I'm curious... why only 7 months? What visa are you using to accomplish this?

Five in California, state-wide. Six is the legal age at which children must start school:

"Districts must admit children at the beginning of the school year (or whenever they move into a district) if they will be five years of age on or before September 1"

https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/em/kinderinfo.asp

Seven months? Seems odd. You'll just get your feet wet and then it'll be time to go home.
A lot of churn to relocate a family for a relatively short amount of time.

Certainly makes you wonder if the right visas have been applied for/obtained. Seems an awfully big investment of time and money for such a short stretch.

I have two kids in preschool in Encino, Los Angeles. Happy to share recos if you are in this area.

California is a big place and prices for preschool vary dramatically across the state.

5 years old before December the 3rd is the cut off for public Kindergarten or Transitional kindergarten.

Good news is the preschool for a 4-year-old is not as bad as finding infant daycare. Bad news is that by October most places are full.

Let us know the exact location and people can suggest specific preschools in that area. You can contact the preschool and get your name on a waiting list.

I was in San Diego and there are a lot of options.

How did this 7 month move go ? i am thinking of going to California with my wife and 2 kids ages 6 and 3.....

Some schools have K-4 programs which is half a day but generally, kindergarten starts at age 5. You can find private pre-schools all over the place that will do most of the same things.

Well, we're at our halfway point now and I'll be lying if I said it hasn't been challenging.
Firstly, and in answer to the previous questions, we ended up enrolling our 4 y.o. daughter in a daycare centre 5 days a week, roughly from 9am - 4:30pm. Her assimilation was painless and she enjoys it thoroughly. It isn't cheap, although we got the first 4 months at a discount of 20%.

Secondly, we're only here for a short time as my wife is covering a colleague's maternity leave; we thought it'd be a great opportunity for us all particularly as neither of or children had started primary school yet, and I'm on a sabbatical.

What I can say about living in California is that nothing prepares you for the horrendous cost of living (fuel costs aside as that IS cheap in comparison). Groceries are expensive, e.g. roughly $4 for a loaf of sliced wholemeal bread, $8 for a bag of grapes. But then eating out is expensive too and we're not talking huge portions either. You can't help but spend money when you leave the house unless you're walking your kids to your local park or taking them to the library.

My biggest adjustment, having been a full time stay at home dad for a while, is that there are simply not enough drop-in toddler groups ANYWHERE. So, whilst my daughter is at daycare, I'm left wondering what to do with my 18-month old son during weekdays, especially when the weather takes a turn for the worse.

In your situation, will you and your wife be working full-time?

It would only be myself working for at least 1st year. Get kids and wife settled in and then probably try find her something part time.

Thinking about Camarillo, Simi valley , Ventura ? I don't want to commute to far