Preschools that are NOT religious, do they exist?

[angie7]

Well, my question is pretty much the title of the thread. Are there any preschools that are not religious? I can not find one anywhere near me. My girls are 3.5 and begging to go to school so I thought I would start looking into it but we are family of Atheists. While we don't plan to raise them as Atheists but rather free thinkers, I don't want my young child expose to church anything at this age. So how do you find a good school that has no bible/god talk???

[hempmama]

Where do you live? Here in urban Seattle, you have to look a lot harder to find a religious preschool than a secular one. I think this is different in the suburbs, though, and in rural areas it's kind of whatever is there.

[it's just apples]

Try the Parks and Rec service in your area. My ds goes to the Parks & Rec preschool. It has a great teacher to student ratio, good curriculum, lots of play time, and is not religious. We are Christian, but I know there are Hindu and Atheist kids at his school also.

[angie7]

I live in the MidWest, bible belt as some call it Might have to look a bit harder maybe...

[newbymom05]

Did you try googling "preschool" and your area? Here there are secular schools/daycares like Beary Best, Apple-Something-or-Other and Primrose. There's also Montessori and in then next city, Waldorf. And while my area is pretty crunchy overall, it's VERY religious. I bet there's at least one secular school in your area, you just have to find it!

[jmo]

I guess it depends on where you live. I don't even know of any religious preschools where I live. Many of the preschools around here are actually within church buildings but are not associated with that church -- they just cheaply rent the space. The coop prechool my dd attends is w/in a church but has absolutely no affiliation w/ the church.

[Bokonon]

In my area, there are public preschools through the school districts, but they are hard to get into (first come, first served, and/or special needs), aren't free, and most require parent participation at least once a month (not feasible for us as we have nobody to watch the baby).

We ended up sending DS to a private preschool that is at a daycare. It's part-time and about $150/month more than a church preschool, but it's also about twice as many hours per week, and it's non-religious.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

we are part of a co-op preschool, in our area which allows parents to have a lot of input into the curriculum.

[wytchywoman]

Head Start should be fine. And check into the public schools in your area. The district I teach for has regular ed preschools and then they also have special ed preschools where they invite general ed preschoolers in to act as peer models for the special ed preschoolers. Montessori and Waldorf should be fine as well but they can get pricey.

[riverscout]

We live in a pretty progressive little town and have everything from Waldorf to Montessori to co-ops to church based preschools. Funny thing is, one of the most popular preschools with the longest waiting list is church based. It's really a great school, it's inexpensive, and it does not have a religious curriculum at all.

If you haven't already, it might be worth checking out some of the church preschools in your area to see what their curriculum is really like. It might not include religion. That is unless you are opposed to the fact that it is a church at all in which case just ignore me .

[eepster]

Around here there are many secular preschools that rent space from churches. Since church building are under utilized, and often have rooms set up for children (sunday school rooms) they just rent the space out on weekdays. So, just b/c a preschool is located in a church doesn't mean it's religious.

[funkymamajoy]

DS attends a non-religious preschool through the city's recreation department. Our school district has a pre-k program and some of the daycare chains, like Kindercare, have part-time preschool programs.

[noobmom]

I like to say we live in the buckle of the Bible belt (South Carolina) Our Montessori preschool is completely non-religious. But, as another PP said, the most popular preschool in town is a Lutheran-run preschool. I spoke with many parents (including non-religious ones) who were very happy with it. However, they do have a "chapel" every week and say grace before eating, both of which were negatives in my book, but not huge ones. We considered it, but chose the Montessori for academic reasons.

[3*is*magic]

Originally Posted by jmo

I guess it depends on where you live. I don't even know of any religious preschools where I live. Many of the preschools around here are actually within church buildings but are not associated with that church -- they just cheaply rent the space. The coop prechool my dd attends is w/in a church but has absolutely no affiliation w/ the church.

This is the case in my neck of the woods, too. Are you sure that the preschools near you that are housed in churches are actually religiously affiliated?

[SomedayMom]

I used to live in the Bible Belt part of the midwest (Springfield MO) and it was HARD to find a non religious school. I would have been OK with a liberal religious school, but liberal religious and bible belt? Ha! My son ended up going to a Goddard school, which we were very happy with, even if I would have preferred Montessori (which didn't exist, nothing non traditional existed at the time). I feel your pain.

We live in St. Louis now and I got my Montessori wish Non religious schools are more plentiful in bigger cities for sure. At least compared to the bible belt.

[shanniesue2]

It really depends on where you're at. Oklahoma, for example, is number 2 in the nation for access to public preschool. There are only a few schools in the district I teach in that don't offer free preschool. However it is a first come first serve basis. They limit each class to 20 kids (two teachers) and a waiting list develops after that.

Head start is good, but you pretty much have to be low income or special needs to qualify.

In the town I live in, if you don't want to send your child to public preschool, pretty much the only option is church-based. But I live in a suburb. In the city, there are more options... day care based preschools (that actually do follow a curriculum), YMCA's, Montessori, a Reggio Emilia based school, Head Start, Educare, and of course the public schools.

[Drummer's Wife]

Personally, I would look for a Montessori school first... that said, my DS goes to the districts play based pre-k program and it is wonderful.

Definitely check co-ops, elementary schools, and rec centers.

As an atheist, I also wouldn't be comfortable with a religious preschool - at least I don't think I would, maybe if there was literally nothing else and I felt like my child needed to be in school.

[Fyrestorm]

Our local Y (one of the best in the area) has a wonderful preschool program...they even swim once per week.

My DD went there for 2 years and LOVED it.

[m.m.m.]

Around us we have a fairly large number of options. My son currently attends a preschool run through a local university, great program run by people who are interested in education. A couple of local high schools have child development preschools, more limited hours though.

And the YMCA near us, and parks&rec.
The local church ones tend to really focus on the religious aspect, we avoid them

[mamazee]

The only one near where I was living when #1 was that age was a Montessori preschool. I don't know what's here, where I'm living now, and we're planning on moving again - to a more liberal area this time - so I might have more options when #2 is ready for preschool. The non-religious ones are pricier because churches don't have to pay taxes so they don't have as much overhead. But I was willing to pay.