Seeking Preschool in Folsom

Hi A.~

We first tried Merryhill on off Riley. I really liked the set-up, where I could view the class from a window. We had a fantastic teacher there. Unfortunately she left, but my daughter, in the 9 months she was there, worked on her writing, could count to 20 in Spanish and new the national anthem. They also have a front door code to enter, which I especially loved.

They switched teachers and it wasn't as good and we moved up the hill a bit, so we took her out. But still check it out, they have a good program.

If you don't mind the drive, we ended up and Church of the Foothills and it was FANTASTIC! And most in my area go to Rainbowland...they've been in business for 22 years and all my friends loved that place too.

There is an in-home one in EDH called Henny Penny, although it's almost impossible to get into w/out signing up a year in advanced, but you never know...there is always so much movement in the summer time and maybe something will become available.

Hope this helps!

We have had a wonderful experience with Mt. Olive Luthern Preschool on Montrose Drive near City Hall in Folsom. It is a small faith based program with a really great staff. My now 3rd and 1st graders attended and my 3 yr old will start in the fall (2, 3 or 5 day options). They have about 30 kids total in 2 groups (3/4 yr old and 4/5 yr who are one year from kindergarten). It is one large semi-divided classroom. They are concerned about teaching kids school readiness and are very big on social skills. If you are looking for hard-core academics, it probably isn't the program you want. But I do want to stress that my boys were COMPLETELY ready for kindergarten. They were happy, well-adjusted with their peers, could do meals in a group, easily took turns, sat and listened appropriately, etc. They loved their teachers and knew their teachers cared about them. They have a small religion lesson once a week that is very basic. We are Catholic, not Luthern, and it was a great experience. The preschool is a non-profit ministry of the church so, while it is tuition-based, it is not outrageously expensive like some of the for-profit schools. I highly recommend it. Chantal is the Director and would be happy to talk to you or have you visit. Good luck in your search.

I would be interested to see what others think. I just toured Merryhill and Brighton schools in Folsom last week. I was not impressed with Merryhill but was VERY impressed with Brighton. I would have thought I would like Merryhill better because it is a smaller more "neighborhood" feeling school, but Brighton is extremely organized, excellent ratios even though there are more kids there are more teachers too. Merryhill just seemed a little shabbier, the director is very laid back but not informative and the "lesson plans" they showed me were extremely basic and more play oriented. I sat in the baby room and the transition from baby-to-toddler room for an hour and wasn't pleased with the responsiveness to the babies. The older kids just seemed to be doing whatever they wanted and one little girl learning to walk took a pretty good spill on the hard concrete floor (covered with a thin, non-padded layer of industrial carpet). Brighton, on the other hand, has padded play areas, new toys, well kept and organized classrooms, actual curriculum (learning based not just free play all the time), credentialed kindergarten teachers...I will probably enroll my daughter when she is 1 and keep her there through Kindergarten.

We had a great experience with the Phoenix School on Prarie City. My daughter went there for 2 years at 3 and 4 before Kindergarten. Major kudos to Ms. GG and Ms. Tanya in the Giraffes class!! There is very little staff turnover, good ratios, and the curriculum is excellent! Spanish class 2x/week, computer classes, and they also have Jazzerettes (dance class) and Tumblebus(gymnastics) that comes once a week for those who would like to participate for a reasonable fee. My one and only criticism (which may be seen as a positive depending on your perspective) is that they have a LOT of field trips and additional activities requiring parental involvement. The kids LOVE it, but it's very tough on working parents to attend them all.