It seems like everyone I know is getting ready to send their kids off to preschool in the fall, except me. With almost every child going to preschool now days it worries me that DS1 be not ready as ready for kindergarten next year like the rest. Am I worried over nothing? Anyone else choose to skip out on preschool?
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We are still a while away from preschool, but I am not convinced that A will go to preschool. If he does, it definitely won't be full time.
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@aprk: Even FT is only like a few hours a day, I think.
@Koolbreeze: I worry about this too! Kids these days are starting preschool SO much more prepared than when we were kids. I would worry they would be behind the other kids.
Maybe Mrs. Cowgirl can start a blog post about this!
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@aprk: @regberadaisy: I was never worried until everyone started talking about it and now I'm second guessing myself. It's so stressful! Though everyone I know seems to think preschool is an absolute must to teach kids reading and writing and math super early...which I don't see why kids need to learn it all so young!!
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At the state, there is data to show that kids that participate in a VPK (voluntary pre kindergarten) are more prepared for kindergarten. However, this is probably as a whole and for parents that are really involved in education at home may not see that much more/less of a change of readiness.
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That's a ways away for us but I'm not set on it. Interested I'm others responses.
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@T.H.O.U.: We are definitely involved at home with education. And my oldest really loves to sit and do "school" for hours with me. If I ask if he wants to go to school he tells me no way though. Lol.
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I look at preschool as not just academic, but being able to sit still, wait your turn, follow simple instructions, dealing with your emotions, etc. So, for us, we'll do preschool for preparedness in these areas, because no matter what I do academically for my son, I can't as easily provide him the environment where he can learn those non-academic items.
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Our LO is only 3.5 months, but he'll SORT OF being doing preschool. Our daycare has a preschool program, so he'll just end up in that since he'll continue to go to this daycare until he's actually in school (and even then, he'll continue to go to daycare for before and after programs).
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I think that if you choose to skip preschool, it is important that you are still giving your kids opportunities to socialize and be around other children their age. I student taught Pre-K and learning through play was the main focus with cooperative play being an important component of that.
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We're planning on sending my son to preschool in the Fall but not because of kindergarten readiness (we're sending him to help boost his speech). But I do want to mention that when he got his evaluation done by the school district, he tested 18 months ahead in pre-academic skills and the evaluators were saying that he would be more than ready for Kinder (academically) if we sent him now. And this is just from us working with him at home. So I don't think you need preschool to prepare to kinder in the academic sense. Involved parents can do a lot (just as much) for kinder preparation. The only thing that may be a harder adjustment for kids who haven't attended preschool is the non-academic things, like learning to wait in line, sitting down for circle time, attending to tasks for extended periods of time. These can definitely be taught at home but I think it's a little different when it's applied in a school setting. But these are things that kids can pick up fairly quickly in kinder.
I never attended preschool and my mom said I had a little trouble adjusting at first. But after a few weeks, I was totally fine. I know tons of friends who never attended preschool (being from immigrant families) and they all did more than fine academically.
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I never went to preschool and excelled. No worries!
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@looch: That's a good point.
Although I work in a middle school now, I did work in an elementary school for 2 years and my first response was going to be that for a lot of educated parents who have the time to invest in their kids, pre-school isn't necessary. After all, they just learn basic skills like cutting, colors, start working on reading, holidays, dates, time, etc. All those things can be done at home.
But IS helpful to kids learn to wait their turn, walk in a line, work with others, sit on the floor quietly for story time (without laying down, or rolling around, or getting up and wandering around)...and I do think that's harder to teach at home, because when you have just 1 kid, you tend to let them kind of do what they want, learn what they want, sit how they want, etc.
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DD will move up to the preschool room at her daycare this fall. I read that preschool is not important for kids who are provided with appropriate stimulation at home (being read to, learning numbers and letters, etc). I am a SAHM but put DD in daycare at 2 for partly my sanity but also she just seemed ready for a school-type setting. We've done tons of mommy and me activities since she was about 8 weeks, and I got the sense that I was holding her back a little bit, like she couldn't really immerse herself in an activity bc she wanted to just play with me. Now she loves it and is learning mandarin to boot.
Sorry for the ramble. My point is that if its not important for your son to go to preschool, don't give it another thought. It is not necessary for all kids or families. -
@regberadaisy: yeah. I was thinking only two days a week for example, as PT.
@Koolbreeze: we are considering homeschool so it's a whole different conversation for us
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@Anagram: yes, exactly. If my son wants to play cars, we play cars. In a school setting, he has to learn to wait and that it's not all about him.
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@looch: that's a great point!
when DD first started preschool... in just 2 weeks after when i put her in our church's children's ministry, the director asked me if she had started going to school. i said, "yes! how did you know that?"... and she said because she could tell that DD was good at following directions and understood sequencing really well. she was great about circle time, and group activities... that sort of thing that i probably wouldn't have been able to provide at home.
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@Anagram @looch: I agree! I think the hardest part about trying to teach these non-academic things at home is that preschoolers tend to have herd mentality. So if they see another kid (or a group of kids) do something, they tend to follow suit. It's hard to teach them these things at home when they're the only ones there.
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I think as long as you socialize your child with other children, not just adults along with doing arts and crafts, counting, writing their name, listening to directions and learning the ABC's then preschool isn't necessary.
Maybe play groups or story time at the library once in awhile too.
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As a preschool teacher, here's my take. I teach in an at-risk state funded program, so those kids really need it.
For "average" families, it really depends. A lot of kids really need the time in preschool to be prepared for the expectations in kindergarten- following directions, sitting quietly, etc. The socialization and all that is pretty important for most kids, regardless of whether they really need the academic portion. However, kindergarten is getting harder and in my state, they expect kindergarteners to know how to write their whole names and recognize letters at the beginning of the year. Depending on some kids' personalities, it may be hard for parents to teach them at home. But the parent always knows the child and their family best!
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@rawrasaur: I agree with you and we definitely give him tons of opportunity to socialize and play with other kids.
@HLK208: I have thought about story time or something. I think our Y has a "mother's morning out" program for preschoolers.
@aprk: sometimes I dream of homeschooling but I'm still not sure and heavily leaning toward public school.
Thank you everyone for your replies. I totally understand the social learning that comes with preschool. If we were to do anything it would be a couple days a week at most.
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A lot depends on the child. Ellie went to preschool not because she needed it academically but because she desperately needed it socially and in terms of being able to adjust to full-day kindergarten when that came. We've been considering doing homeschooling, but right now are so concerned about how and where she would learn and exercise her social skills with other adults and children that we probably will send her back to the school she was at last year, despite some problems and concerns.
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@lilteacherbee: oh I'm so glad to have a preschool teachers input. My son can spell and write his first name, spell his last, can write 1-10, write some other letters, count to 20, and more. I do wonder what he's suppose to know before kindergarten academically. We do "school" a lot though and he loves to sit and learn for hours, with me.
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@looch: that is exactly what I tell my SIL everytime it gets brought up. It's not so much for the education but it is for learning how to share, take direction from someone other than the parents, sit still, focus, wait their turn, and socialize with others.
Our LO will go to preschool, it's not even a question. I think some sort of preschool is a great idea, half days or even a few days a week can't possibly hurt!
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@Koolbreeze: I did a series of posts on Kindergarten readiness back in the fall: http://www.hellobee.com/2012/11/20/the-new-kindergarten-how-to-prepare/ !
I totally agree with @lilteacherbee: that there is a lot that you can do at home to prepare, but that socialization, as @looch: also mentioned is very important.
Academically, he already sounds like he's got a lot under his belt! The social piece is a little trickier to address outside of a school setting, but any programs where he can practice separating from you (sports classes, Sunday school etc) and practice being in a group situation with other kids would be really helpful!
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@looch: I agree. Pre-school is definitely in my children's future.
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Oh man, I can't wait for my 14 month old to go to preschool. I wasn't even thinking about kindergarten readiness, though. I'm just so excited at the thought of him getting to socialize with other kids his age. He doesn't go to daycare and really loves other kids, so I think he'll have a blast!
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I think preschool is important for learning school readiness skills as others have pointed out (waiting in line, following a schedule, having to follow rules in a large setting etc) but I definitely do NOT think it is necessary for academic reasons. It makes me a bit sad when I see three year olds going to full time preschool (a full day, 5 days per week); I think that's way too much and unnecessary.
We will send our LO(s) to preschool when they are four, but only two or three mornings per week for about 2.5 hrs each time. I think that's plenty of time to learn what they need to and to be honest, I want to soak up as much time with my children as possible before they head off into full time school.
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@Mrs. Cowgirl: oh, thank you! I've been reading through it and love it! We have been talking about part time something or sports though for social interaction too.
@Ree723: I agree with you! Everyone I know does full time preschool asap and I just want to treasure all the time I have before sending him off to kindergarten full time!! I've been looking all over for part time stuff but its so hard to find where I live (super small town).
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And thank you everyone for your thoughts and opinions!
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We don't have set plans for preschool yet. LO is turning 2 soon and not at all ready for preschool. My mom tried to send me at 2 and I hated it so she took me out until I was 3. I feel like LO is pretty similar to me so I'm just going to wait until she's 3 and she how I feel then, and even then she'll just go part time.
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@artbee: I remember going to preschool at 3 and 4 and I don't even know how my mom got me to go that young because I was so shy and scared of people. Haha. I didn't even know preschool started as young as 2 until recently. That's so young!
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@Koolbreeze: Yes I was very shy too. But apparently I loved preschool once I was ready for it. I think it has a lot to do with the school, I went to one that was play based. And I had an awesome teacher who my mom is still friends with so I see her all the time, crazy to know that she knew me when I was my LO's age
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@artbee: aw! I do remember loving one of my preschool teachers so much! She was such a sweetheart.
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I teach Georgia Pre-K, which are 4 yr olds. If your son doesn't go to daycare, he should be socializing with other kids and learning how to work with others and the like. That is a big thing they want kids to know by Kindergarten listening, self control, etc. Basically, how to conduct themselves.
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@MsMamaBear: we definitely try to socialize him as much as possible. And were looking into something to put him in for that. Maybe sports or a part time/half day thing.
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@Koolbreeze: everyone made great observations. I taught preschool for 4 years and then Kindergarten for 3 years. As a K teacher sometimes you can tell which kids haven't had the social aspect of preschool & in the short term that's difficult for them. As a 2nd grade teacher it's rare for me to look at a kid and be able to tell if they did preschool or not.
Finding a group setting where your son goes without you is great! Kids who do social groups, but always with a parent often had trouble when it came to being left at school.
Also, if you choose to do some preschool, don't go looking for an academic one. Yes, Kindergarten standards are being inflated, but that doesn't mean it's right. Preschool (and heck, most of Kindergarten and even some of 1st!) should be play-based. Young kids need independent play time and learn many many many skills that way. I'm noticing that lots of my 2nd graders aren't very curious, creative, or willing to take risks with their learning and I feel lots of that has to do with lack of play.
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@mewtill: my son will also be one of the youngest in his class which worries me. I agree it should be play based. When we're at home and play "school" I always follow his lead and don't push it. I'm kinda of worried kindergarten will be too structured but we'll see when we get there. I have been looking for some sort of thing for him to do without me though.
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There's a great Slate article about how preschool isn't by and large needed by kids in middle and upper middle class SES. Please note that Classical Montessori did show an effect even for upper middle class kids that was long lasting.
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@Mrs. Jacks: oh how I wish we could do a Montessori school but we live in a small town with none close enough. But that article does make me feel a little better. Thank you!
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