Can somebody break down the type of daycares/preschools/nursery schools that kids go to before 1st grade?

Please help me sort it out.

What "schools" do kids go to before going to 1st grade?

Are any of them mandatory?

What are the age groups for each one and the differences?

I am clueless.

TIA

Re: Can somebody break down the type of daycares/preschools/nursery schools that kids go to before 1st grade?

Before 1st grade, the only mandatory school is Kindergarten, and that's roughly age 5. DS went to Pre-K (the K is for Kindergarten). Before Pre-K, he went to preschool, but they weren't required, just something we thought DS would benefit from.

Re: Can somebody break down the type of daycares/preschools/nursery schools that kids go to before 1st grade?

None are mandatory.

Here is what we did (are doing)

3 years old - Nursery school 3 afternoons a week (from 1:00 - 4:00)

4 years old - Pre-K 5 afternoons a week (1:00 - 4:00)

Kindergarten at 5.

Re: Can somebody break down the type of daycares/preschools/nursery schools that kids go to before 1st grade?

Depends on where you live. In NYS kindergarten is mandated, in NJ it is not. My brother's SIL is a 1st grade teacher in NJ and she can tell right away which of her kids did not attend kindy. In NYC pre-school is provided free to students. My school district on LI does not offer that, in fact we are one of the last districts to still have half day kindergarten.

We did:
Nursery School starting around 2.5 years
Pre-School will be around 4 years
Kindy around 5 years