Free pass to Busch Gardens for Preschool Kids

If you live in Florida, this is a fantastic deal you don't want to miss!  Children five and younger can get passes for free for Busch Gardens and Sea World as part of the Preschool Pass. This pass offers unlimited admission to both of the amusement parks in Tampa and Orlando for all of 2017.

I did this a few years ago with my girls and it is simple to do to get your pass. You can only get it online, so you have to register online. You will print out a pass and need your child's birth certificate when you go to the park.

Click here to sign up. 

Preschool for Free in Florida

If you have young kids, you may be thinking about preschool. Did you know that when your child is 4 years old they can go to preschool for free? It is part of the state funded program called Voluntary Prekindergarten or VPK. Right now preschools are registering for next year. A lot of times the good schools get filled up fast, so you have to start looking now if you plan on enrolling your child for the fall. You need to look at a preschool that is certified with the state. There are certain requirements that a school must have to be considered as a VPK school.

Both of my daughters went to a private preschool at our church, Faith Presbyterian. There they offered VPK three hours a day Monday through Friday. For our family this was perfect. Some preschools offer VPK three days a week five hours a day. It all depends on the school. I was a little hesitant at first about pre-K because I was a stay at home mom and my children never had gone to preschool before. I think my hesitation may have been that I never went to preschool, so I didn’t think my kids needed preschool. My husband and I knew friends that had sent their kids to VPK. So, I thought well, if it is free and my kid only goes for three ours a day, I guess I can handle it.  I was very impressed by the school. The teachers were fantastic and my girls loved going to school every day. It was a wonderful bonding time for my daughters to meet other little kids. It was also a great experience for me, because I was able to meet so many other moms that are now my friends.  Preschool usually runs around $2500 for the school year, so we saved that much on each child. A pretty nice savings, especially if your child was going to be in preschool anyway.

I know every parent has their own thoughts on whether or not their child should go to preschool, and I respect that.  I have asked kindergarten teachers if they noticed a difference between the kids that went to preschool and those that didn’t. Most have said yes.  My sister is a kindergarten teacher and she told me she definitely sees a difference at the beginning of the year.  She said that the students that attend VPK know a little more what to expect in kindergarten. The students know how to stand in a line, raise their hand to answer a question and most of the time already know their letters of the alphabet. Some even know how to read a little.

I think preschool is like kindergarten was back when I was kid, many moons ago. If you don’t have kids in school yet, you are in for a big surprise. I was shocked when my daughter started reading in pre-k. She is in kindergarten now and is reading books. When I was little, I remember kindergarten as a time for learning letters and naps. Kids don’t get naps anymore and sight words are what the children are learning. They are even writing sentences and stories. Pre-K was a good start for my two girls.

My recommendation is to check around and see what school fits your needs. Any child that is four years old and lives in the state of Florida is eligible for VPK. You do need to register. If the state is paying for your child to go to preschool, why not take advantage of it? It may not be for every child, but it is an opportunity that you should consider.

What to Look for When Choosing a Preschool for your Child

(A new writer to my blog giving a teacher's perspective on issues facing parents in the school system)

Teacher Tales: By Ree Shapiro

As parents, we make many tough decisions for our children.  We spend hours agonizing over our choices, wondering if we've made the right ones.  Choosing the right preschool can definitely cause a few sleepless nights.

A few years ago when the government stepped in to help finance the cost of preschool or  Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) for our four year olds, that certainly helped alleviate some of the stress. Now at least cost was not one of the top concerns.  It also opened the door to a lot more schools; schools where cost may have been automatically deleted them from your list of choices. 

The problem is more choices can in some ways make our decisions more stressful.  What factors should you consider to ensure you are choosing the right place for your child?  Some factors are of course, non-negotiable.  You want your child to be safe, happy and well cared for.  You also need the school to meet some of your needs in operating hours and convenience.  Another extremely important factor is whether the preschool you choose will prepare your child for kindergarten.  This can be discovered by learning about the preschools curriculum.

Not all preschools are required to follow the same curriculum.  It is extremely important to ask questions about the curriculum at the preschools you are considering for your child.  Kindergarten expectations grow every year.  Parents are always amazed to learn at kindergarten orientation and open house that their child is expected to be reading by the end of kindergarten!  This is easily accomplished throughout the kindergarten year, by those students who were academically ready when they started kindergarten.

How do I have my child ready?  This takes us back to choosing the right preschool.  Your child’s preschool curriculum should provide many getting ready to read activities through-out the day.  These activities should include: letter and sound recognition, rhyming and sequencing activities as well as phonemic awareness (which are putting sounds together to form words), and lots and lots of read-aloud time.  During read-aloud time, teachers should be asking comprehension questions and giving students opportunities to re-tell or act out stories.  Preschools that help your child learn to write their name, use fine motor skills such as; cutting and gluing and teach beginning math skills such as; counting and shape recognition is definitely a bonus.  In my kindergarten class, I am always amazed by the range of learning that some of my students have acquired from their  preschool.  It is interesting to watch their progress soar, after beginning school with such a solid foundation.

There are many families that choose not to send their child to preschool and I respect that choice, as long as they prepare their child for kindergarten.  If you are spending time at home each day working with your child on the getting ready to read activities discussed above and taking advantage of your local libraries and other enrichment learning programs, your child will also prepared when they enter kindergarten.

Every year student expectations grow for each grade. You can help your child prepare for kindergarten, by either finding an academically rich preschool or by working at home with them. This will ensure a successful kindergarten year and give your child a firm footing on the academic path through all their school years.

Click here to find out more about VPK with the Florida Department of Educaiton