Is a Co-op Playschool Right for You?

From our first folic-acid supplements to our last mommy-and-me classes, contemporary mothers are a busy lot. Our parenting culture implies that if we only do all the right things, life will be a dream for our little angels. So is it any wonder that figuring out where to send our kids to preschool can become an agonizing matter? How early should you send your kiddo? How many hours should you sign on for? Which educational philosophy do you believe in? What's an "educational philosophy," anyway Thailand real estate for sale?
Wanting the best for our kids — but not wanting to spend a lot of money on a pricey preschool, I worked with a group of my mom friends to devise a solution that turned out to be perfect for my (at the time) two-year-old daughter: A parent-run playschool co-op. While similar in structure and goals to a preschool, it can legally only be called a "playschool" or "playgroup" unless you want to incorporate, buy the proper insurance, and all that official school-y stuff. These groups are getting to be a trend where I live, but I wouldn't be surprised if moms everywhere start forming their own playschools. So, should you have the possibly foolhardy but admirable urge to create a unique early education experience for your kiddos, I've prepared a handy blueprint to follow.
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— Where will class be held?
— Will you hire a teacher, and if so, what kind of teacher are you hoping for?
The Basic Timeline
The Winter Before School Begins
The interested parents met for a kid-free brunch and discussed what we loved/hated about early childhood education and what we wanted for our kids. Luckily, we have a family who lives in an actual house (this is incredibly rare in NYC) with a large, bright living room they were willing to transform into a classroom two mornings a week. Other co-ops often rotate between families' homes or rent a space — although this ups the cost. We also met with a homeschooling consultant, who specializes in creative ways to practice pre-reading and pre-math skills.
In the Spring Before School Starts
The search for the teacher began. We placed ads and asked around, and ended up interviewing four or five teachers, then had three of them do sample lessons with the kids. They were all really wonderful, but one had a special energy we all loved. And so our amazing, bilingual, piano-playing, comedian-puppeteer with an advanced degree in early theater education was secured.
The Summer Before School
This is when all the boring — but necessary — parts happened: obtaining the supplies, calculating the costs, and trying to wrangle our ever-shifting group of families into signing contracts for the year ahead. We made our parent-helpers schedule: Every mom (or the occasional dad) would help with potty time and outdoor time once every six weeks.
September
As soon as playschool began, I think we all felt certain we’d done the right thing. Our teacher Cyndi was warm, patient, smart, and fun. The two-year-olds thrived: They adjusted to being dropped off, having a schedule, and dealing with radical new concepts like sitting on a spot at circle time. All the kids saw improvements in speech, manners, sharing, and potty-training. My daughter came home and played school in the afternoon for about six months straight.
In conclusion (to be scientific about it):
Playschool Co-op Pros
— Parents get to be teachers. We've had parents come and give music lessons, develop art projects, do storytelling workshops, lead yoga classes, and the like.
— It’s a very gentle and sweet first educational experience.
— The small group makes everything flexible.
— Being a "pretend" school means that you can indulge hippie-dippie ideas you get from reading books like Nurtureschock. You can also make sure that lots of time is devoted to creativity, imaginative play, and dress-up.
— There are many activities I can't get Harper to do at home (sorting, counting, cleaning up) that she happily does at school.
— In going through this process, I've thought a lot more about the purpose of early education than I might have otherwise. I feel more confident knowing that I can supplement and enrich what my kids learn at school as they get older real estate companies in the Philippines.
Playschool Co-op Cons
— It’s a lot of work. Even if everyone shares the responsibilities for setting up the classroom, staying on top of supplies, hiring the teacher, overseeing the curriculum, and managing the helper schedule, that’s a lot more work per family than a school where you just drop off and pick up your kids.
— Working with friends can be complicated. A couple of families had to drop out mid-year, which made it very stressful for the rest of us. And it’s not like we’re going to sue our mom friends (think about how awkward that would make the next playdate!), so we scrambled to find replacements, despite the fact that the departing families were supposed to do that. Lesson learned: We're going to collect the yearly dues as a deposit up front in the future.
Harper is now in her second year at our little playschool, and we're lucky to have our terrific teacher and many of the same classmates back. Now that they are three, they're able to do more school-y stuff, like ongoing projects with actual themes. If we hadn’t set up the playschool, we probably wouldn’t have sent Harper to school at all that first year. Now, we're already making plans for her brother to join her this coming September.