I live in Lake Oswego / Tualatin area, OR. I want to enroll my 4 year old in Preschool this fall so he will have 1 year of preschool before starting kindergarten (he will be 5 in November). I am having a really hard time finding any part-time preschools. I cannot afford to send him to an all day daycare/preschool setting, nor does my income qualify me for a Head Start program (or any reduced fees at preschools). Another problem is, if after finding a part-time preschool, how in the world do I get him there and back? I will have to miss tons of work driving between a babysitter and the preschool.
First, do you have any recommendations for preschools (part-time or full time)? I am really wondering if there is anyone out there that has been in this position. Do you have any suggestions? What did you do? At this point I am wondering if I am even going to be able to send him to preschool. He keeps asking when he gets to go to school like some of his friends
There was a South Shore co-op on South Shore Blvd. in Lake Oswego. My daughter went there 5 years ago. It was about $90 a month. You had to work about once a month in the class room. It was in the Church right next to the armory. 3 days a week for 2 1/2 hours.
St. Anthony in Tigard right on 99E has a wonderful preschool!
Hi M.,
I wish you were in our neighborhood here on the east side...I have a lovely little preschool over here! But I digress...
when I was working as a nanny, I observed several childcare arrangements. One most-common one was for the parent to drop off their child at preschool and then a nanny would be employed to pick the child up from preschool; the child would then spend the afternoon in the nanny's care.
I don't have recommendations for preschools in your neck of the woods (although I do like Montessori schools quite a bit, and Cedarwood Waldorf comes highly recommended) , but I do have a suggestion--look at your childcare costs side by side. It may be that you will pay less for the extra hours at a full-day preschool than you might pay combining a half-day program with private aftercare. Individual care is generally more expensive for parents, so if the school has the facility for your son to have some down time (which it should) , AND it is a quality environment (educated teachers, a sense of busy calm about the place, lower teacher turnover and happy-sounding kids), a full day option might be the better consideration. This too depends on how much school your son can tolerate at his age.
Metro ChildCare Resource and Referral is one option I would recommend. This is for Multnomah County, but if you call them, they can give you the number for Washington County. The CCR&R gives parents a list of names of childcare/preschool providers in their immediate area to get them started. If you get through the first list, they give you more names. You can message me if you need help getting phone numbers as I have plenty of info from them in my files.
One more thing-many preschools enroll in January/late winter for autumn enrollment, so if you really like a program, understand that they may be full but might be able to put you on a wait list if any pre-enrolled families drop out or move away. This earlier-than-expected enrollment is often an unwelcome surprise to parents doing this the first time.
Best wishes.
I visited almost all of them in this area. I loved Bethlehem Christian and Kings Kids in LO. There are a ton in your area. Could you find a babysitter to drive them there? Or pick up so you could drop on the way to work?
My son attended Sonshine Express through the Mt. Park Church. We really enjoyed it there. Classes would probably be M/W/F from 9-11:30am (we paid about $200/month), but they also have a Lunch & Play option you can add for an additional fee ($12 a day.) That extends the day to 1:30pm, if you needed a longer day.
I have never been in your position, but you may be able to find someone to do the pick-up at school, if you do the drop-off--the babysitter, grandparent, another parent from the preschool who might live near the babysitter, etc. Or is there a preschool near the babysitter? If she doesn't have access to a car, maybe she could walk to pick him up?
