A few friends used to have their children at Country Lane preschool. They seemed fairly happy with it. It is in North Lakeland. They also offer after school care, dance lessons, and gymnastics (they may offer more stuff, but I don't know). Excel Christian Academy is also in North Lakeland, it is a great school also. They take them as young as 2 and I believe they are offering some middle school classes now (as well as preschool and elementary). It really depends on what part of Lakeland you are moving to. South Lakeland has some good preschool as well, like Small Wonders preschool (I know there's more, but I can't think of them right off). Hope this helps. Good luck!

My son attends the VPK at Taylor Learning Center on the south side of town. They are family friends of ours that own and we love it and are very happy there. VPK guidelines have high standards and a well run program will have students reading. I am also a K teacher and some other good preschools include Little Sheperd's at First Pres, Covnetry at Coventry Presb, Beacon Hill (I have 6 in my class this year from them and all were prepared for K!!!)

I wanted to point at that VPK is only paid for by the state if it is the year before your child goes to kindergarten. My niece has her birthday in october so she was almost five when she started VPK but it was offered at her daycare. So when that school year started it cut her daycare expense in half b/c the state was paying for half the day. She starts kindergarden in the fall and she does not want to go b/c none of her friends from VPK are going to her new public school. Keep that in mind when choosing a vpk, your child may want to stay with the same kiddies for elementary too.

Very good point lilliesmom!

not to sound ignorant but what is a vpk?

My 4 yr old son (Nov. birth) is currently in a daycare and is eligible to begin VPK this year. His current daycare offers the program, but I haven't officially signed him up. I like the daycare, but I'm not sure if the VPK program is a "good one". I believe last year was the first they were on the program, which could be considered a downside.

How are you judging the VPK programs? How are you choosing the center? What criteria do you use?

Thanks in advance

I am going to be taking my 4 year old son to Miss Adelles Learning Center (South Lakeland) for VPK starting in August. I had 2 nieces that both attended there. Both my brother and my sister were happy with it. My nieces seemed to really learn a lot. I looked around, and it seemed good to me. I don't really know what to look for, but this seemed like enough to me.
As long as I liked the teachers and the atmosphere.

quote:

Originally posted by ayoungtan:
not to sound ignorant but what is a vpk?

VPK stands for Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten.
It is FREE for any 4 year old. It is generally approx. 3 - 4 hours per day, and 3 days per week.