A license isn’t necessarily a guarantee of quality. It merely shows that the facility has met the minimum health, safety, and teacher training standards set by the state. In some states, having a license means only that a preschool has registered as a business; in others, it means a preschool has passed a stringent test. In any case, ask to see the preschool’s license when you visit to make sure it’s at least up to date, and check here to see what it takes to get one in your state – http://nrc.uchsc.edu/states.html. You can also check a preschool’s license by calling your state or county social services department (look in the phone book).

What does it mean if a preschool is “accredited”?
Accreditation may be a more telling sign that you’ve found a good preschool. Look for one that has passed the tough accreditation process formulated by the National Association for the Education of young Children (NAEYC), a benchmark of quality. So far, NAEYC has accredited only a fraction (approximately 6,000) of this country’s more than 96,000 licensed preschools and daycare centers. About 12,000 more have ordered materials from NAEYC that outline what a center must have to be accredited. Keep in mind that the accreditation process can take up to 18 months and cost more than $400, which is one reason why so few centers have yet to seek that stamp of approval. What’s more, preschools must update their accreditation every three years, and this can be time consuming for a small school with limited personnel.

To search NAEYC’s database and find out whether your preschool has made the cut – http://www.naeyc.org/accreditation/center_search.asp

[via Parent Center]

Most preschools operate on an installment plan, and the more quickly you pay the tuition in full — in two installments, say, rather than monthly — the cheaper it will be for you. Many schools charge interest if the tuition payments are spread out over a period of months.

Parent-run cooperative preschools generally cost less but require more of your time. Fran Brook, a mother of three in Novato, Calif., chose a co-op when she sent her third child to Novato Parents’ Nursery School. “I spent one day there every other week leading the kids in activities the director had planned,” she says. “We also had one evening meeting a month and one or two work Saturdays a year.”

Brook still had to pay something, but she estimates it was half what a regular school would have cost. What’s more, it was a great way to become part of the community. “I was new in town,” she says. “Through my son’s preschool I got to meet other parents with similar interests.”

[via Parent Center]

Watch your children for signs of fear and anxiety they may not be able to put into words. Have your children become extra clingy, needing more hugs and kisses than usual? Have your children started wetting the bed or sucking their thumb after you thought they had outgrown that behavior? They may be feeling the pressure of what is going on in the world around them. Use play to help your children express their fears and encourage them to use art or pretend games to express what they may not be able to put into words.

Use your family like a security blanket for your children: wrap them up in family closeness and make sure your children have lots of family time. During times of stress and change, spend more time with your children playing games, reading to them, or just holding them close.

Young children especially crave routine and rituals. If bedtime is the time you read stories to your children, make sure you keep that time for stories. Your child may be less able to handle change when he or she is going through a particularly rough time.

[via APA]

The latest research shows mixed results. According to an ongoing study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Md., which has tracked more than 1,300 children in 10 cities since 1991, preschoolers who attend day care for a year or more have an increased chance of discipline problems through the sixth grade, regardless of sex, family income or the quality of the day care center. On average, the more time that a child spends in day care (especially as an infant or toddler), the more problems arise.

But the study, published in the March-April issue of Child Development, also found that high-quality day care attendance is linked to children’s higher vocabulary scores through elementary school.

The takeaway message is that both the quantity and quality of child care do matter,” says Sharon Ramey, director of the Georgetown University Center on Health and Education in Washington, D.C. As a result, Ramey recommends that working parents should try to arrange their schedules creatively so that a child doesn’t have to be in nonparental care for excessively long periods of time — say, more than 30 to 40 hours a week.

In addition, Ramey says that research is just starting to show that not only is it important to find high-quality child care, but it’s also important to find the type of care that works best for your son or daughter and that takes his or her personality and individual needs into account.

In other words, a place that works for one youngster may or may not be the right place for another youngster. Thus, working parents need to be on the lookout for any signs of stress or distress in a child who attends day care — such as unusual crying or hitting incidents — and deal with them proactively.

Still, despite the somewhat troubling research findings regarding day care and discipline problems, Ramey notes that this new study “also affirms, again, that home environment has the largest and most lasting effect on a child.” This includes the overall quality of parenting — which is a stronger and much more significant predictor of developmental outcomes than any early child care experience.  

[via Revolution Health Group]

The makers of Thomas and Friends wooden railway toys is recalling about one and a-half million of them.

RC2 Corporation, which imports and distributes the toy, issued the recall because paint on the toys contains lead and could be toxic if ingested by young children. There have been no injuries reported.

The recall covers wooden vehicles, buildings and other parts sole from January 2005 through this month.

Details: by phone at 866-725-4407;

Details: by Web at http://recalls.rc2.com and http://www.cpsc.gov.

[via KTLA]

There are a number of different private schools and choosing one is a decision that requires much thought and research. It is advisable to first create a list of features that you are looking for in a private school. You should also consider the location and cost of the school before making your final decision. Some private schools are residential facilities while others are attended on a day-to-day basis. Choice is key when it comes to private schools. You can choose an institution based upon it academic curriculum, religious instruction, or specialized theme (such as drama, dance, or sports).

Many private schools have been in existence for hundreds of years and enjoy an outstanding reputation that continues to draw new enrollees.

As a growing number of parents are looking for new and innovative ways to educate their children, these schools have begun to take on many new turns. For instance, home schools and charter schools are often variants of private schools. In some school districts, a number of home schools can band together and become a private school. This has increased the popularity of home schooling and has allowed many churches to operate home schooling under the supervision of their church leadership. Charter schools are like private institutions in the sense that they are not run under the supervision of the local school board, however, charter schools operate on government-funded dollars.

[via social studies help]

Math at the elementary level revolves around learning conceptual frameworks and understanding patterns, in addition to the basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Younger students begin to understand basic amounts–whole, half, and quarter–as they start to see math expand its significance beyond the classroom. Lessons that focus on estimation, inequalities and averages help your child begin to implement these lessons in the grocery store, on the baseball field and even at the dinner table.

If you can solve the problems below, you might be able to keep up with your child–and be a real help with arithmetic homework.

Estimation is the act of finding an approximate answer, not an exact answer.
To round off decimals:
Find the place value you want (the “rounding digit”) and look at the digit just to the right of it.
If that digit is less than five, do not change the “rounding digit” but drop all digits to the right of it.
If that digit is greater than or equal to five, add one to the “rounding digit” and drop all digits to the right of it.

To round off whole numbers:
Find the place value you want (the “rounding digit”) and look to the digit just to the right of it.
If that digit is less than five, do not change the “rounding digit” but change all digits to the right of the “rounding digit” to zero.
If that digit is greater than or equal to five, add one to the “rounding digit” and change all digits to the right of the rounding digit to zero.

Inequalities are mathematical expressions that show two quantities are not equal. An inequality is used when the exact value of an expression is unknown. Instead of an equals sign, use one of these symbols:
> greater than
< less than
≤ less than or equal to
≥ greater than or equal to

Mean, Median, Mode, Range
Consider the set of numbers: 80, 90, 90, 100, 85, 90.
The mean is another term for the average, found by adding a set of numbers and dividing by the quantity of numbers there are in that set.
(80 + 90 + 90 + 100 + 85 + 90) / 6 = 89 1/6
The median is the number in the middle. To find the median, put the values in order from lowest to highest. Then find the number that is exactly in the middle.
80 85 90 90 90 100
If there is an even number of values, average the two values in the middle
90 + 90 / 2 = 90
Notice that there is exactly the same number of values above the median as below it.
The mode is the value that occurs most often.
90
The range is the difference between the lowest and highest values. The range shows how spread out the data are.
100 – 80 = 20

Shapes
Polygons are flat, closed figures with three or more sides. The most commonly recognized polygons are triangles, rectangles, and squares. Here are a few terms that may have escaped your memory.

A quadrilateral, such as a square or a rectangle, has four sides.
A pentagon has five sides.
A hexagon has six.
An octagon has eight.
The number of sides also determines how many angles a polygon has. A quadrilateral has four angles, a pentagon has five, etc.

Prime and Composite Numbers
A prime number is a counting number that only has two factors–itself and one.
A composite number has more than two factors, such as 6, whose factors are 1, 2, 3, and 6.
The number 1 has only one factor (itself) and is neither prime nor composite.

[via Sylvan Learning Center]

Most preschools operate on an installment plan, and the more quickly you pay the tuition in full — in two installments, say, rather than monthly — the cheaper it will be for you. Many schools charge interest if the tuition payments are spread out over a period of months.

Parent-run cooperative preschools generally cost less but require more of your time. Fran Brook, a mother of three in Novato, Calif., chose a co-op when she sent her third child to Novato Parents’ Nursery School. “I spent one day there every other week leading the kids in activities the director had planned,” she says. “We also had one evening meeting a month and one or two work Saturdays a year.”

Brook still had to pay something, but she estimates it was half what a regular school would have cost. What’s more, it was a great way to become part of the community. “I was new in town,” she says. “Through my son’s preschool I got to meet other parents with similar interests.”

[via ParentCenter]

Set My School
9&10 News – BENZIE COUNTY CENTRAL BERGMANN CENTER BIG JACKSON PUBLIC SCHOOLS BIG RAPIDS HEAD START BIG RAPIDS PINEVIEW BIG RAPIDS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE BITELY HEAD START BLANCHARD CHRISTIAN ACAD. BLANCHARD HEADSTART BOYNE CITY ALTERNATIVE ED. BOYNE CITY PRESCHOOL BOYNE CITY

Fisher: Easing the way to college
San Jose Mercury News – Even the highest paid preschool teachers make about half as much as public kindergarten teachers, though they have comparable education credentials. We’ve learned a lot in recent years about brain development during the first years of life and the

Commentary: Hyperactivity
14 WFIE – Editor’s Note: Our child development commentator, Judy Lyden, has worked with very young children for over thirty years. She’s been a preschool teacher for over twenty. She co-owns the Garden School, an early childhood academic center, with Edith St

Parents, staff lobby to keep Detroit schools open
Detroit News – Smith is a member of the parent/community organization at the center, which is licensed by the state to teach preschool and kindergarten. It could accommodate more students, the staff said in its presentation packet. That seemed to be a theme today as

Assembly’s spending priorities far apart
Richmond Times-Dispatch – Already divided over billions for transportation, the House and the Senate are now split on public-employee pay raises, preschool and even political pork for cultural and tourist attractions. In pre-Super Bowl sessions, the House Appropriations and

Pre-School Questions Expert Advice
14 WFIE – Looking for preschool is always a little daunting for parents searching for the first time. Questions about what age to send them and what kind of program is best to get children ready for big school are questions most frequently asked. I recommend

Weather on demand in Orcutt
Santa Maria Times – Although sunshine was predicted for the afternoon, parts of Orcutt were covered by snow this morning. Upward Bound Preschool sponsored a free snow day for the public, and children were invited to play in two large snowy hills, two six-foot inflatable

Iowa Lawmakers’ Focus on Loan Rates and Education
KCRG.com – Republicans say they’ll go along with the democrats’ plan to inject $107,000 into local school budgets, allowing them growth of 4 percent. But they say democrats want to spend too much on teacher salaries, enhancing preschool offerings and lowering

Family an important link for country singer Rodney Atkins
Houston Chronicle – Atkins, 37, wrote it after his son’s preschool teachers told him Elijah was serenading his classmates with the No. 1 title track to his dad’s sophomore album, If You’re Going Through Hell . “I went and had a talk with him about that, that it might not