Anyone who has ever held a newborn can't help but marvel at how many changes that helpless loaf of human, which can't even hold up its own head, can go through in just a few short years.

By the time that newborn starts kindergarten, it will have learned how to control its body, going from effortlessly rolling over to scaling cribs and couches. That newborn will run and dress itself. It will move from an all-liquid diet to one made of chewy foods and the occasional marble or wood chip.

Perhaps the most fascinating developments, however, happen inside that newborn's brain, where it slowly figures out a new language while it is simultaneously developing the mental architecture to support the idea of language itself. It's a pretty significant feat.

Those years from birth to age 5 are commonly called the "Learning Years." It's both a marketing ploy and a fundamental truth. Which is why early education, which can mean a variety of things, is so very important.

One universal to the formal early education programs in this area is that they aren't designed to make kids into little obedient robots who have had their innate thirst for information drilled out of them.

For Tim Gracy, the principal at Greater Plains Elementary School, the key to the school's pre-kindergarten program is its emphasis on setting up structures for the kids that prepare them for the social and academic structures that they'll face when they start school.

"Socialization is very important," Gracy says. "It gives kids the experience to be with others their age and to build camaraderie and friendships. Secondary things are the academics."

In his school's Universal Pre-K, which is a free half-day program that can hold up to 32 4-year-olds, kids are exposed to skills such as holding a pen for the first time. Still, rigid classroom drills aren't the main focus of most early education programs.

"Our goal is to provide a structured environment but to still allow them to be a kid," Gracy says.

And, yes, in Gracy's opinion, you can tell which kids have had early education before they enter kindergarten, whether that experience came through early home schooling or in a formal setting.

This area of the state appears to be rich with early education programs. Most parents who are interested in outside-of-the-home schooling are able to find something that fits their needs. And most children in the area have some kind of a preschool experience, according to Marie Petta, the director of the Bugbee Children's Center.

"Children coming in to kindergarten have benefited from pre-k programs," Petta says. "They are better prepared to learn. All of the programs do a wonderful job with that."

One of the biggest factors, however, is cost, especially if the family is also in need of all-day care for a child. There are many free half-day programs for older kids. But how do you provide both early education and quality care for the smallest set?

In the last 30 years, Petta says, preschools and day-care centers have "become more highly regulated. More education is required of staff so that has resulted in many consequences, some unintended. The theory is that children will have a highly quality experience with a more educated staff. Compensation for the staff is a huge issue, however."

"In many ways, we're moving forward, particularly in New York state," Petta says. But there is a "trilemma" of continually balancing quality, affordability for parents and compensation for staff. "The regulations require more with less assistance. It's also a quagmire in many ways."

Despite this juggling act, Bugbee's program of "providing the children with a broad exposure to the world and learning to respond appropriately to other people" is always Petta's primary goal.

Downsville Central School gives children as young as 2 and their parents or caregivers an exposure to early learning through its FIRST (Families Into Reading Succeed Together) program. Children ages 2 and 3 and an adult, usually a parent, attend together. The 4-year-olds work independently and meet in the afternoons in a more-traditional pre-k program. Both programs are free.

For the past four years, teaching assistant Jody Reed has been planning lessons that will get the youngest students prepared for "real" school.

"Everything has to be 10 minutes or less because they are so little," Reed says. "We work a lot on following directions, a lot of vocabulary. It's a good, positive way for parents to get a good, positive involvement with their children."

Reed also points out that more and more is expected of kids when they enter kindergarten. Most schools expect them to know their colors, to be able to count to 10 and to be able to write their names. This focus on the nuts-and-bolts of academics doesn't have to be boring, however.

"For me, mainly early education is about getting them used to a schedule, getting them used to what school looks like and the fact that school is a fun place to be," Reed says.

By the end of the year, the kids are "feeling comfortable, following directions. They just seem more relaxed in the school."

The FIRST program benefits more than just the child's ability to focus in school. Parents have a chance to build community bonds with other parents as well as see how other adults interact with their child, she said.

Reed gets something out of the program as well.

"I just love it," she says. "They all show such growth in just a year."