Skipping preschool due to COVID-19 concerns- SAHM

[Anonymous]

No way I would send my child to preschool this year. Unless you want to throw away money for some reason. Keep them home and safe.

[Anonymous]

Our family is ready and excited to send our children back to school in Sept. I have spoken with neighbors and friends who are planning to do the same. I feel that socialization is so impt for little ones. My child misses school and being with peers. I believe our preschool will provide the necessary safety precautions. We are also doing camp at his preschool in July. Finally if they go to distance learning, then we will be ok with that too. There will still be daily routine with the zoom classes etc, which are also very impt to my family and me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone who had to do “distance learning” preschool for my four-year-old for the past few months, I say you should definitely skip it. If we had not already signed our contract and paid the tuition for next year, I would have considered keeping him home from Pre-K as well.

My 4 year old is very shy and we plan to send her back to preschool for social interaction mostly. However, if my child would be more outgoing, had siblings etc. I would skip preschool. I have a constant fight with my spouse over the preschool- to me it is just a waste of money most of the time.

[Anonymous]

I am a SAHM and am OK with my daughter going back to school, getting out of the house and being among friends with learning. I am hopeful that my only child will experience all of the pluses from her preschool in Sept and of course ... more months? If the school closes, we plan to connect thru remote ed program and arrange play dates with other families who practice social distancing. So that's our family plan for preschool in Sept!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former Montessori teacher here, and my son is set to start the primary three year old program next year. I am not going to enroll if it is hybrid with a distance learning component or an A day / B day scenario.

He has been with a nanny and will continue that way. Kids need predictability and routine, and I cannot afford to pay tuition and pay for a nanny. The nanny is predictable, and we can build a good routine. I cannot see early childhood distance learning offered 3 days a week as a valuable use of our family funds.

I am certain that if this is sorted out by January, there will be spaces available and schools happy to accept partial year tuition.

There will be no spots. More than a third of preschools gone forever

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former Montessori teacher here, and my son is set to start the primary three year old program next year. I am not going to enroll if it is hybrid with a distance learning component or an A day / B day scenario.

He has been with a nanny and will continue that way. Kids need predictability and routine, and I cannot afford to pay tuition and pay for a nanny. The nanny is predictable, and we can build a good routine. I cannot see early childhood distance learning offered 3 days a week as a valuable use of our family funds.

I am certain that if this is sorted out by January, there will be spaces available and schools happy to accept partial year tuition.

There will be no spots. More than a third of preschools gone forever

I would have said that statement was ridiculous a week ago, but this week the preschool my kids attended announced that they will not reopen this fall. They recently celebrated their 50th anniversary.

[Anonymous]

What preschool has recently closed? That's so sad!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former Montessori teacher here, and my son is set to start the primary three year old program next year. I am not going to enroll if it is hybrid with a distance learning component or an A day / B day scenario.

He has been with a nanny and will continue that way. Kids need predictability and routine, and I cannot afford to pay tuition and pay for a nanny. The nanny is predictable, and we can build a good routine. I cannot see early childhood distance learning offered 3 days a week as a valuable use of our family funds.

I am certain that if this is sorted out by January, there will be spaces available and schools happy to accept partial year tuition.

Firstly, I laugh at “ a nanny is predictable.” Also, you think there will be a spot in January when many preschools are closed for good?

Don't think this will be sorted out by Jan. Cold months will be crazier. If someone has symptoms will be hard to know if its a regular cold, the flu or COVID19.

I'm the PP former Montessori teacher here. Yes, a nanny is predictable. They come when you ask them to and do not when you don't (as long as you are a predictable payer!).

I actually wanted to respond to the other poster though. We just had a seasonal allergy issue with my son, and no one could say definitively that it wasn't Covid. We ended up paying our nanny all of last week while we had no care and waited 5 days for the negative test result to come back. The point being, this poster is right - when cold and flu season arrives, we are going to be having Covid scare after scare. Furthermore, our health care system is so disorganized that it takes a very long time to get a result back. I can foresee constantly yo-yoing in and out of school next year.

It's very sad to hear of all the preschools that are closing, however. I am wondering if there will be more homeschool coops starting. We are in Prince George's county, and they are mostly Christian based here, which is not really our preference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child will not get one on one care at preschool either. You can easily cover the academic portions of preschool within each week.

As the director of a preschool, this - play, read books together, get outside, use playdough, and just.... PLAY!

Going for one year of PreK is enough, trust me - your child will be wonderful and fabulous and do beautifuly at kindergarten with 1 year of preschool as a 4 year old.


Stay home, be safe.

What about the social needs? My child is really missing other kids to play with. I’m not sure about sending her back but she is also struggling with staying home.

[Anonymous]

I just brought my baby to the pediatrician and was discussing my older child and the pediatrician said she was seeing unless absolutely necessary because both parents worked, most people were keeping their kids home from preschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a one year old and a three year old. Pulled the three year old out of preschool and am home schooling him. Downloaded the busy toddler playing preschool and we spent about an hour doing the activities a day. I am privileged in that I am a SAHM and I have a nanny come in to watch the one year old, but if I had to deal with both two kids I would probably do activities around the others nap time. Three year olds don’t need hours of activities, the rest of the day DC just plays but I have been astounded how quickly he is learning his letters and numbers. He is probably learning more than he did in preschool. Don’t expect him to go back to school till fall 2021.

https://busytoddler.com/product/playing-preschool-complete-program/

I follow Busy Toddler on social media and have no idea they have a product! How do you like the curriculum?

I love it. My child has been in preschool since two before I pulled him out. We’ve been working with busy toddler for three months now and I think he is actually learning more than he was in preschool. He recognizes a lot of his alphabet now and the sensory stuff keeps him active and engaged. Highly recommend.

[Anonymous]

You could wait. We sent my daughter to preschool 3's last year, and though she did learn some things and had fun, the main benefit to me was that it was some childcare while I had a newborn at home. She has a lot of fun doing tea parties, coloring, etc. at home, and we play with a few neighbor kids outside maybe once or twice a week. Also, now that the baby is older (14 months), they play together a lot. I am waffling on sending her back this year for 4's just because I think the baby will miss her if she's gone four mornings a week . Don't forget, a generation ago, most kids only did ONE year of preschool, if any.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand the logic behind sending your 3 year old to preschool if you are at home and have a baby as well. You will be spending money and worried sick every day if your kid got and gave it to you and the baby. I understand that some people think it is great for kids, but right now it seems like paying to get sick.
I think people are underestimating just how careless most people are about the coronavirus. I know people that are highly educated taking insane risks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the logic behind sending your 3 year old to preschool if you are at home and have a baby as well. You will be spending money and worried sick every day if your kid got and gave it to you and the baby. I understand that some people think it is great for kids, but right now it seems like paying to get sick.
I think people are underestimating just how careless most people are about the coronavirus. I know people that are highly educated taking insane risks.

Agree. If you have the resources and ability to not do preschool right now that seems hands down like the safest option.

[Anonymous]

Just wait until 4s to send. I’m sure your kid will be fine. Also tons of kids in her class will be in the exact same boat because of the pandemic.