Preschools in Irvine

Hi Stacey,
I am also looking to send my 29 month old to preschool this fall, Tues/Thurs. I live in Northpark Square. I have looked at a few; it depends what you are looking for. For instance, do you want a really short day or a really long day? St Pauls has a good reputation and I have been on the waiting list since last spring (they did just call) but it's only a 2.5 hour program. I am due with baby number 2 in September, and 2.5 hours is so short! I feel like by the time I drop off my daughter and get back home, spend a little time with the baby/feeding, etc, it will time to turn around to pick up my daughter. I also looked at Creekside, which is on Alton and Creek, and I liked it alot, but I don't have ANY feedback about it. It is a 4.5 hour day, 2 days a week, which is perfect for me! I am also on the wait list at Aldersgate in Tustin (on Irvine Blvd). The only thing that I don't like about it is that you pay for 2 full days, and can basically have your child in for as long or as little as you want. So you can have them there for 3 hours or 8 hours! But you still pay for the full days. (It's $100 a week.) And they have nap time every day from 12:30 till 2:30, so you would either have to pick them up before 12:30 or after 2:30.

Do you have to start him this Fall for work reasons or otherwise? I agree with the other poster that you should wait if you can. My daughter will be 3, and I am a SAHM, so I do want her to get that interaction with another authority figure. Also, I will have a brand new baby, and I thought it would be nice to have some 'alone' time with just the baby. However, I am starting to rethink it, because I will probably not start DD in kindergarten until she is almost 6 (her bday is November and although she meets the cutoff of Dec 2, I just feel like that is too early to start, especially these days!) So that would mean 3 years of preschool. Anyway, sorry to go on and on...hope some of it helped! :)

A college prof years ago raved about Good Shepard-I remember that much from class. That said, I work in preschool field & if you honestly don't need it, keep your boy home another year. Two year olds are extremely rough on each other (hitting, BITING, etc) and your child will be exposed to many illnesses and undesirable behavior. At 2 years old, children really do need there mommies. If your looking for play time, join a moms group.

Although this is not is the Northpark area I would recommend Turtle Rock Preschool. I used to work at this preschool and still keep in touch with the staff there. I can honestly say their program is top notch. It is NAEYC accredited and has very caring people that invest in education young children.
They're located on Concordia street just off University / 405 freeway. The phone # is ###-###-####. Good Luck!

My son went to Good Shepard Preschool. It's off the corner of Irvine Center Drive and Yale. They're pretty good. My son went there for 2 years. He's in 1st grade now.