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Preschool and Daycare Discussion
A More "Academic" Preschool
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Anonymous
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OK. I know off the bat that a lot of people are going to think I am crazy, and I should preface this by saying that I am NOT looking for a pressure cooker for a 3 or 4 year old. While I appreciate the fact that preschoolers are young, and that they should have plenty of time to play and have fun and all that good stuff, I would like to find a preschool that places at least some emphasis on very basic reading/phonics, math, science, etc. I would also like a preschool that is somewhat more structured, and focuses on instilling kindness, patience, and responsibility. So many of the preschools today seem to be completely play-based and all about the "individual" child. My DC gets a lot of individual attention and lots of free play/arts at home, so I would really like to find a preschool that balances the play and individualism aspect with some "academics," rules, responsibility, and consideration of the greater community (i.e., you can't always do what you want/whenever you want). Do these even exist anymore?
Part of this may be cultural. I come from a community/country where education and responsibility is stressed from an early age. I do not want to go to one extreme or the other, but I do want a balance. |
Anonymous
| If you are OK with flash cards, work sheets and homework, capital kids may be a good for you. |
Anonymous
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This is the OP. Isn't Capital Kids a daycare program? We don't need a fulltime program.
I am completely fine with flashcards and work sheets as long as they are integrated into a cirriculum that also includes some less structured "fun" and exploration. When I was a kid, we did not have the money for a fancy preschool, but my mother spent every morning (roughly 9 am until 12) with me and my sister doing flashcards, worksheets, reading, math, and art. In fact, she did this throughout our summer vacations until we hit junior high. We always had the rest of the day to play and explore and be kids. We did not always like spending three hours a day doing "boring" stuff, but I think we truly benefitted from it and learned discipline from an early age. Any other suggestions? |
Anonymous
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I think you may be misunderstanding what "play-based" means -- and I say this as someone who thought it was BS until I observed it in action. Play-based pre-schools aren't simply about free play. I also think you're making a faulty assumption when you suggest that a "non-academic" school isn't focused on rules, responsibility, and consideration of the greater community; in fact, I'd assert that play-based schools are focused on those issues more than anything else. A good play-based school has an enormous amount of theory and reasoning behind every aspect of its program, but it's transparent to the children -- they have no idea that the beans are "manipulables" and the reason they're playing with them is because it develops their fine-motor skills. Such a program also focuses heavily on structure -- there's a schedule of activities each day, for example -- and teaching children how to interact with each other and the world ("kindness, patience, and responsibility").
You're right, though, when you say that a play-based program won't have "academics" in the formal sense of drilling and memorization. Again, the idea is that they learn through doing, so the teachers discuss letters, numbers, etc., as part of other activities rather than through direct instruction. Just as you say that your child gets plenty of free play at home, I'd say that my child gets plenty of numbers and letters at home; what he doesn't get is peer socialization. Since you seem invested in choosing the right program for your child, I'd recommend that you do some reading (check out Emilio Reggia and Bank Street, for example; also check out Montessori, which isn't play-based but also isn't "academic") and visit some schools before drawing any conclusions based on terms like "play-based." Search the archives for discussion of schools and check them out on your own. Good luck. |
Anonymous
| PP here, and that should be "Reggio Emilia," not "Emilio Reggia." Sorry. |
Anonymous
Op again. Thanks for your helpful reply. We are definitely still in the early stages of the process, and plan to visit different types of schools with the various philosophies. We have not crossed out the "play-based" preschools by any means, but I feel like I already have a long list of Montesorri, Reggio, Waldorf, and other "progressive" schools. These seem to be the most popular these days. I guess I am wondering if there is a list somewhere of "traditional"/flashcardy preschools that are not church-based. I am not necessarily saying I would pick these types of schools, but I definitely want to give them a close look. The irony of all this is that my husband and I consider our family progressive and left-wing 
At the end of the day, we are going to go with our gut and the place that fits the best with our DC's temperment, but we want to make sure we are not inadvertantly missing some preschools that simply may not be popular right now since people seem to be avoiding the worksheet/flashcard route (which I personally think is just fine). |
Anonymous
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I think you are going to find that Montessori has basically what you are looking for. I was afraid it was going to be too academic for my child but have concluded it was right. And like you, I feel believe it is important to supplement with art and play at home. Montessori places a strong emphasis on preparing the children to write, read and do math. I don't know anymore what counts as "phonics" but from what I have experienced at my child's school there is a strong empahsis on phonetics (phonetic spelling is considered acceptable, there is emphasis on sounds -- Montessori does not teach the names of letters but the sounds). Montessori schools also do science and geography.
By the way, what may seem to be a church-based preschool, may be a school leasing space in a church property (or it could be church-affiliated). I don't know how left/progressive you are but even some of the church-based preschools aren't all that religious. I came at this question from the other direction, looking for a preschool that was actively religious but what I was mostly finding was just brief prayer at lunch and one Bible story once a week. We ended up choosing a secular Montessori school and decided we'd try to do the religious component at home. |
Anonymous
| Check out the British School of Washington (nursery class starts at 3). They follow the English curriculum for early years. Literacy skills are generally started earlier than in the American system. |
Anonymous
| OP, I think I'm looking for the same type of preschool. Just from my own experience, I learned how to read in my preschool and having that skill when I entered kindergarten gave me a great leg up academically and really boosted my self-esteem, and I think helped foster a life-long love of reading and learning. Anyway, I have been prowling the internet for programs that at least include some reading instruction in their curriculum, and the only one I've found so far is the Winchester School in Silver Spring, MD. Incidentally, it's the same preschool I attended back in the 70s - although it was in a different location back then. I know there have got to be other schools out there that have at least a small bit of formal instruction worked into the day, but I have yet to come acress them. |
Anonymous
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OP Again. PP - the Winchester School looks very interesting - it is actually a real cirriculum! You mentioned that you attended that kind of preschool. Did you enjoy it (meaning that you looked forward to going every day versus dreading it?). The only drawback to this school is that it is located in Maryland. We live in Arlington. Does anyone know of any similar schools in Arlington or Georgetown? We would like to stay relatively close by.
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Anonymous
With all due respect, are you kidding me??? You have a memory of learning to read in pre-school (presumably when you were 4 or 5), and having a boost to your self-esteem from that ability? You must have an amazing memory. |
Anonymous
| British School of Washington (BSW) is in Georgetown (or just north). We're familiar with their reception year (4-year-old by the September). Some kids came in just learning letters, others were able to start reading well. We liked the curriculum and the fact that they differentiated between different kids' skills at this stage. |
Anonymous
I'm not the poster doubted above, but I too have very distinct memories of learning to read in Montessori preschool. To be more precise -- I didn't learn to read in Montessori, somehow I already knew. My early reading memories involve being puzzled at why the Montessori teacher wouldn't let me read and why she asked all the other kids to sit with her to read. I also wondered why she read these stupid stories that rhymed all the time with them (real books don't rhyme, I knew). I also remember being asked at the last minute to read Twas the Night before Christmas for the Montessori Christmas presentation, as a substitute for another kid who got scared. Without any preparation, I read it on stage (not realizing that there was an audience before me.) As an adult, I told this story to my mother in passing, and she was flabbergasted because it matched her memories exactly. We both went back to Montessori report cards (my mother never throws away anything), which showed that I was reading by age 3. I wasn't asked to read, because no one thought I was old enough to be able to, and no one realized I already could. I wouldn't say I got a boost in esteem from early reading, but I did get a tremendous academic boost. My whole life I read many, many grades above level. Needless to say, this made school very easy as I was able to read school work quickly and accurately, and I had a greater substantive knowledge gained from more years of reading more complex material. I didn't realize how strange this was, until a girlfriend of mine admitted as an adult that she was quite jealous of me in first grade because I could read and she couldn't. Who knew? Personally, I think my early reading was a result of being parked in front of Sesame Street, the Electric Company and Zoom, for several hours a day, not any unusual brain power on my part. It certainly wasn't due to my mother, who had no idea I could read until she saw me do it on stage. I have many other distinct memories of this Montessori, which I attended from 3-5 years old -- the teachers, many of the manipulative materials, the classroom layout, the playground, and other students and incidents. Early childhood memories are not unusual. My 8 year old daughter sometimes surprises me with memories of particular events at age 2 or 3 (events which have not been recalled at all by me until she details them). While I didn't learn to read at Montessori, there are many math concepts I learned there that didn't resurface for me until middle school. Overall I'd highly recommend Montessori as an academic method. |
Anonymous
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I just visited Georgetown Montessori and I found the school lacking in every area. The "Director" could not have cared less about showing prospective families the school and insufficiently answered a question about how Montessori schools work. I was honestly appalled and would never send my child there. The classrooms were shabby and many children looked lost.
I could not believe how little time was spent introducing new families to the school. |
Anonymous
| Check out Franklin Montessori. It's a great school. |