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The typical time commitment for a co-op is at least one day every other week. In exchange for their participation, parents can expect to pay, depending on the school and the state, as much as 80% less than traditional private-school tuition. Parents interested in finding a co-op near them can check out Parent Cooperative Preschools International for listings of co-ops in various states.
Family child care
Some parents skip the traditional preschool route and instead seek out smaller, at-home day care with an educational bent.Amy Oleson, an elementary-school teacher in Sioux City, Iowa, sent her 3-year-old son, Ty, to Explorations, a husband-and-wife-run family-child-care program, from the time he was 8 months old. The program cost about $115 a week, for three days per week. One of the main draws for Oleson was the program's emergent-learning approach, which promotes learning through a child's interests and actions.
As in traditional preschool programs, the children sing the alphabet song, learn how to sign their names on their drawings and listen to stories. At Explorations, they also talk about the frogs and fish in the aquarium and learn basic concepts of mathematics by using everyday tools like measuring tape and rulers.
Guidelines for family child care vary by state and provider, so parents must do their due diligence when looking for a program. The National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) has a searchable database for accredited providers. Accreditation is the only nationally uniform set of standards for family-child-care providers, whereas regulations vary by state. NACCRRA offers a checklist that helps parents evaluate whether a program is right for their child.
"Some states don't have regulations at all, while others only regulate certain size (programs)," says Diana Webb, who works with family-child-care providers in Rochester, N.Y.
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New York state's regulations, for instance, require that any licensed family-child-care program have an educational component to it. Group size varies among providers and states.
Costs range widely, too, but Suzanne Williamson, the president of the NAFCC, says a middle-of-the-road cost would be $100 to $250 a week. More-expensive setups can match or even exceed pricey preschools, but the programs sometimes run five days a week for 10 hours a day -- good for working parents who need a child-care program with flexibility.
Homeschooling
Whether because of preschool's high tuition prices or personal preference, some parents want to take complete charge of their child's early development and learning.Homeschooling can prep a child just as well for kindergarten as a traditional preschool. In fact, says Laura Derrick, the president of the National Home Education Network, "a lot of preschool and kindergarten activities were designed to mimic what happens in the family setting if the children were actually at home: They learn to clean up, organize. Some are academic things, but a lot of it is the social component."
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Geralyn Jacobs, a professor at the University of South Dakota's Early Childhood and Elementary Education program, notes myriad ways parents can prepare their child for later formal education: read to them daily, help them write letters to relatives, take them to the library, point out interesting things as they go for a walk and make sure they have time to play with other children. She also recommends that parents look at their state's early-learning guidelines to see the kinds of things their children can be learning.
Parents also can access a fairly extensive online homeschooling community to ensure they are preparing their kids for kindergarten. A to Z Home's Cool offers curriculum and lesson ideas, educational Web sites and links to other homeschool groups. The National Home Education Network is another resource for parents who want to learn more about homeschooling. The Home School Legal Defense Association has information on each state's regulations regarding homeschooling.
This article was reported and written by Lisa Scherzer for SmartMoney.
Updated Oct. 1, 2008
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