PolkMoms.com

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.

im looking for a new daycare for my 2 year old son. the one he was going to is not good they dont call me when his asthma acts up they give him things with eggs in it witch he is allergic to eggs. if anyone knows of a good daycare please let me know i need to get him out asap thanks

When we had a child in VPK a couple years ago, it was only open to 4 year olds, NOT necessarily open to children the year before they start kindergarten. In FL, you don't have to send your child to K until they are 6 - I had wanted to hold out my 2nd son from K a year, because he would turn 5 in the middle of Aug and I knew he would struggle. When I looked into it, I had to put him in VPK at 4 if he was going to do it at all. Then I would have had to put him in daycare at 5 to start him in K when he was turning 6. I knew that would cause issues with him when his friends were going to K at the end of VPK, so we did VPK at 4 and I sent him to K when we was barely turning 5, I've regretted it ever since. He did struggle, being so young and now in 2nd grade is just starting to catch up.

I'm trying to look into VPK now, to see if they have changed the age thing to include 5 year olds. My 4th son will be 4 in May, but I plan to hold him out of K until he is 6, to give him time to finish catching up on speech and maturity. I'd really like to do VPK for him, but only if it can be the year before he goes to school, to help him prepare for being in a group setting and work on K readiness skills. He's nowhere near ready for it now and I won't to send him to VPK at 4, keep him home a year and then do K.

Here's a bunch of info on VPK from the Polk Co Early Learning Coalition (that's who runs the program)
Link

alsan---thank you so much for posting the link. My son so needs to be in a school setting before entering into Kindergarden. I see it's like pulling teeth to find pre-schools and day cares that participate. Thanks to you I at least have a start...woo hoo to you!

Lakeland Montessori accepts the VPK ceterficate. They also accepts children as young as 3 for pre-school.

Link

Tt is a fantastic school and my son has been attending since he was 3 yrs old.

It is a public charter school in Lakeland. After pre-school it is free of charge for children K-5thgrade.

I hear great things about the Fl Southern and the Montessori pre-school. Some of the other co-op style pre-schools are supposed to be good too.

Some of the public schools have pre-schools. I think they are called school readiness programs. The one at Medulla is wonderful. My son went there. I think the way it works is you pay according to your income. Some may pay nothing, some pay a little, some pay full price. But I think they give priority to those in need. My son was in ESE pre-k at age 3 and 4, and instead of VPK at age 5, he went to this readiness program. Then we were able to use his VPK voucher over the summer.

WARNING: summer VPK is ALL DAY. SO unless your child is used to going to day care ALL DAY, EVERY DAY even in the summer, I don't recommend it. I wanted to pull my son out of summer VPK because he didn't like it, he was exhausted and there was a disturbed little boy in his class (he would punch the teacher and tell her to shut up among other things). I think the hours were 8 to 5. They asked me not to pull him out, and since I worked there part time, I didn't want to ruffle any feathers, so we stuck it out.

Shawn...I know a GREAT preschool who offers part time 2 or 3 days a week and only charges per day..breakfast, lunch and snack are included as well. It's Highways to Tomorrow in Bartow. It's the preschool operated for the Department of Transportation, the only draw back is that it's for DOT employees or city, state, county or government employees. If your husband works for any of the above, that might be an option for you....