Preschool (Grapevine, Frisco, Keller: chapel, credit, day cares)

[khaki333]

We will be moving to the Colleyville/Southlake/Grapevine area this summer. From what I hear I need to sign my son up for preschool now, however I have no idea what the good schools are in this area. He will be 3 in August and I'm looking for a part-time program. Does anyone have any experience of knowledge of the programs?

[socketz]

I've looked in Frisco and Mckinney for such and end up always being pointed back here: http://www.primroseschools.com/

It appears that the public schools do not offer Pre-k, but the private Christan schools do....but there is a waiting list in most. You need to pick an area then start calling around to a few of the churches if this is the route you want to take.

[stargazer]

There are day cares that have pre schools here and then churches that do pre school too. I would make sure that the program is certified and accredited. I would not put my child in a program if they aren't certified and don't have strict policies on children who constantly bite, hit and are a handful. If a church school will not have those sort of policies, then anything can happen. I know from personal experience. I had my son in a huge denominations pre school. They had a brand new facility with bronzes of children on the outside of the building, 2 indoor playgrounds with that material you see at new malls today in the play areas. They also had fabulous class rooms and I felt sometimes I was walking into a spa just in the foyer by looking at the pretty cream tile and the nice chairs everywhere. I never got a note home of what was going in class and had to hear about the day from my child. My child would tell me about this certain child and his buddy and how they would HURT him. So I talked to the teacher and went in and observed. I could not believe what I saw. I saw a little boy out of control. The whole time we were there( hour) he could not sit still. He would constantly mess with other kids and get in their personal space. Get nose to nose and eye to eye and try to stare them down. He did this all with a big smile on his face. Just that alone I knew what was going on because of my own experience of growing up with a brother who is ADHD. It got worse, in music, he crossed a sea of children sitting on the floor and then went over and pinned my son to the ground like a wrestler and then was in denial about the whole thing. I was told prior to that as the kids were going to music all it was , was rambuncious boy behavior and that he must have eaten a donut. She told me she did agree he could have ADHD. Well I rejoined the kids and that is when I witnessed him pinning my son down. After that they went back to their classroom and were cutting wheat to paste on construction paper. This child runs the length of the classroom and a little girl who happened to be on an end of a table in his way, just cutting away, he comes up from behind and puts his hands forward and starts to choke her. The teacher comes and takes him off of her. I was just flabbergasted. The next school day my husband goes up to school and the director told him that our child needed to hold his own with this child. I could not believe my ears and I felt I was being made out to be some sort of over protective mom. That was it, they weren't pulling the child out ( his buddy was ok once he was seperated from each other) and knew we had too. We left and went to another preschool which is tons better because of the certification and that fact they have polices that will not allow children to stay in who constantly disrupts the class and causes a potential threat or harming to other children. My child is doing great and we love it there. It isn't as fancy as the other place but it is clean and the most important part, my child is safe.

[blessed02]

Personally, I would start by finding out what preschool programs near you are accredited by the NAEYC.

http://www.naeyc.org/academy/web_ready/search/ (broken link)

From there, you probably want to make a decision on whether you want any particular types of programs (Montessori, cooperative, any specific religion-based) and then give them a call to find out about their child development philosophy.

Some of the neighborhood moms' associations may keeps lists of recommendations or reviews or members' preschool selections. There's a Grapevine Colleyville Moms League: http://gcsmomsleague.org/

[khaki333]

I went to the NAEYC website and was surprised to see so few preschools were accredited? Is this the norm? There seems to be a lot of preschools in the area. Does anyone have experience with any preschools in this area?

[socketz]

There are almost no schools accredited on this site for the area I'm moving to....and one of them is the Collin County Community College Campus.

What gives ? There are tons of preschools in the area, but none of them have decided to become accredited ?

[blessed02]

This is an excerpt from the Feb 2007 Parents magazine. I was unaware that such a small number of preschools were accredited.

6. How do I choose the right preschool?

Research, research, research. First, decide on location (close to work or home?) and hours (half-day, two or three days a week, full-time?). There are programs at private schools, daycare centers, religious institutions (like synagogues and churches), state-funded schools, and cooperatives run by parents. Start by asking for recommendations from other moms. Next, check whether the schools are state-licensed, which ensures the facility meets safety requirements and has adequate staffing (visit naccrra.org). Many states exempt religious-based preschools from all or some requirements -- although many meet these standards anyway.

The gold standard of approval is accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. NAEYC carefully evaluates schools and childcare centers based on curriculum, teacher qualifications, class size, and health and safety standards; only about 8 percent of U.S. preschools are currently accredited. (Search for NAEYC-accredited preschools near you at rightchoiceforkids.org.)


There really aren't any regulated or required standards for preschools, beyond what the states set as far as minimum safety and health. The NAEYC is a voluntary accreditation that is VERY rigorous, extremely well-respected, and provides one of the only formal outside evaluations of early childhood education programs. There are a lot of childcare/preschool programs out there, but there isn't very much accountability or standard of quality for them, outside of the NAEYC.

[skyblu]

Check out Barbara Gordon Montessori (www.bgordonmontessori.com) (broken link), my stepsister's children attend and they love it. Also, look into Reading Friends Preschool (www.readingfriends.org) (broken link). In Grapevine, the First United Methodist Church has a program; I think it is a Mother's Day Out, and so does White's Chapel Methodist Church in Southlake. Hopefully, that will get you started.

[cheryl hendelson]

Is there any jewish temples, preschool, synagogues in Keller, Grapevine, Southlake?

[jtrichel]

Assuming that you want to stay in the Colleyville area, I highly recommend Barbara Gordon. Our son went there and it was a very good experience for him and for us. Its the only AMI accredited montessori program in the area if I recall.