When to start preschool?
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Anonymous
| How did you decide when to start your child in preschool? We have a FT nanny who arranges play dates and group meetups at the park, so I’m not terribly worried about socialization but my child is not getting lots of practice sitting in a circle, lining up, exposure to different crafts and activities, etc. without daycare or preschool. I am in MD so all preschool is private and I am dreading the expense. Should I start the child in PT preschool at age 3 or wait until 4? They likely won’t start kindergarten until age 6. |
Anonymous
| Three. You can find a two or three day a week program at a church that is not that expensive. |
Anonymous
This is what a lot of parents I've known have done. |
Anonymous
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We enrolled our kids in classes like gymnastics, art, music, etc. at age 3.5-4 so they learned to take direction from other adults, sit in the circle, raise hands to ask questions, etc.
We also sent them to the library for story time at least twice a week. |
Anonymous
| If you are already paying for the nanny, can't you ask her to work on skills like coloring, cutting, drawing lines and circles, etc.? Can you buy some craft supplies and have the nanny make some silly kiddy art with her like gluing macaroni and beans on construction paper? Do your local libraries have days where someone reads kids books while the kids sit on the floor? I think you should utilize what you already have. |
Anonymous
| Get ready for the kiddie germs!!! Nonstop sick and germs. |
Anonymous
+1. Or just morning preschool. Start the September after they turn 3. My kids with fall birthdays were close to 4 when they started. |
Anonymous
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If you have a Nanny already I would do 2 days a week at 3 ( half days) and 3 days at age 4.
Assuming your kid is only 1 or 2 now why are you already planning on them not going to K at 5? |
Anonymous
+1 This is why so many choose a nanny in the first place. If future kindergarten readiness is a concern, start preschool at 4. |
Anonymous
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Our DC learned a lot, had a lot of free play time, had a lot of playground time, developed ability to follow teacher instructions and participate in group activities at their preschool. DC enjoyed it, and because better prepared before K, DC did very well with K.
Most pediatricians will tell parents that colds and such really either are “pay now” or “pay later”, meaning one cannot avoid having children get sick or bring germs home, merely choose which age it happens. Ours said an advantage of early group child care or preschool is that the kid’s immune system develops earlier, so the kid misses less school starting in K when kid needs to learn to read, to do basic addition and subtraction, and so on. |
Anonymous
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There are lots of different preschools in this area, each different. Some are half-day, some go until about 2:30 or 3:00pm, and some are all day.
In this area, there are roughly 2 types of preschools: play-based and Montessori (which often has an educational component). The main exception is Primary Day School, which teaches the essentials in a fun way, but is not Montessori. I would look at maybe 3 of each kind, then choose the one I felt would be the best fit for my DC. I this area, we found those categories often were meaningless. Play-based can mean anything. Some do a lot of actual teaching, while others are little more than child care, arts & crafts, and a few group activities (circle time). Montessori is not a trademark, and gets implemented in a surprisingly wide range of variations. So one Montessori school can be very very different from another Montessori school. Just because one does not fit, that does not mean other Montessori schools would not be a good fit. Whether through learning at home or learning at preschool, the child who starts K with at least a solid grasp of colors, letters, numbers, basic shapes, and (maybe) Phonics will have an easier time adjusting. Many in this area, but not all, believe in teaching kids to read as soon as they are ready. Ours began to read at age 3, which is not unusual here. Preschool had taught DC letters and Phonics already, so DC was ready to start with the Bob Books. We did all the Bob Books in sequence at home and then moved to readers which mostly used phonetic words to build strong decoding skills. From there, she has blossomed into a child who really enjoys reading. Choose whichever path seems best for your DC. Every DC will be different, so there is no single right answer for all children. |
Anonymous
| I think around 3.5ish years is the best age. That’s when, unless they have siblings at home, they will start to get bored at home even if you have a lot set up for them. |
Anonymous
And you dint need to be affiliated with said church. They just use their rooms/playground/space. Ours is at a Methodist church for example. It's not really that expensive Op. If you break down the cost per hour it's surprising low. 9-1pm MWF w/snacks and crafts included and the value of making friends (not just merely the acquaintances at the playground your nanny goes to). And most preschools accept kids even tho it's started already so don't be deterred |
Anonymous
This is the burden of parenthood. |
Anonymous
It is more per hour than the cost of a nanny when you figure it is $10-20k/ year and a year is really 8 months (Sept-first week of June, factoring in holiday breaks). And then paying for childcare on top of that is very expensive. Not all provide snacks and some require some amount of parent participation. |