Preschool - Muscatine,IA

We pay $125 a month thru a program offered thru the school. It's from 9:30-11:45. They also do afternoon class.

Look into private schools, like Catholic schools. They usually offer part-time options. My son is going to go two mornings a week.

I paid $140 per month for 3 days a week 9am to 12pm for my 4year old. I live in western WA. I would look into a church program. there are lots of them around here and they tend to be less expensive.

Good luck

Wow. I would actually be annoyed at NOT having an all-day option. :-))

I'm in GA. My girls have both been in day care (it's actually called a "Learning Center" since about 3 months. My husband and I both work so a half-day thing is ridiculous TO US because we need all day.

We take them at about 7am in the morning and don't pick up until about 5:30. They offer b'fast, lunch, snacks and all drinks the whole day. The children start learning in the 1 year old room. By 2, they are working on letter sounds, counting to 10 and this year, my big girl (going to the 3's) is going to be working on manuscript writing. (Although, she's already taught herself many of them already).

Highest price is $155/week for infants and it goes down by $5/week for each age level going up.

$100/week for as many hours as you indicate actually sounds like a good deal to me! (But then, look at what I'm dealing with right now). :-)))

That's about $14 an hour, seems reasonable. My (very good quality) part time preschool cost $360 per month for M W & F, 9 - 12:30, and that was over 5 years ago. There are many programs in my area that cost a LOT more. The less expensive options are the church based and co-op programs, check into those. Also look at mommy and me groups and community center/YMCA based classes for lower cost options. Good luck :)

Maybe you should look for a Mother's Day Out program. I live in north Texas and here MDO for preschoolers is usually 9-2, two days a week. The cost for 4 year olds is usually around $175/month.

Limit your focus to church-based schools. In Maryland, most church schools are 2.5 hours 2 to 5 times a week. I will be paying $200 a month for 5 days a week. 3 days a week is $150.

I agree, if it is all day, it is a daycare not preschool.

We did Montessori Preschool... which had a minimum of 3 days a week, preferably in a row, and a max of 5 days a week (some schools/daycares around here do 6 or 7 days). We had the option of:

9- 12
9- 1 (includes lunch hour)
9- 330

12- 330 (includes lunch hour)
1- 330

What we chose:

Year 1 = 9:00-1:00 3 days a week ($650) per month
Year 2 = 9:00-1:00 4 days a week ($725) per month

If we had chosen 9-330 M-F it would have been about $1200-1400 per month.

It was a phenom preschool, but it was a preschool ONLY, so didn't do daycare hours (nor early drop off, nor late pickup). In contrast to similar schools in the area -which would book out over a year in advance, and had massive application processes/ interviews, this school usually had 1-2 spots available year round. In our area most parents want the 5am-6pm option (most families in our area are dual income), and so most schools offer it... doing preschool during certain hours and daycare during the early & after hours. For our friends who go to one of those similar schools with those hours they pay apx $2500 per month (for 50 hours per week).

Cheap full time group daycare in our area (for 50 hours per week) runs $1600 for infants-potty train, and $1000 for potty trained to elementary.

The VAST majority of sahp's I know in this area are stay at home because they CANNOT afford to work. Under 40k a year though for a family of 3, HeadStart kicks in, and daycare is free. So middle class squeeze.

We did a lot of research before we chose a preschool for our daughter. What I found was many daycare centers in my area (I live in Cedar Rapids) call themselves preschools because they provide educational activities. Those types of "preschools" are typically all day and cost more because the purpose is to provide child care for the parent. Plus, they will generally have infants to preschool aged children. More importantly, in my opinion, is the staff. Often times they are younger, in there late teens/early 20's, and have not had any teaching education. If your looking for more of a school environment and not all day child care I would look for the schools that only have children 3 or 4 years old. Most preschools, even those offered through the public schools, are only half day.
We LOVED the preschool my daughter attended. They give the option of enrolling 1-4 days a week. She went 2 days a week from 9-1130 and we paid $112 a month. The teachers had teaching degrees and backgrounds. My daughter had a blast and learned a lot as well!
Good luck in your search :)

We are in an Indianapolis suburb and pay $390/week for 2 kids (4 and 2 years old) in full-time day care. It doesn't matter if they're there 2 hours or 12 each day, their rates are based upon the number of days.

We paid almost $20K in day care expenses in 2009, and this is not a fancy place where they're learning 3 languages.

The going rate here for in-home day care where there's little instruction (meals provided by the parents) is $50/day.

Hope that helps.

I live in Des Moines, Ia, and my daughter is in Head Start. It is a federally funded pre-school program that works with Drake College. It has classrooms in the public elementary schools for 3 and 4 year olds. They go four days a week (no Wednesdays) and go in either the morning (7:40ish-11:30ish) or afternoon (11:45ish-3:20ish) times vary slightly by school. There are income guidelines, but it's free for those who qualify. They do a lot of the things we did in kindergarten (since today's kindergarden is much more advanced than ours ever was). You might try searching for the federally funded equivialant in your area. They do exist, you just have to hunt for them.

in our area we tried the churchs they have preschool that is either morning or afternoon and its only about 2-3 hrs long. Its also either 3-4 days a week. The cost just depends on how big the church is. We did find that public schools that offer preschool was crazy expensive for what your child will be learning. I would check your local churchs.

I am in MN and my daughter goes for 2.5 hours a day, 3 days a week.. that is the pre-k 4/5 yr old class... They also have a 2 day a week option... the cost for her class is $125/month. Keep looking!

My son is in an all day accredited preschool from 6:30-5:00 and we pay $205 weekly.

Have you checked with area churches? They usually offer great preschool programs and Mom's Day Out for very reasonable prices. My son started going to MDO at 18 months and my daughter just started at age 14 months. They both love it and have learned a lot. My son has learned many skills already that will benefit him when he does go to preschool/school. They attend one day a week from 9am-11:45 and the cost is only $11 for my son and $12.50 for my daughter. I believe the prices for preschool are comparable to that. I am in Omaha though, but you might check around your area.
HTH,
A.

my daughter recently finished preschool, we paid $90 a month and she went three days a week from 8:30 to 11:30AM. Anything after that was daycare at $2.50 an hour
- E.

I live in Los Angeles, and 4 days of morning preschool (9:30-11:30am) is $600 per month. Yes, you read that right. TWO HOURS ONLY per day. 4 days a week. $600.

Many Preschools, offer part-time schedules.
So look around for those.
Not all preschools have full-day hours or schedules.

To me, and around my local area, there IS a difference between Daycare and Preschool.

I live in the Twin Cities area of MN, and a few years ago, we paid around $100/month for our daughter to go two days/week for about three hours. This was through the public school system, and I thought it was a great experience.
Good luck!

It has been a long time since I had to search for a preschool..but it sounds like you are not hitting the right source. Since you live where you do..ask around the other mom's, dr's office and look in the phone book. AT her age you should be able to find something part-time.

I would check your local newspaper for churches that run the type of preschool program you are looking for (although you tend not to see them in session in the summer - however, you should sign up now for fall since they tend to fill up early). In the Midwest, it is common to have "pay for preschool programs" that run full day that are privately owned (and expensive) and then to have much less expensive and shorter church run programs. Many of these are not necessarily "church based" but rather held at a local church for convenience.

Good luck!

Try the ymca. They usually have a preschool for a few days a week for about $100 a month or less. Keep looking. Sometimes there are also play groups where your daughter can get the interaction without the price.

Check with your local school district. My daughter attended preschool there for both 3's and 4's and it fit your day and hour description exactly. Cost was $108/mo for 2 days/wk and $158/mo for 3 days/wk.

I would check with your local churches. Many of them operate preschools on a smaller scale and at a lower cost or with options for the parents. Recently there has a been a push for more and earlier "preschool". Most 4 year old programs in our area are "4 year old Kindergarten". I think this push is just so that parents can feel better about having their child in "school" instead of daycare.

In my area of the Midwest there are part-day and full-day preschool options. Many preschools offer half day programs. The preschool my daughter's attended offered half-day (8:15-11:30am) 2, 3 or 5 days a week. I would keep looking. There must be some half-day options. Ask around with other moms, churches often have half-day programs.

Ours is through the public school system and is 8:30-11:00. It's $100 per month (2 mornings per week) or $150 per month (3 mornings per week).

I send my daughters to a catholic preschool for my daughter that goes two days a week it's just under 100 a month and for my daughter that goes three days per week it's just over 100 in Cedar Rapids. They have school from eight thirtyish to eleven fifteen. I did a quick google and found: http://www.bishophayescatholicschool.com/ in Muscatine but there are no specifics about when class times are so a call would probably be warranted. I did find one preschool that offered two diff classes one with religion and one without - keep your head up. You'll find something. Do you have any moms with kids your child's age? I am sure there's something in Davenport but that'd be quite a drive twice a day.

It is about the same here. The learning center I taught at for the past 3 years is open 7:30 AM to 6:00 PM. I also feel it is too much. We offered way more than a typical daycare-we truly are a learning center but, had daycare hours. I am no longer there because I had no time off, unpaid vacation, no benefits and then the final straw was they stopped paying us for snow days even though the parents were required to pay for snow days and required to pay regardless of whether or not their children attend. I definitely think you are on the right page here. Have you tried looking into church preschools? There are plenty around here that offer less hours for way less money. The children still learn, have fun and get to spend time with other children their own age. You also won't have to worry about your little one getting sick as often in a preschool like this as opposed to like the one I used to work at-most parent's that sent their kids there would leave the kids there on days off, bring them even if they were sick/ignoring our sick policy etc. Flu and viruses went around like wild fire. You can definitely prevent some of it by cleaning and disinfecting but, I have not been sick since I left there. Knock on wood. I will also add that the prices here where I live are a little cheaper compared to some of the bigger cities here in VA. So, the cost does vary a little. My friend paid a lot more in Richmond, VA than my student's parents were paying. My friend found a great little church preschool that is cheaper and she and her daughter are much happier now. GOOD LUCK TO YOU.

In my experience, a lot of daycares market themselves as preschools because they have teachers who are qualified early childhood educators--which is great for the kids who go there. That said, you just want a straight preschool, not a daycare. I don't know where Muscatine is, but if you're closer to a metro area, or a bigger town, you might be able to find something like that. Have you checked out churches (if that works for your family)? To me, those fees are pretty typcial for daycare-like preschool, but for a three year old who just needs to "get out," that's way more than you need. I don't know if Iowa has any programs through the public schools, but MN has Early Childhood Family Education, and in our area, they do a three year old preschool through the public schools. You could certainly ask at the public schools or the local library for programs they might be aware of.

I agree... look for the little preschools that are based at a church. most aren't affiliated with the church, just the churches rent out the space. Anyway, we paid $187 a month for my daughter to go 3 days a week for 2.5 hours. It was perfect! You can check out the YMCA too... or look for a co-op in your area, if you want to be involved with the schooling.

I feel your pain. When you are a stay at home mom looking for preschool & NOT childcare, your options can be rather limited. Try to find a co-op or church affiliated school like previously suggested. You could also try finding an in home preschool or one through the public school system. There's also the YMCA & city parks & rec programs. I agree, 6 hours a day, 5 days a week at at least 400 a month is ridiculous for a 3 or 4 year old who doesn't need any extra day care & when you are looking for just preschool. I doubt even half of that 6 hours is spent on actual academics anyway.

To answer your question, I paid 97 a month for 2 mornings a week at a church preschool. That would probably be the cheapest you could find in the Phoenix metro area.

Check with your local ECFE, Those are the exact hours my daughter goes and we pay $100 a month. tues and thurs 9:30-11:30 and that is just plenty for her=) good luck.

3 days a week, 2.5 hrs a day, aroun $200-$350 a month
and yes, i'm having trouble finding preschools that operate dif than daycare, other than the cost.

I sent my boys to the Park District preschool in Illinois. It was 2 x from 9 - 11 for 3 year olds and 3x from 9 - 11.30 for 4 year olds. It cost approx. 1000 for the entire school year (September till May).
We briefly lived in Indiana in a smaller town. There the Park District didn't offer preschool, but I eventually found out that most of the churches had a preschool program. While some of the church preschools did incorporate their church teachings, most of them didn't and all children, regardless of their religion were welcome.
If you have a YMCA in town, they may have some preschool offerings as well.
The best way to find out is probably to talk to people who have children, check with town hall, the people at the pediatrician's office, at the library, churches. I would be surprised too, if there weren't any other option available.

I am not sure what part of the Midwest you live in, but that does seem very excessive. I live in the southern part of WI and my son will only be going to preschool 3 days/wk for 2 and 1/2 hours. Total for the yr, this will only be $500 at a christian preschool-less than the other 2 preschools in my area. The program you described sounds more like a daycare. Are there any other preschool programs in your area? If so, I would definitely look into those to get other ideas/options. Good luck to you.

I live in SE wisconsin and my son went to preschool last year from ###-###-#### two days a week. We paid $700 for the whole school year (sept - may). I think 6 hrs/5 days is a lot at that age also. We have a 4k program here that isn't even that many hours.

Our preschool is wonderful, and has an option for 3 half-days/week. However, the price is $550/month. In my opinion, that is a fair price because the teachers are well-qualified and have been with the school for many years. How do you expect a school to pay overhead and pay teachers (that are any good, I mean) for $50/month???