Is Pre K the Custodial Parent's Decision and Is it better than Pre School?

shongy19

New member
We have been invited to an open house for Pre K. Our 4yr old is already in a Montessori preschool that she loves and does well with.

My co-parent has adjusted our daughter's childcare 5 times in less than a year (usually for financial reasons, in my opinion stingily)

Most recently, my co took both kids out of childcare (our other kid is in 1st grade and was going to pre and post school care, prior) to watch them from home while also working full time, and two months later put them both back into childcare and has sent me a flyer for the Pre K open house.

It would be only 3 days/week for 2.5 hours in the morning. This would be extremely difficult to manage with work and to supplement with other childcare for the remainder of those days and the rest of the week (because most places require 3 days/week minimum and I would hate to switch her to yet another new facility).

If pre k is the best for our kid, I will of course figure it out, but I think she's getting a lot of the same benefits at her Montessori.

I agreed to give my co custody during mediation (we share 50% time), but they offer very little opportunity for collaboration - it's become very much "my way or the highway".

Is Pre K considered school which would make it my co's sole decision? Or is it technically childcare/preschool meaning I would have some decision-making rights, too?
 
@shongy19 Pre-K is typically a state run program, and isn't just for the kid...it introduces the parents to a semi-structured schedule that is usually based on the local school districts official school calendar (this is for a multitude of reasons, including getting parents used to the logistical/timing side of actual Kindergarten and beyond.

Because of this, it typically falls within the education rights of the custodial parent (or whoever has the higher % of said decisions...in my case we have 50/50 say so in education, with mandatory mediation if a solution cannot be agreed upon.

The curriculum is some what based on what your local public school system is implementing in that first year of grade school for the child...this is something that is often VERY different than that of a private school or Montessori (for better or worse).

So all in all, Pre-K is really not at the same as the pre-school that your child has been used to, and most teachers would agree that a proper pre-K enrollment is better all around for a child who would be entering the public school system as it is kind of a beginners course in such.
 
Back
Top