preschool

I am relocating here from NJ and I'm having trouble picking a preschool for my 4 year old. I would like an academic based school in Livermore without a religious affiliation. I would love to hear your experiences with schools, especially Kindercare and Storyland which are at the top of my list right now.

KinderCare in Springtown is an excellent, excellent preschool. My son attended from the age of 3 until he went to public kindergarten. The program director (Liz) is wonderful as are the teachers, and the academic program itself. My son was an advanced student once he got into public school. Go for a tour and check it out yourself, I'm sure you'll be impressed.

I'll echo what Cath said about KinderCare. While teaching at my karate school nearby, I've dealt with several kids who have gone there, and I've found them to be quite advanced in their social skills. I can't comment on the academics as I don't have children of my own, but I've seen the kids from there to be quite astute for such a young age.

I really liked the Ark preschool (not religious even though the name suggests it) sister school to storyland..at least it was 6 1/2 years ago. It was quite a balanced program and my daughter was more than prepared for kindergarten. I spent time teaching her at home as well though, but it seems that all the children did really well coming from that school. All of the teachers were awesome and friendly and the director Donna (at the time) also the owner were all wonderful. I actually liked it better than storyland, but just my opinion.
To be fair the two things I didn't care for at the school were, the open bathroom (might be changed now) and it seemed like the lights were too dim. However, that didn't affect my daughters education.

I appreciate all of this info. Thank you all so much.