Cooperative Preschools - What Makes Them Different
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Cooperative preschools have been around for many years. They differ from the traditional preschool in many ways, the greatest being parent involvement. Find out how a co-op can help to enrich your preschool child's formative years and keep you involved in their preschool experience.
A cooperative preschool has a reputation for being "touchy feely" and a throwback from the old hippie days of the 1960s. I, for one, love and welcome the idea of a cooperative preschool. These are also known as a "co-op" preschool. The main premise of a preschool environment is to promote discovery and development while providing lots of playtime for busy two to four year olds. A co-op preschool envelops this premise but requires parent participation during class time. A reduced tuition is an added plus for today's parents trying to juggle the high cost of living and the added expense of preschool tuition. For most families, preschool is a "nice to have" but not a necessary expense. With that said, most children benefit greatly from the socialization and education taught at this level. Enrolling your child in a co-op enables the family to benefit financially and educationally.
Most co-op preschools offer a two to five day a week school schedule. Class times are generally for three hours to six hours. Nap times are scheduled for the six hour extended days. Parental participation duties appear to be consistent with many co-ops across the country. They help the teachers by preparing the snack and beverage. The parent helps to clean up the children, usually including diaper duty for the younger children. Parents that participate also supervise the children as they play, both indoors and outdoors. If an art project is scheduled, the parent will help to supervise to try to keep the chaos and mess at a minimum. That is, if this is even possible with a room full of youngsters!
Other parental duties would be that the parents run the co-op. Parents make up the board of directors, which is the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Fund Raiser. They are involved in all hiring decisions, whether it be for the teachers or the cleaning and gardening crews. The board makes all decisions regarding running the co-op, requesting input from teachers and members, when appropriate.
Some co-ops require families to serve on committees. These range from classroom and grounds maintenance to the all important fundraising. Each family must fulfill this requirement in order to have the reduced tuition. If it is not fulfilled, the family will be billed appropriately.
Parents consider the co-op preschool to be a positive learning experience. The children are encouraged to be independent as much as possible. This results in much less whining about "I can't" at home. Some of the older children even pour their own juice from a pitcher at snack time. Most parents enjoy getting to know the other children and to see how their own child interacted with children. This allows the parent to see how her own child interacted socially and academically.
The majority of the co-op preschools day is comprised of playtime. But playtime is the time to learn at preschool. At this age, kids learn by touching, doing and interacting with other children and their environment. Most preschools have different themes in the classroom. One might be a kitchen area, as well as an art area, book, gym and music area. Another widely used technique for preschool was to offer a few different theme stations as well as free play. Children are not required to participate in the structured activity, especially if the child is playing happily and sharing during open choice.
Overall, a co-op preschool is a positive experience where learning takes place. Parents and teachers work as a unit and children are free to choose activities. The children are encouraged to have fun, which in turn, make it an educational experience for them to build on throughout their school years.
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