Pre-K Program in Northern(ish) Seattle. Halp?! (Pacific, St. John: co-op, daycare)

[slomodove]

Hello!

I will be moving to Seattle in five weeks, and my four-year old son will be following in September. I will be living in the northernly Seattle area (Green Lake, Ravenna, Wedgwood, that general vicinity). I am moving from a town where the selection of preschool programs totals out at four and can be identified as "the creepy one in a furniture store, the one where the ritzy kids go, that one in that one place, and the one my kid used to go to where they sent him home with a dead fish in a Pepsi bottle." I am getting lost trying to research programs for my son and am also heartily nervous about moving from a metropolitan area of roughly 60k to a city of quite a few more.

If anyone could throw out some recommendations, or even resource websites that are reliable, I would be most appreciative!

Thank you muchly for any help!

-Lisa

[evergreentori]

Are you looking for full-time care or part-time (few hours a day)? Full time care can fill up very quickly. I tried to find full-time care for my son last year and ended up having to move to a suburb - I just couldn't find anything without wait lists in Northern Seattle.

[evergreentori]

Here are some of the preschools that I looked into b/c I had heard good things about them:

Pacific Crest Montessori
St. John Catholic School
Seattle Waldorf - you have to be into the Waldorf theory for this
Agape Childcare Center
Interlake Child Care/Preschool
Green Lake Preschool
Pike Market Preschool (central)
Kidspace Daycare (13th Ave West site)

If you only need part-time, I would look into a Co-Op Preschool. I had a really good experience and met a lot of other moms that way before I needed to put my son in full-time care. Phinney Ridge has a co-op preschool program.

Good luck!