Marciah Boerema, an Early Learning Center Preschool teacher, entertains a question about separation anxiety at last night's preschool panel.

Ronald Ahrens | For AnnArbor.com

Choosing a preschool got a little bit easier last night for about two dozen parents who attended the annual Preschool Panel presented by the Washtenaw County chapter of Mothers & More.

Representatives from eight area preschools described an impressive range of options during the forum held at the Pittsfield Township Senior Center.

The 14 panel members concurred a preschool should exude a homey feeling, and this will help guide parents’ choices.

“I definitely understand how hard it can be to leave your child,” said Genevieve Thompson, director of Bemis Farms Childcare & Preschool in Saline. “It should feel like family.”

Mothers & More is a national support and advocacy group for mothers, regardless of employment status.

The panel clarified distinctions between cooperatives, where parents volunteer with instructional and other duties in the school, and traditional preschools, which have larger professional staffs. Cooperatives are significantly less expensive and typically appeal to families with one stay-at-home parent and also to student-families, said Lynn Archer, director of the Ann Arbor Cooperative Preschool.

Poor economic conditions have contributed to a statewide decrease in enrollment at cooperatives, Archer said. She cited cases of children being taken out of her school when the caregiving parent has suddenly found employment after the layoff of the household’s other wage earner.

The significance of accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children was also explained. Earning the NAEYC stamp is an expensive process that smaller institutions might find impossible to undertake, panel members said. Yet the lack of this credential doesn’t represent inherent deficiencies.

The unique approaches to early education developed by Maria Montessori and Rudolf Steiner were also discussed by teachers from the Daycroft Montessori School and the Rudolf Steiner School of Ann Arbor.

The Montessori method, for example, emphasizes practical and sensory learning - in addition to the acquisition of basic reading and math skills.

Parents like Angie Watson said they found the discussion especially useful. Watson’s 2-year-old son, Timothy, will be old enough to enter preschool in the fall. Because many institutions aren’t licensed to do diaper changing, they observe a cutoff age for acceptance at 2 years and 8 months, when most youngsters have been toilet trained.

“It’s not looking good,” Watson said.

But she was encouraged not to worry about the issue until August.

Ronald Ahrens is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.