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I have to run, commenting so I remember to come back later....

I think one of the main benefits of preschool is socialization and imitating and learning from peers. My son has learned much more from his preschool friends than from any structured activity. I think homeschooling would be great as long as your LO was able to get some socialization throughout the week (playdates, indoor play gyms, etc). Otherwise, I think it can definitely work out!

My stepmom homeschooled me for preschool. My first time in a classroom setting was kindergarten. She taught me how to read before I went to school. I remember sitting at the table and working together every day. She must have had some sort of schedule.

LO is 2 and still at home with me, but we do plan on having her go to preschool part time when she turns 3. I'm not going to home school for elementary so I want her to get used to the structure of school before throwing her in full time.

@Running Elley: I've thought about it. I would love to do a co-op but the only mamas I've met who might be interested would be wanting to do it from a religious perspective, which I'm not interested in. I will probably pursue it further when he's older depending on our preschool options. There are nothing but traditional/conventional schooling options where we live at present!

I think the internet would be a great resource as well, you could share curriculums etc. and share the burden of research and planning!

My mother in law is a retired montessori teacher, and she is going to homeschool my daughter until first grade. I'm so excited. She's going to gather a little group of children, because socialization is one of the most important parts of it.

I should add we're adding a weekly moms group at my church that has a semi structured curriculum for the kiddos & we have another mommy that we get together with a couple times a month.

We haven't joined the homeschool group here yet bc G struggled alot with his peers (he went to regular school for pre k - 1st) & is pretty self conscious about still being behind in some areas. I thought we could see how the first half of this year goes again & then revisit the topic. He does play soccer & will probably start basketball this year so he's starting to "get out there".

I was an elementary Montessori teacher and I love Montessori but sadly where we live there isn't a good option for when we have a lo. My first reaction was that we will just homeschool but I have started to think that it will wind up better for us to send lo to a play based program (even like a mom's day out) two mornings a week and do the rest homeschooling. My logic there is the same as others have mentioned-- I can cover the academics side no problem, learning how to deal with others, listen to a different grown-up and all of those skills are harder to teach at home. There are definitely ways but given the options in our community I think we will probably go this route. All of this is still hypothetical though since we are still ttc.

That being said, I have seen several people successfully homeschool for preschool and then send their lo to traditional kindy without any issues and usually they are ahead of the curve. There are some really great programs out there for you to pull from and honestly as long as you are keeping education at the forefront of your mind you will probably surpass most of the academic milestones one would normally look for in a preschool setting.