Does Anyone Have a Preschool Recommendation (NW)?

[Byrns]

So my little tyke is getting close to preschool age and with her being our first I have no clue what the "good" preschools are. We live in Scenic Acres, so I was hoping to tap the CP braintrust for a recommendation.

[trumpethead]

Seriously? Will a "good" preschool teach your daughter how to tie her shoes faster than all the other 4-year olds. My recommendation to you is to figure out what the closest pre-school to your house is and go to that one.

[Byrns]

Perhaps not, but I would prefer a school that doesn't have overly large class/teacher ratios and has staff that like their job. To me that's more important than geographic location.

[JonDuke]

I have not looked into it myself yet, but have heard lots of good things about Joso's, near Kincora/Evanston. Might be a good place to start

[Dentoman]

I have 2 kids that have gone to this one. They really enjoyed it and the staff was excellent.
http://www.earlydiscoveries.ca/

[prarieboy]

We had our son in Fun 2 Learn preschool and have nothing but good things to say about it. They are located in the Dalhousie Community Church at Crowchild and 53rd ST. We are not huge church people by the way.

http://www.fun2learnpreschool.com/

[Buff]

Here is something to think about. Does your kid need Preschool? We put our oldest right into kindergarten and he didn't have any type of adjustment issues. He is in grade 1 now and he complains that his reading and math is too easy. We initially thought our 2nd child would have to go to Preschool but now that it's time to look into registering him we are realizing that he too can likely skip Preschool without any worries.

I'm not trying to talk you out of Preschool, I just thought I'd give you another option in case you hadn't considered it. I find that people put their kids into things because they feel pressured to keep up with what others are doing with their kids. We keep them involved in other stuff like swimming lessons, parent and tot soccer and they have a lot of interactions with their cousins of like ages, so it isn't like they are missing out on socializing.

[Byrns]

The big thing for us, is for our daughter to have more opportunities for socialization. She's an only child, and spends her days currently at Grandma's. So while they do go to the park, and to various kids playzone's, we still would like to give her more exposure.

[Hack&Lube]

My preschool was at Varsity Community Centre. I wonder if they still have classes there.

I was also an only child mostly raised by my grandparents. I barely remember anything from preschool, much less socializing so perhaps it isn't that important until Elementary school.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by Byrns

The big thing for us, is for our daughter to have more opportunities for socialization. She's an only child, and spends her days currently at Grandma's. So while they do go to the park, and to various kids playzone's, we still would like to give her more exposure.

And that is perfectly fine. I'm not against preschool. I went and I remember it and I have good memories of it. In fact some 32 years later I'm still good friends with two of the people in my preschool class (and only good friends with one person I went to high school with... the same guy I went to preschool with).

[Mccree]

http://epschool.ca/

Both my kids have attended this pre-school. Both really enjoyed it.

[Top Shelf]

Originally Posted by prarieboy

We had our son in Fun 2 Learn preschool and have nothing but good things to say about it. They are located in the Dalhousie Community Church at Crowchild and 53rd ST. We are not huge church people by the way.

http://www.fun2learnpreschool.com/

Our son has been going there for about two weeks now. They seem really good, and he certainly has enjoyed it there

[itcrossedtheline]

My daughter went to Montessori Children's House Academy. She really liked it.

Student to teacher ratio is about 7:1

http://www.montessoriway.ca/home.html

She went to the one on 4th street NW

[Top Shelf]

Originally Posted by Dentoman

I have 2 kids that have gone to this one. They really enjoyed it and the staff was excellent.
http://www.earlydiscoveries.ca/

I should mention that our daughter went to this preschool as well for a while. Good place too, no complaints. Only reason we went to a different one for our son is that it works out well car pooling with a neighbor.

[AMG_G]

We recently did the whole pick a preschool thing. Did the tours and the presentations at Waldorf and Montessori. We decided that Waldorf is backwards and borderline hippy and Montessori was a place where nannies take rich spoiled kids. You should see the Escalades and Mercs SUVs coming to pick up the kids.

I decided to put him in physical activity classes and swim lessons instead. There is nothing they learn for the $500+ per month it costs. We did register him for one year in a no so famous preschool just so that he can get accustomed to the whole school thing.

[Inferno099]

Originally Posted by Dentoman

I have 2 kids that have gone to this one. They really enjoyed it and the staff was excellent.
http://www.earlydiscoveries.ca/

I have a 4 yr old son going to the one in Hawkwood currently.

As others have mentioned this is more for further socialization, playing & getting used the classroom environment.

He likes the teachers too.

Only child as well, but he is in a day home with a few other children.

Not exactly sure as son will be in K next fall, but I believe registration is in March for next September.