After being in Monterey for the past three years, my girls and friends experienced the most upbeat and friendly environment in the City's "Recreation and Community Services Department Preschool Program" which offers three locations (Monterey Youth Center and Hilltop Park Center/Pacific Grove are my favorites) for a very surprisingly low monthly fee. We tried other places before (with waiting lists up to a year and monthly fees of $500.00 an up) but came back to the City's program - and not because of the $$ difference but because of the teachers, their very friendly attitude, lots of different arts projects throughout the week/month, and simply because of the atmosphere that made my girls always answer:"I had a good day, I had fun". And I could witness myself how my girls changed and learned while attending this school. They surprised me sometimes with the info they brought home about the things they learned. It also helpted that twice a week (Tues & Fri) they were allowed to bring one of their favorite toys for 'share day'.
The program in all centers runs from Tues-Fri, 10:00 - 13:00 hrs. The days are up to the parents to choose from, no set min/or maximum of days, any constellation of weekdays are fine. And on Mondays, and a tiny extra fee of $30.-/month, you can add MondayMorningStoryTime which is held in the same class rooms with the same teachers and same time schedule but a different core. The kids listen to a story and play and do crafts etc. around this story for the rest of the day - no curriculum to follow. It is a nice break in learning and was always welcomed in our home. The Monterey Youth Center also offers excellent Gymnastic classes right next door to the Preschool and your child can attend twice a week right after school/13:00 hr for 45 minutes this class and the teachers are so nice to change her/him into their outfits, bring them over to class and you just come and pick your little one up at 13:45 that day instead. Registration starts in early July, waiting lists from the year before will be voided and everybody gets a shot. Only students from the previous year have priority.
And during spring/summer/fall breaks: no worries, school continues (again, same venues/timings/teachers) you just have to book in advance once the bi-annual "Activity Guide" comes out (May and end of October) to secure a spot for your child to ensure uninterrupted care throughout the year -in case you are working half days or so, just as a tip.
We hope you will enjoy this school setting as much as we did. And as said before, Monterey Youth Center and Hilltop Park Center are our favorites: their staff is excellent, very friendly as well, and both centers have different additional programs to offer (for example: Gymnastic in Monterey, and Ballet in Hilltop). And your enrollment has NOTHING to do where you live, it's simply your own decision. All centers have attached playgrounds and the one in Hilltop got my girls highest marks because of the sand and the swings.