Lakeview Academy will soon be home to students ages 3 through 18.

The school will be adding a 3-year-old academic pre-kindergarten program next fall, Head of School John Kennedy said.

"It'll be part of the entire K-12 curriculum. It will include all of the academics in math and language skills, and we'll also have art, music, Spanish and P.E. as well as a science teacher, just like in our other classes," Kennedy said.

The idea for the program stems from parent interest.

"We had parents who had 3-year-olds who were already potty trained and wanted a full-day program," Kennedy said.

He said school administrators looked at several different options for creating an affordable young pre-K program to meet families' needs. The solution, Kennedy said, is comparable in price to Mother's Day Out programs, but will last the full school day instead of meeting only half days for three or four days a week.

He said it costs just above $200 a week in tuition, and the school will provide need-based financial aid to interested students just as it does with other grades.

While the program idea began with just a few families, Kennedy said there was so much interest that now the school is planning for two classes. Each class will have a lead teacher and an assistant.

"It's unique in Hall County," Kennedy said. "There are Montessori programs in Athens and Atlanta, but primarily the public schools start with 4-year-olds."

Tuition for Lakeview's 2012 school year has already been approved, and registration information for all grades will soon be available on the academy's website.

He said the philosophy behind the program fits in with Gov. Nathan Deal's plan to increase childhood literacy before kids enter elementary school.

"If you get a child at 3, 4 or 5 and give them a great start, they'll be set for the rest of their lives ... otherwise they will be playing catch-up," he said.