How many years of preschool?

We are trying to decide where and when to send are almost 2 year olds to preschool. If we start them in the fall.... they'll attend for 3 years (based on their birthdate and our local Kindergarten starting rule/dates).

I feel like they'll be ready to start in the fall (versus a current 2-3 day per wk small unstructured home daycare we currently attend). But 3 years seems like alot....

Any experience and advice is appreciated. Thanks!

 

I think ultimately you need to evaulate if you think your kids would be ready or not. This is definitely a personal preference issue.

We are in a similar situation as yours as we have end of January birthday's. Mine will probably do three years of preschool if things go as planned. At 2 years 9 months of age (last October) they started a 2-day a week class (Tues/Thurs. 9-12). I plan to have them do the same class next year and then do 3 days a week the following year which would also be the year before Kindergarten. So that would give them 3 years of preschool.

DH and I just felt our kids needed a break from the house and the preschool program is the same place where we did Mommy and Me last year which the kids really enjoyed. They had openings for the preschool program and we thought we would give it a shot. I stressed as I thought they don't need 3 years of preschool, but they just ended up getting potty trained in time and adjusted fine. They LOVE going and this particular school is based on learning through play so they are having a lot of fun, learning a ton of stuff, making new friends and learning how to participate in a group environment. And its only 6 hours out of the entire week. So for our kids, they seemed ready and have just done really well. They ask every morning if it is a school day!

So this is our experience and plan for now.

Good luck!

 

My twins are the same age as yours and they will attend 2 years of preschool. They will start Sept. 2009 when they are 3.5 and then go the year after. They will start K in Aug. 2010 at 5.5 years old. I personally don't feel they need more than 2 years of preschool, but that's just my opinion. My oldest DD also did 2 years of preschool.

 

My girls turned two in August, and in this state, there is a Sept 1 birthday cutoff. So they will start Kindergarten in Sept 2010 when they just turned 5. They started preschool this year, when they had just turned two. They are the youngest in the class, but are doing OK, a little bit behind their peers, but not to where it's disruptive or they can't follow along. They will have 3 years of preschool. The preschool program is two hrs a day, twice a week. Some people act as if I have sent them off to boarding school. I think it's been really good for them. I'm sure they would do just fine if they only had 2 years of preschool, but to be perfectly honest, I needed the break and I think they could use to be around other people.
So, it's totally up to you if you feel they are ready.