How old does a child have to be in Pre K? (low income, daycare)

[BirdieBelle]

I sent three kids through Brentwood Methodist Day School. It is an accredited preschool that runs from 9:30 - 2:30. Tuition varies per number of days you attend, but it is listed here:

Day School

I'm waiting to hear from a friend about Otter Creek.

[brentwoodgirl]

Unless Otter Creek has gone up significantly over the past few years, it should be about $4,000 per year.

[brentwoodgirl]

I have one at East Brentwood Presbyterian and we love that program. The 3 programs that seem to get the most "good press" from moms in Brentwood are East Brentwood Pres., BUMC (link above in wmsn's post) and Brentwood Baptist.
Otter Creek is almost impossible to get into before Kindergarten unless you are a church member. The Kindergarten program has more spots since some of the preschool children leave to go to their chosen schools that year. We applied for several years but didn't get in until Kindergarten.

Brentwood Baptist is a first come, first serve school for the general public (after siblings and church members) and I have heard stories of mom's spending the night there waiting for a spot. Which I absolutely refuse to do for a 10 hours a week preschool. Brentwood Methodist is also pretty tough- maybe wmsn can tell us more about the process. We are friends with one of their preschool teachers and she brought me an application when I was pregnant. She told me I should just fill it out as "baby smith" since we didn't know what we were having. She said lots of people apply there while their child is still in the womb.

EBPC fills their non-church member spots through lottery.

I have also heard good things about Judson Baptist. Several BUMC members we know sent their children to Judson when they couldn't get them into the BUMC program.

[BirdieBelle]

Yes, I signed up my kids when I was pregnant.
They are hard to get into because there are only a few spots. It is easier to get in during the younger ages (infant and 1- or 2-year-olds) because most people wait until their child is 3 to enroll and then the spots fill up quick.

I also have heard good things about Judson.

Otter Creek is probably comparable to BUMC in price. They just started construction on a new preschool building behind their facility on Franklin Road, so they may enlarge the classes a little bit.

[brentwoodgirl]

Otter Creek is building a new building to be able to move the Kindergarten program to their Brentwood location. After they bought the old Brentwood Baptist building they found out they couldn't move their Kindergarten program into that building. Apparently there are different codes for Kindergartens than preschools- I think it was something about earthquake codes. So they had to leave their preschool and Kindergarten programs at the old location in Oak Hill.
They have been raising money for 5 years to build that building. It's why they started the consignment sales, they wanted to build it without debt. I don't think they are expanding the program, just building the Kindergarten bulding so they can move everyone together to Brentwood.

They talked about disbanding the K program, but so many families wanted them to keep it that they decided to build a new building and keep it. Some of the OC teachers went to Otter Creek when they were in K, and there were families in our class where the parents had graduated from there 30 years ago. It is a very sweet little school.

[BirdieBelle]

Current tuition at Otter Creek:

2-day/$200/month
3-day/$280/month
5-day Kindergarten/$370/month

Fall registration is in Jan/Feb.

[disneybelle73]

Originally Posted by logluqu

At what age does a child have to be to attend pre kindergarten in an elementary school such as Kenrose? My son will be 4 in August....can he attend an elementary school kindergarten or do I have to put him in a YMCA?
In Canada our school system is different, if a child is 4 before dec 31st they can start what is called Junior Kindergarten...then Senior K at age 5...grade one at age 6.
Thank-you!

I don't know about Kenrose. However, my child is in Pre- K at a Catholic school in Nashville and had to be 4 by Sept.1 2010.

[HastingsJD]

Thanks all for the great info! We're visiting in February so hopefully we can stop by some of these and take a quick peak :-)

Very happy to hear the prices - preschool here is $900-$1000 per month!!! (and these are normal preschools - not some fancy pants hoity toity preschool school.)

[logluqu]

O,K are you serious about the Pre kindergarten being only for the underpriviledged? What do people do with a four year old then? I will not hold my child back, I want him to socialize with other children and get comfortable with a routine. Should I be looking into a ymca instead? Private preschool?

[BirdieBelle]

It's not necessarily for underprivileged. The pre-K at Kenrose is for special-needs kids who have to test to get in. Other elementary schools offer pre-K, and priority is given to underprivileged and ESL students, but it is open-zoned for all residents. That means you would provide your own transportation. Here is a link to the contact person and schools that have pre-K in Williamson County.
http://www.wcs.edu/Pre_K/pre_k.htm
Otherwise, you will need to find a private preschool, such as the ones mentioned in this thread. The Brentwood YMCA operates a preschool also, though it is not cheap. The problem is that they all are competitive to get into because there are so many people who want the same thing you want.