Our Program
Santa Barbara City College Continuing Education provides the Parent Education Instructor for the San Marcos program. We accept children ages 2 years 6 months to 5 years old in our morning and afternoon program. They may attend one, two, three, four or five days a week depending on their age.
AM Program: 8:45am - 12:00pm (Monday - Friday)
Students enroll in the AM Cooperative Program by selecting the weekdays that the child will attend. A family member will also work at school one of the mornings that their child attends.
8:30-8:45 – Workday parents arrive and help setup the morning.
8:45-9:00 – Children arrive and School begins - Children enter the program, greet their friends and teachers and choose from several activities to participate in. They move freely from outside to inside activities as their interests dictate.
10:00-10:30 – Snack
10:30-11:30 – Children play outside
11:30-11:40 – Clean-up
11:40-12:00 – Group time (2 groups)
12:00 – Cooperative Morning Program Ends - Parents arrive to pick up children. Final cleanup by workday parents and daily wrap-up discussion with Director. Afternoon Program children arrive and have lunch in the back yard.
PM Program: 12:00-3:30 (Monday - Friday)
Students enroll in the PM Program per weekday, the same way as for the AM Cooperative Program, but it will be billed based on the actual days in session. The PM Program is based on the same play-based, exploratory learning model that the cooperative program is, but will be staffed by professional educators exclusively (no parental involvement required).
12:00-12:30 – Lunch
12:30-1:00 – Transition to inside quiet time
1:00-2:00 – Quiet time
2:00-2:30 – Snack time
2:30-3:30 – Children play inside or outside - Parents arrive to pick up children
Afternoon Program Ends.
Our program consists of a preschool (see Childrens Curriculum) and parent education classes (Adult Curriculum). There is a high level of Parent Participation required. If this sounds of interest to you, we invite you to review the Enrollment Process.