Preschool Help

I would also recommend Saline Co-op Preschool. My son attended for two years and came away well prepared for Kindergarten both academically and socially. I also got some great friends and contacts from my time at the school. The "jobs" everyone has as part of the co-op are simple and they really try to match you to a job you feel comfortable with and the cost is well within your budget. I would definately recommend attending their open house. The school is located on the northern part of Saline on Ann Arbor-Saline Road not that far from Ann Arbor. Good Luck.

Depending upon what side of town you're on, I can put a plug in for Little People's University, by the corner of Packard and Platt (actually Springbrook and St. Aubin's). My son went there full-time from the time he was 11 weeks old until the weekend before Kindergarten in 2007. It was reasonably priced (it beat KinderCare by about $90 a week back in 2002), it's small and close-knit, and the teachers were fabulous in preparing the kids for Kindergarten.

I highly recommend cooperative preschools. Tuition is kept low because parents help out in the classroom about once a month and usually take on another "job" for the school (i.e., field trip coordinator, fundraising chair, etc.). You also really get the chance to know the other children, parents, and teacher since you're in the classroom every month. If you need childcare for younger siblings on the days you are working in the classroom, many parents in the co-op choose to swap and watch each other's children for them.

Depending on where you live in Ann Arbor, Saline Cooperative Preschool is a wonderful option. Their web site is http://www.salinecoop.org/. They are having an open house on Feb. 24 (see the web site for details) if you want to check it out. They have a 2 half-day/wk program for 3-year-olds and a 3 half-day/wk program for 4 year olds. I don't know how important having a 3 day program for your 3-year-old is to you, but I would definitely recommend checking them out!

My son attends Adventure Center now, he loves going. It's about 78/week and he is there 2 days a week, 10 hours/day ... it costs about 335 a month.