Finding a Great Preschool for Your Child

All parents are invested in finding a good school for their children, since a good education is the key to any child’s future success. So, when a family moves to a new city or county or when the child becomes old enough for school, the parents may enter an online search for “coral gables preschool” or “private schools in coral gables,” for example, should they move to Coral Gables in Florida. But even a fairly specific search such as “coral gables preschool” can be honed further to find exactly the right kind of school that the parents want for their child, and they can add their ZIP code to “coral gables preschool” or “private” to find private schools only. What should the family look for in a preschool, and how can this strategy be used to find elementary or middle schools, too?

Finding Preschools

While it is not mandatory for American children to attend preschool, many parents are sending their children aged three to five to these pre-K programs all the same, more than ever. From 1990 to 2000, in particular, the rate of preschool attendance grew rapidly among households of all different backgrounds. Preschool, as opposed to a day care, is an academic setting, and this can help prepare a young student for kindergarten. There, a young student may learn how to learn, meet their fellow students, and get used to following directions from adults who are not their parents. If the parents do not already know a good preschool to send their child to, they can look up those schools online, and they might find quite a few.

To narrow down the list, the parents may specify their city name, such as “coral gables preschool”, and enter their ZIP code to keep the results even more local. Not only that, but the parents might also search in particular for private preschools or public ones, and they can also search for the “best” or “top rated” schools and avoid the lowest-rated ones. A private preschool will charge tuition, unlike a public one, but these preschools are often well funded and privately run, and they offer expert staff and may provide an excellent education for the young students there.

Once the parents find a list of preschools and narrow it down to the best candidates, the family may now start touring those schools in person to make a fair evaluation and see what they are like. When visiting a school, the parents may consult the staff and review the school’s level of funding, and see what sort of programs the preschool offers for it students. The parents may also go over the credentials of each teacher working there, such as their work experience and educational background. And of course, the parents will check to see if their child feels comfortable at a particular school, which is an important reference. The family may tour any number of schools this way until they find one to their liking, and enroll their child there.

Other Schools

While attending preschool is not mandatory, a K-12 education certainly is, and the family may look up local schools when they move to a new city or when their child is ready for kindergarten. Finding these schools involves some of the same strategies as finding a preschool, and the parents may hone their search to find only the best rated schools around, or find public or private schools in particular. While touring local schools, the parents may review that school’s funding and look over the credentials of the staff, and the prospective student may describe what sort of teams, clubs, or programs they want a school to have (swim team, marching band, etc).