DS, now 5 had attended a YMCA based program for the last three years. It started out as "mommie-and-me" style and we just got done with 3-day/week program. It was a lot like Kriston described. For us it was definitely social oriented and to some degree "getting institutionalized" (I mean that in a good way of getting acclimated to school). We found this to be a very positive experience for us. DS5 just picks stuff up on his own so we didn't worry about what the preschool was teaching in the academically sense.
JB
