it now, but you should look into it. The teachers are fabulous, the kids are challenged and encouraged, and we never had any problems with it.

I know this is probably tough for you. Best to you.

Both my boys went to Sunshine Preschool in Parker and I now work there as the Assistant Director. I'm a little surprised to hear some negative things (Sunshine won Parker's 'Best of the Best' preschool for 2005 and 2007!) but everyone looks for different things in a school.

To clarify however, the teachers are highly qualified. Several have bachelor's degrees in Education and all attend a minimum of 15 continuing education hours in Early Childhood Education per year. The owner and myself are both Director Qualified by the state (24 semester hours in Early Childhood Education and minimum of 2 years of work experience).

The school itself has been operating in Parker for over 10 years and has been in it's current location for 7 years. The owner of Sunshine has over 13 years experience working in preschool and she taught both my boys. My 7 year old now attends North Star Academy and has done very well, in part I'm sure because of the great preschool education he received at Sunshine.

The curriculum at Sunshine is Core Knowledge Friendly (a great plus if you are considering a charter school after preschool) and all classes teach Spanish and sign language. The children do one worksheet daily to practice their writing, this is about 10 minutes of a 2 1/2 - 5 hour day so I would hardly say the curriculum is "worksheet based" as someone stated.

The nice thing about Parker is there are many, many amazing schools to pick from. There are several excellent Christian preschools, two preschools that I know of that offer Montessori programs, and some good programs that go through Douglas County Schools. As far as I know, Sunshine is the only Core Knowledge Friendly school in Parker.

The best way to decide is to visit the schools yourself and decide which is the best fit for you and your family. All licensed schools required background checks on their employees and you can also call the Division of Childcare to make sure the school's licenses are in good standing.

After a tour and meeting with the staff, you'll get a gut feeling about which program is the best fit for your child. Best of luck in your search, I'm sure you'll find a wonderful school for your son!

Hi A. -

I had a terrific experience at Southeast Christian pre-school. My oldest attended from 18mos to pre-k. My other child will be eligible in a year. The teachers are all terrific and well-qualified teachers. My son started kinergarten a month after turning 5 as was well on track with the 6-yr olds in his class. My sis is a kinder teacher in TX and she was very impressed when she visited his classroom and observed how the teachers worked with the kids.

SECS does complete background checks on all their employees which was important to me. They also have excellent security protocols at the church/school to make sure that only teachers and parents have access to classroom areas during the schoolday. I guess the first question would be if you want a Christian pre-school or a secular one. SECS offers 2/3/5 day programs. The cost is comparable to other pre-schools.

You may also check with the elementary school your child is slated to attend. Many have pre-schools set up. I also just found out that Lifetime Fitness has a pre-school although I haven't checked it out yet.

My youngest son is 23 months and I am a 42yo sahm - email me if you would ever like to meet at Challenger Park for a playdate!