Anonymous wrote:OP here. By academic, I don't mean flash cards or worksheets. Clearly there are age appropriate ways to encourage letter recognition and numeracy before KG so if you have a preschool to recommend that encourages knowledge development in these basic areas, please share. Thanks.

OP, in your post you listed "spelling" as an area you wanted. Do you really believe it is developmentally appropriate?

I mean this in all seriousness: The preschool you're looking for would be one run by folks who know very little about child development and learning. Look for places where the teachers do not have an early childhood degree and the director has little background in child development. Or look for one that is designed for poor children that have no parents at home reading to their kids.

I think you would like Montessori as well. They have "work" that goes to letter/number recognition and counting that starts at 3. If your child is not interested, then she or he can do other "work (like mine). But it's available if s/he is interested. My child goes to Franklin Montessori in DC.

OP here. By academic, I don't mean flash cards or worksheets. Clearly there are age appropriate ways to encourage letter recognition and numeracy before KG so if you have a preschool to recommend that encourages knowledge development in these basic areas, please share. Thanks.

Anonymous wrote:You sound like a candidate for Montessori. Call one of the ones near you and RSVP for a tour.

Thanks! We're going to a Montessori open house soon. Is that approach more academic than "reggio"? A lot of the ones we've seen so far claim to be reggio-inspired.

Langley is considered pretty academic and has a great arts and music program, with a playground dedicated for just the primary school. But its more expensive than most others.

Academic focused preschools are pretty developmentally inappropriate so you will probably find your options are limited. Learning happens through play and through involvement in all kinds of activities. Kids do not need formal academic instruction in the early years and many believe it is actually detrimental.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since when is Montessori considered academic-focused?

The OP has defined academic for this purpose as teaching letters and basic
math. Montessori has always included those things.

Most preschools do that. Even the play basee ones.

It sounds like OP is looking for a "Your Baby Can Read" approach to preschool. Completely developmentally inappropriate in my opinion.

Anonymous wrote:Since when is Montessori considered academic-focused?

The OP has defined academic for this purpose as teaching letters and basic
math. Montessori has always included those things.

Tell us more about what you mean by academically focused? I would straight out run from a school that has 3 and 4yr olds doing worksheets, for example. There's a huge difference between schools that are play-based but educate our kids, and facilities that simply keep our kids safe with no focus on teaching in any meaningful way.

Are you familiar with Montessori, Waldorf, Creative Curriculum or any of the other major preschool approaches?

Our child is at a school that uses Creative Curriculum. The head teacher in each class has a degree in education or early childhood development. They define themselves as a play-based school, but rest assured my child is learning letters, getting experience in gross and fine motor activities that also provide opportunities for basic math and science concepts, and so on. For example: last week the "letter of the week" in her 3's classroom was "N". They didn't sit with worksheets and trace the letter N or watch the teacher write it on a blackboard. However, their art projects that week all incorporated the letter N. Her scissors practice was cutting out an N from construction paper and then decorating it with pasta (noodles) and other items. Show and tell they had to bring in something from home that started with the letter N. She didn't know she was learning - as far as she was concerned she was playing and doing art and so on. They made "n"ecklaces (fine motor skills) using "n"ine beads. See, lots of fun but incorporating skills and knowledge.

Weekly lesson plans that are built around holidays, seasons or other subject matter give opportunities to learn bits of history, social studies or about the broader world.

What schools have you ruled out, since that might give us an example of what you don't want?

Little Ambassadors'

Appletree, maybe.

OP--how about doing some research on appropriate instruction? It's pretty clear. Kids actually get strong literacy and numeracy and language instruction THROUGH the play and arts. If you think that kids should be doing worksheets and drills, I feel sorry for your kid.

Since when is Montessori considered academic-focused?

You sound like a candidate for Montessori. Call one of the ones near you and RSVP for a tour.

We're searching for preschools and coming across "play-based" and "arts-based" preschools which sound great except that in tours it sounds like art & play end up replacing lessons on the alphabet, spelling, numbers, etc. We don't think it has to be either or. Schools that think academics should be delayed til KG or 1st grade aren't really for us. We'd love to find an academically oriented preschool that incorporates the arts and has educational games, as well as plenty of free play outside with fresh air.

If this sounds like your kid's school, please recommend. We're in northern VA, work in downtown DC so we could do either. Thanks!