The process of picking a preschool is almost like shopping a mattress, everybody has a say, nothing is cheap and you are not completely aware of what you are buying until it is too late. Pleasant Hill preschool kindergarten programs have been making heads turn with a reason. Children do not simply appear and color within the lines throughout the day. They are developing real bases – language, social consciousness, elementary mathematics – before the majority of adults have cleared their second cup of coffee.

Here is what parents fail to realize: the kindergarten to preschool is not automatic. Children who have been subjected to regular early learning situations adapt quicker, quarrel less and frankly, shed tears less on day one. Any kindergarten teacher will tell you. They will tell you what children had organized early education in ten minutes of the first morning bell.

Pleasant Hill programs are more inclined towards play based learning. We do not mean that we allow children to run wild. It implies that the organized activities are enclosed in games, stories, and group challenges. A child who is sorting colored blocks is not only playing around, but this is early math logic at work.

The size of classes is critical in this case. Smaller groups imply that teachers literally pay attention to the fact that a kid is having a problem with a scissor or is getting frustrated during the circle time. Such attention does not occur accidentally. It is incorporated in the nature of good early childhood programs.

Parents who have experienced Pleasant Hill always refer to one thing and that is communication. Educators that do send updates. Picking up the phone coordinators. Small thing? Maybe. But when your four year old gets home talking in complete sentences about what photosynthesis is, you want to know what it was that got him started.

Being kindergarten ready does not mean that you can write your name in perfect handwriting. It is the emotional control, interest, and the ability to live in a team without losing your head. That is what these programs are very much concerned with.

One more thing to be said directly: not every early education program is constructed in the same way. The place is not as important as philosophy, consistency of staff, and opportunities to be involved with parents. Pleasant Hill ticks those boxes in a manner that is difficult to overlook when you begin to look.