Ok...Where is the free preschool?

mckayleesmom wrote: That is the one Im going to need by the looks of these prices. I better start saving now or sell an organ.

A&A'smommy replied: umm free preschools?? is there such a thing... I know our public school preschool is REALLY expensive because its volunteer and its not funded by the city... I think!! Anyway good luck!!

mckayleesmom replied:
I doubt there is such a thing, but I can hope right? At these rates...I will have to go back to work just to put Mckaylee in preschool.

C&K*s Mommie replied: I hope you understood those links, Brianne. I call them schools, but they are really daycares maybe some schools too, I did not look at the list too much, that offer Voluntary Universal Pre-K here in Florida.

Here in Florida, we have the option of sending a 4 y/o to a place that offers free pre-k. The same rules apply for the VPK (or VUPK) as with public schools. There is a birthday cutoff of Sept 1st of that yr. That is why we are sending Christian (who is 3 and will be until Nov) to private school for her pre-k experience. It will give her a head start on the kindergarten by a year and some months.

Here is a link explaining it a little more: Florida VPK

mckayleesmom replied: Well...Mckaylee will be 4 on April 22nd...So I want to start her the following enrollement. She will be almost 5 and a half when she starts kindergarden.

Its all so confusing it makes my head spin.

C&K*s Mommie replied: oh and Brianne, the $3-$4000 was for private schools for 3y/o's, not the public pre-k's which is free for 4 y/o's.

Sorry for any confusion.

mckayleesmom replied:
Yes...I understood that..I was just browsing around the private schools to see if I liked any of them...and they all look great, but I could never find the tuition prices.

Also, if we decide to send her to private prek...then I am the type of person that likes to have the tuition paid for up front...Does that make sense? If anything came up, at least her tuition would be taken care of. I just like to be prepared.

mckayleesmom replied: Another thing...I think I might get some homeschooling books to work with her this year before she starts prek....She really needs to learn to focus....

kit_kats_mom replied: This is what I've found out. No specifics but some vague info that may help. VPK (must be 4 on or before 9/1/06) stands for voluntary pre-k. It's hard to get into the fully free ones since it's basically free daycare and people rush it. I overheard that you can get a voucher for $2600 for a student to attend vpk. Most programs are only 3 hours per day. Anything over that, you have to pay for. So if you get the voucher, and the pre k you choose accepts it, you just have to pay anything over the 2600 they charge. Does that make sense?

K's preschool doesn't accept the vouchers.

I don't understand why it all has to be so confusing. For someone like me with no friends who have kids in the public school system around here, it's a nightmare trying to piece all of the info together.

kit_kats_mom replied: I got some homeschool books from Sams. Cheap and K loves them. She works in her books while I cook dinners and lunches.

Hillbilly Housewife replied:
I get the really cheap packages at the dollar store... 3 small books of connect the dots, matching pictures and stuff like that... Zach and Emilie both go through them like a fat kid on cake...

amynicole21 replied: Next year pre-k won't be voluntary anymore from what I understand. All 4yos will go. That's what we voted for in the last election.

C&K*s Mommie replied: That is good info to know Amy & Cary. Around here though, there are numerous daycares that I pass that always have "accepting VPK" or "Free VPK here" out on their signs, and in ads in the local parenting newsletter.


There is a great place here in town to get alot of teaching material, parents and teachers shop there. I got my nephews some things, but I have ended up using them for C since they are so good. I can pass along the info if you want.

mckayleesmom replied:
Im so glad I am not the only one ....The whole thing makes my head spin.

Kaitlin'smom replied: mine two, and I dont live in FL

I did talk to my sister and it looks like Kait can got to 1st grade earlier than I thought. She will be able to transition to Kindergarden in her current school when she is 5 and finsh in spring. As long as she is ready she can start 1st that fall she woudl then turn 6 in 1st. However if she is not ready they do have a program called early 5's (or we say Kindergarden part 2 ) So now I know I have to move if I want her to go to that school system by summer of 08. basically 2 years.

mckayleesmom replied:
Mckaylee was born in April...so she will be starting Kindergarden a little shy of 5 and a half.....So I think that is good that she will be a tad bit older then 5.

Kaitlin'smom replied:
ya I was originally thinking (before she started Goddard) that she would be 5.8 when she statred Kindergarden and trun 6 while there. If she is reasy I want to keep thepace going for her so she does not get board in school, but if she is not ready to move from Kindergarden to 1st I have no problem with that.

Boo&BugsMom replied: Usually public school pre-k is free, but it all depends on if it's funded, how much it's funded, and their enrollment is limited just like anywhere else. All other pre-k programs you have to pay for. If you have a voucher program in your state, USE IT! We don't, which sucks. This means they put a "price" on your child and that money goes with your child wherever you decide to take him/her.

Also, usually the public school pre-k's that are free are only half day (not all, but most). So, for working parents, the child still has to go to a childcare the rest of the day. Hence, not really making it free anymore. At least this is what our lovely state is like. If yours is not, be thankful! Usually WI is great about education, but there are a few things that get steaming about our system.

To be honest, money aside, most private childcare's and preschools do a much better job at teaching the academics than public schools do, in my opinion. Smaller class sizes, individualized attention, and less behavioral problems. But thats just from my experiences in the last 7 years. In all, just check out the school thouroughly to make sure it's a good fit for our child.

Boo&BugsMom replied: Here are a few websites for educational ideas and activities if anyone is interested:
www.littlegiraffes.com
www.prekfun.com
www.123child.com
www.atozteacherstuff.com
www.everythingpreschool.com
www.firstschool.com
www.beginningreading.com
www.handwritingforkids.com
www.handwritingworksheets.com
www.hubbardscupboard.com
www.humingbirded.com
www.janbrett.com
www.kizclub.com
www.preschooleducation.com
www.learningpage.com

holley79 replied: I know some of the day care centers offer Free VPK. You can check into them. Hope you find something.

coasterqueen replied:
A lot of at-home sitters are now providing preschool lessons too. Our sitter orders a preschool program online that is excellent IMO. We get newsletters and things to work on with our kids as well as what they work on there at the sitter. Since there are only a few kids there is a lot more one on one time and she can taylor discussions to each kids needs.

Tannersbugmom - I agree large public school systems are terrible and therefore larger classes, etc. But there are a lot of small public school districts out there where the class sizes are very small, hence a better environment.

Does no one on this board belong to a small public school district? I read how public school systems in different areas are terrible. I guess I'm fortunate that we planted ourselves somewhere in a very small school district that is good. We aren't the best. There is one small school district better than ours (meaning richer, therefore offering more types of classes) but our district is growing slower than theirs, which is a good thing.

I couldn't imagine living in an area where the public school district is so terrible, but I guess that's why we carefully chose where we were going to live thinking about the school district as well.

C&K*s Mommie replied: I do not think we do, in comparison. Most of the class sizes were always 20/22 at the most.

We do have excellent (according the the FCAT evaluations & just word of mouth) schools here. None of which would be in our school district, although I am not positive if there is a loophole and we could obtain vouchers. If there is a way to have our girls go to those A+ schools, than that will be something to ponder down the line, between retaining the girls in private or transferring over to public schools.

coasterqueen replied:
I think I have a lot to learn. I don't understand vouchers, have no clue if our school accepts them or what.

I know when I was a kid I grew up "in town" and that is the biggest public school system here. Then there are surrounding small towns with school districts (we call them "out of town" ). My dad swore I'd never go to highschool in the school system we were in, he would move us out to one of the smaller ones (better ones) no matter what the cost or mileage was. And he kept that promise. So I've always gone to school in the district we lived. I did go to a private preschool in the district we lived in, only because it was a preschool near where my mom worked and we didn't have a car, so it worked out well for transportation wise.
I know you have to pay big bucks to go to the private schools here in town, but I don't know about public systems and vouchers and stuff. Guess I need to start investigating to so I go into our district with my eyes wide open.

Boo&BugsMom replied: Karen, we belong to a large PS system (about 15 elem. schools). My hubby's hometown is very small (one building for the elem., middle, and high school). Sadly though, my SIL (who lives there) told me that they did more for her daughter at the local daycare than the PS pre-K program did. I think it depends on the district. I do agree though that small town schools are better in comparison to the larger ones, mostly due to the smaller class sizes. Some are wonderful, but most I have seen, are pretty sad lately. What's even more sad, is that there are some wonderful teachers in the PS, but a teacher can sometimes only be as good as the district will let them be. I'm not sure how to explain that, but with all the NCLB and paperwork they have to do, some really great teachers get burnt out so quickly.

coasterqueen replied:
Yeah around here the richer the school district (usually the small ones) the better off they are. It should be, our property taxes are astronomical around here.

Suprisingly around here more teachers complain about no leeway in the private school districts because they don't need to have as much training, therefore a lot of times not as good as they should be and are paid a lot less than the public school teachers are. One of my friends is a private school teacher and will admit she is so underqualified for the job. She didn't need as much training as if she would have gone for a public school job and that's why she did. Her pay stinks too.

Isn't weird how one area can be so different than another?

That being said our bigger school district with many schools for each grade levels sucks - the pay that is and a lot of the teachers aren't great either. BUT that is because they have so many lower income families and therefore not as much tax money to fund the district.

Our school district doesn't have Section 8, public assistance, etc so they rely less on the state for funding and moreso on the rich taxpayers living here. BTW, I'm not one of those rich ones.

coasterqueen replied: Is anyone else from IL reading this? I'm curious what it's like in your area. Although the Chicago/burbs is so diverse I'm sure it could be really different in each place.

My3LilMonkeys replied:
We aren't even thinking about preK yet because the girls are too young, but we picked to live in the school district we do because it is the best in our area. It is relatively small (average graduating class in the last 5 years was 200 students) and has a great reputation.

We do pay for it though - property taxes are nearly double what my mom pays 15 miles away.

kit_kats_mom replied: from what I understand, the free pre-k is only from (I think) 9-12 M-F. You can do other hours but you have to pay for them.

Maddie&EthansMom replied:
You are very fortunate. Scotty attended a small public school and hated it..got a horrible education. I attended a larger public school and I won't even go into what I think about the school district in my hometown. The town we live in now is growing by leaps and bounds. I *hear* the public schools are fine here and I think they are okay for anyone who wants to put their children in a public school. They come highly suggested by others in the area...that is one of the selling points on our rapidly growing city (fastest growing city in the US last year). We just added our THIRD high school...it will open next week. I'm not sticking my child in that mix. Not unless I have to (God forbid.) Our decision for a private school was based on our history in the public schools, our desire to have our children in a faith based program and to put our children in a college prep school.

But yeah, we didn't like the larger schools and didn't have good experience with the smaller ones. I don't know of any small towns around here whose districts have a good reputation. It's so sad.

Oh yeah, and property taxes here are outrageous.


Brianne, I hope you are able to find something for McKaylee. I know how frustrating it is. We went thru the same thing when we moved here. Just keep your eyes and ears open. You will meet lots of people with information (and they will be more than willing to share.) This all makes my head spin, too. Good luck.

coasterqueen replied:
200? OMG that is HUGE for our school district. It was class size of 59 when we graduated. I think it's about 100...maybe 150 but that's stretching it. I think I'd freak out with anything more than 100....big class size in college freaked me out.

coasterqueen replied:
Yes, we feel very fortunate to have had the schooling we did. I thank my father all the time for moving me out of that mess school district we were in. Our district has 1 gradeschool, 1 middle school, and 1 highschool. That's it and that's all it will ever have. there has always been a threat to combine w/another school district but it has never happened since i was a kid. If that happens we'll move her out of the district. The good thing for us is our families grew up in this school district and some have taught in it, we grew up in it, a lot of the people we went to school with now teach there (they like to hire past grads) and our kids will hopefully go there and be taught by those we grew up with. Weird thing is our kids will have some of the same teachers we did.

Boo&BugsMom replied: My niece's class is 3 students right now. That's so Little House on the Prarie, I love it! I don't know about "that" small though. You can't really choose your friends, and what if the other two are bad news? She had this situation this last year when she got mixed up with a guy and her mom ended up homeschooling her last year. That aside though, I would love that Little House type class feel.

coasterqueen replied:
You are funny. Nah, I wouldn't want it that small either, but I'm a freak for the whole Little House on the Prairie type atmosphere. I love going to old old abandoned schools from those times and just sitting on the bench in that one room school and imagining what it was like then.