cost of preschool?

[TexasMom]

I may be spending about six months in Mexico and would like to enroll my son in preschool to learn Spanish. Does anyone know the cost of preschool in the Lake Chapala area for a toddler? He will be about 2.5 years when I come to Ajijic.

Thanks!

[R2D2]

Not sure about the prices, but search in Internet for :

Tohui

www.tohuimocel.edu.mx/

Roosevelt school Ajijic

www.rooseveltschool.edu.mx

They are bilingual schools with preschool .

[Wheels]

Loyola Institute is also very good

[lakeside7]

2.5 seems to be rather young, maybe I am out of touch(I would guess 990pesos amonth)

[Solfeggio]

In my experience, there are two types of child care here, though sometimes a single school offers both: 1) Guardarias, which are sort of like Daycare, and will accept even infants, although they prefer them potty-trained. And 2) Kinders which are more like Pre-School or Kindergarten, and are typically for children about 4-6 years old, and sometimes require uniforms. Tohui is excellent, and there is even a Maria Montessori school in Chapala. Prices start at about 1200 pesos a month for approx. 4 hours a day. But you will also need to pay an "inscription" fee. We've been really please with the care and education our grandkids received over the years at various Lakeside schools.

[Renee D.]

Hi, Texas Mom. My daughter went to Tohui-Mocel, which is the nicest school here, and yes they have pre-school for the 2.5 yr olds. It's a lovely little school, very warm with nice families and staff. Assuming the price is the same (my daughter was in 6th) the cost is $250 USD per month plus a resgistration fee. It's not great for older kids trying to learn Spanish, because so many of the kids speak good English and the school doesn't know how to deal with kids learning Spanish in the higher grades. But it would be great for your little one.

[MyHomeSweetHome]

Preschool is viewed in a different way than we view it NOB. Taking your baby to preschool is what we would call daycare NOB, nothing to be frowned at.

Tohui is 1900 pesos a month for that age 2.5 age group, 5500 registration plus new family has to pay an addition 3000 pesos. preschool enrollment fee is less than primaria.

If that´s more than you wanted to spend, there´s a bi-lingual preschool in La Floresta that I thought was very nice, Kinder Don Bosco. Going towards Ajijic it's the first street on the left after E-SUN, then, first right, on the right hand side. One day is English, next day is Spanish. They take drop ins etc. Inscription fee 2000 pesos, 1500 pesos a month, uniforms 1640 pesos preschool hours are 8 a.m. -1 p.m.

The main difference with those two schools that was a concern for us is that the one in La Floresta allows children to drink sodas and have junk food while Tohui and other schools do not allow that. Also the smaller preschool, which has been in the area for 30 years, incorporates Catholicism in it's curriculum whereas the larger schools do not. A local teacher highly recommended Kinder Don Bosco. Teachers at both schools were very kind and helpful. Tohui spends 1/2 of the day teaching in English and 1/2 of the day teaching in Spanish. The majority of the children in Tohui are Mexican as seemed in Kinder Don Bosco so children playing will definitely pick up Spanish quickly.

We have friends with children in VillaNova that just love it but I have no idea of the tuition fees, I'm curious as well as from reading a previous thread the reviews were not favorable. We heard recently good reports of Loyola school in SAT from parents.

Roosevelt, we were told a few years ago by a former teacher that the preschool age children didn't leave the classroom and it was always very stuffy and crowded. Things obviously could have changed since then.

[Solfeggio]

There is Decroly in Chapala with tuition at about 900-and-something pesos a month. They have monitors installed so that parents can check on and view their child via internet at any time. That was important to our family.