Variety of preschools cater to different families’ needs

Some like to think of education as a marathon, not a sprint.

Yes, every milestone in a child’s educational journey is important. But there are literally dozens of milestones along the way, which means there are a lot of important decisions for parents to make.

On one level, this means parents must remember to save energy and bandwidth (and resources) for the biggest decisions at the end. In another way, the realities of modern education suggest that before parents wrestle with private schools or college, they first must select the best preschool for their child.

Preschool is the school before kindergarten — the earliest of the options for early childhood education. The Bay Area offers a lot of options for this phase of schooling — quite literally hundreds of preschools of just about every shape and size. These entities differ from each other in a multitude of ways: target age groups, coverage hours, curriculum philosophy and religious affiliation are four of the most common differentiators.

“Preschools are like kids themselves — they’re all very different,” said Ellen Park, CEO and cofounder of Peekadoodle, a preschool in San Francisco. “It’s important [for parents] to take the time to get to know what’s what before you just sign up.” else, you’re not part of a throwaway society,” she said. “It makes them part of a global situation. They see beyond just themselves. They see other people. They see the cycle of life. What we’re trying to teach these kids is that regardless of your age, everybody is entitled to dignity.”

Another unique preschool: The Discovery School, the on-site preschool for kids ages 3 to 5 at the Bay Area Discovery Museum at Fort Baker in Sausalito.

Here, educators value and prioritize time for pursuing interests, developing relationships and engaging in imaginative play and exploration with open-ended materials. The group spends time having circle time, exploring outside, sharing stories, singing songs and engaging in small group work.

PEEKADOODLE A child explores a water table at Peekadoodle, a preschool in the Inner Richmond. The indoor-outdoor learning space includes a 2,500-square-foot play yard that has sand and water features.