Practical Matters

Practical matters are your child and family logistical needs and financial constraints that may affect your choice of preschools.

Your Child

Most practical needs arise out of another child need, such as medical care for a health problem, and you can address them as such. One need - uncommon but not unheard of - is for a child's participation in activities outside of preschool. Does your young actor have daily shoots to attend? Does your violin virtuoso perform in concerts? If your child's strong combined capability and interest have led to a demanding schedule of practice and performance, then fitting in these "extracurriculars" may not seem like an extra at all, but an essential factor in your choice among preschools.

Out-of-School Activities and The Preschool Search

Priority for Choosing?	What To Seek in a Preschool	Example Questions to Ask
Rarely a priority in preschool age children; only extraordinary talent combined with interest and if cannot address without coordination with preschool	Preschool willing to support child's varied schedule for practice and performance Preschool will help child be full social member of classroom, minimizing disruptions to child's development because of extreme gift and/or schedule irregularity	Is your preschool willing to allow my child's schedule to vary to pursue this interest?How can we minimize disruption to my child's development at your preschool?See The Savvy Source web pages: School Philosophy and Day-in-the-Life Curriculum and Teaching Approach Applications and Admissions

Your Family

If logistics and finances are not big factors for you, then you might wonder how any parent could, in good conscience, pick a preschool based solely on these factors. But many of you will find your own work, multiple children's schedules, single parenting, time-consuming commutes or limited budgets strongly influencing your preschool choices.

The practical matters you will want to consider include these:

• Child Care
• Schedule
• Transportation
• Location
• Your Other Children

Child Care = your need for full-day or extended-day care and care during other hours.

To the extent that you will have child care needs not met elsewhere, you must decide whether it is a high priority for preschool to provide your child with care for a full day or extended day and on non-school days.

Child Care Needs:

• Consider before and after preschool care, holidays, vacations and summer.
• Consider all of your children's needs if you have more than one child.
• Consider changes you are planning in your work or other activities that will affect child care needs.
• What services will you need from your child care provider? This may depend on the ages of your children and the amount of time they spend in care. Do you just need a safe environment for an hour or so of free play each afternoon? Or are educational environment and developmental appropriateness issues?
• Will your child need more structured activities or free play (to balance the rest of the day)?
• Will your child need transportation to and from care?
• How much can you pay for the additional child care that you need, on top of any preschool tuition?

Child Care Sources:

• Your current care: what type of child care are you using now? Can you keep using this same source after your child begins (or changes) preschool?
• Day care center
• Family home day care (small group of children at someone else's home)
• Nanny, your own or shared with another family
• Relatives, neighbors or friends
• Church, temple or other religious institutions
• The preschool you choose, off-hour care
• What are other sources of care in your city or town?
• How much would each of your options cost?

Child Care Needs and The Preschool Search

Priority for Choosing?	What To Seek in a Preschool	Example Questions to Ask
High Priority: You do not have other affordable child care options for hours needed Low Priority: You have other alternatives	Additional care at preschool meets your needs in following ways: Hours and days care provided Snacks or meals provided Developmental activities balancing rest of preschool day Care for multiple children, if needed Cost	What hours of care beyond regular preschool day are offered?How do activities in this care differ from regular preschool day?See The Savvy Source web pages: Ages, Schedule and Tuition

Schedule = your daily and yearly scheduling needs.

You will need to consider both your daily and yearly schedule needs. If your other children are in schools with an early or late schedule, then having your third child in a preschool with a similar schedule might be ideal (particularly if you work or have many other activities to fit into your day). On the other hand, some stay-at-home parents are happy to have their children on different daily and yearly schedules, because this gives them precious time alone with each child. Things to consider include these:

• Number of days of preschool you prefer for your child at different ages
• Length of the preschool day and whether preschool is in morning or afternoon for half-day programs
• Timing of morning and afternoon transportation for child(ren), especially with regard to multiple school schedules and conflicts with parents' work
• Impact of schedule on children's extracurricular activities (e.g., late schedule leaves less time for most activities)
• Desirability of having time alone with each child, on daily basis and during holidays and vacations
• Desirability of having time for your children to be together (for your benefit or theirs), daily and during vacations
• Impact of preschools and schools with differing vacation schedules on your family's vacations (especially if you like to travel during typical school year); most preschools allow parents to take children out of school for such events without penalty
• Other schedule issues you may have

Schedule Needs and The Preschool Search

Priority for Choosing?	What To Seek in a Preschool	Example Questions to Ask
High Priority: You have commitments that limit schedule options and cannot use child care or other resources to create flexibility Low Priority: Schedule is not a concern for you	Preschool matches your daily, weekly and annual scheduling needs Schedule is not likely to change significantly from year to year	Are your annual, weekly or daily schedules likely to change significantly from year to year?Do you coordinate schedules with any of the local elementary schools? Which?See The Savvy Source web pages: General Information: Transportation and drop off policies Ages, Schedule and Tuition Applications and Admissions

Transportation = your need for your child's transportation to and from school.

Think about what you can provide in the way of transportation for your child. Then you can determine what assistance you need from your child's preschool:

• Can you drive your child to school?
• Would a neighborhood carpool meet your transportation needs?
• Are your morning and afternoon transportation needs different?
• Do you have time constraints, such as a certain time by which you need your child to be picked up in the morning or dropped off in the afternoon?
• Does your transportation need to be coordinated with your child care?
• Do you need preschool-provided transportation? If so, what are your needs in terms of timing, cost, pick up and drop off location?

Transportation Needs and The Preschool Search

Priority for Choosing?	What To Seek in a Preschool	Example Questions to Ask
High Priority: You have commitments that will prevent you from transporting your child Low Priority: You do not have transportation challenges	Preschool provides transportation that fits your schedule and cost constraints, or You are able to find neighbor who can transport your child, or You are able to secure paid transport services for your child	Does your preschool provide transportation services?Do you have a carpool sign-up or any other way of helping parents coordinate transportation?See The Savvy Source web pages: General Information: Transportation and drop-off policies

Location = your need for your child's school to be located in a certain place.

Location can be a significant factor if you begin to consider far away or very close preschools or if you have severe time constraints. A less-than-perfect preschool one block away might be preferable to an almost perfect preschool an hour's commute from home. Of course this depends on just how different the two preschools are in quality, fit, and distance, and on how crunched you are for time. Your child's time is an issue, as well, since time sitting in the car is time that could be spent on favorite activities, exercise or good old fashioned down time. The extra time may, in some cases, allow you to accommodate for a nearby preschool's weaknesses. You may prefer a preschool close to work rather than home. Location also may affect other Fit Factors, such as having neighbors and friends in preschool, your involvement in activities at preschool, transportation and child care.

Location Needs and The Preschool Search

Priority for Choosing?	What To Seek in a Preschool	Example Questions to Ask
High Priority: You would be greatly inconvenienced by far away location Low Priority: Within reason, this is not a concern	Preschool is in desired location, near work or home	See The Savvy Source web pages: Summary Use The Savvy Source's basic search and mapping function to compare distances

Your Other Children = coordination of your multiple children's educations.

If you have more than one child, you most likely will have touched upon the most obvious multi-child issues in the social and other logistical sections. But when should you consider different preschools for your children? On the upside, siblings can offer personal support to each other when they attend the same preschool at the same time. The mere sight of a sibling can comfort a child. However, if one sibling - no matter how smart or successful - makes the other feel small, constrained, less capable and empowered than the other would feel elsewhere, then having them in different preschools where they can blaze their own trails may be the better decision. Sometimes, an extremely successful or outgoing child can induce those feelings in a sibling unintentionally. Similarly, if you have a child who has had severe behavioral problems, you might consider other preschools for younger siblings. Siblings cast shadows both positive and negative. Avoiding the good kid, bad kid comparison is easier when children are in different preschools altogether. Many parents will opt for one family preschool for logistical reasons.

Your Other Children and The Preschool Search

Priority for Choosing?	What To Seek in a Preschool	Example Questions to Ask
High Priority: You definitely do or do not want your multiple children to attend the same preschool Low Priority: You have one child, your children will not overlap in preschool, or this is not a concern either way	If you want children to attend same preschool, seek admissions criteria favoring siblings heavily and seek preschool that meets wide variety of children's needs If you want or need children to attend different preschools, look for compatible schedules, transportation and parent involvement policies	Do your admissions criteria favor siblings?Under what circumstances are siblings not admitted?See The Savvy Source web pages: Applications and Admissions Ages, Schedule and Tuition