Preschool in Shawnee Mission/OP area? (Goddard, Hope: credit, daycares, price)

[travveller]

We just moved to Mission, and need to find a good preschool for my 4 year-old daughter. We strongly prefer one that's not affiliated with a church. (We're UU's.)

We already saw the Goddard School, but think it may be out of our price range. We don't want to pay more than $400 a month. Also, we're looking for a preschool, NOT a daycare. Only a few hours, a few days a week.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We've only been in town for 3 days, but fear we may already be too late to find an opening for her.

[Lil Jhwk]

Not all places are daycares. I'm a toddler teacher out here in San Diego. A lot of parents are mistaken that if the facility isn't the top of the line then it must be a daycare? Did you actually check to see what they do for their curriculum? Did you look around to see if the quality of the center was to your liking? Check for centers that are NAEYC accredited. Usually they have some of the best ratios and curriculum. Even though I work with toddlers, it doesn't mean I'm just babysitting. We introduce their basics. We do color matching, we work on fine motor skills (writing, cutting, lacing, stringing beads), we have circle time, we do sensory, large motor. We potty train as well. Make sure to ask questions about the facility. Their schedule, their curriculum goals, their ratios. Take a look in the classrooms, observe the teachers without them knowing you're there so you can get an actual idea on how they treat the kids and teach them. Hope this helps somewhat. How old is your daughter? I have a preschool in mind but not sure what the tuition is.