Anonymous
09/25/2020 15:56
Subject: Is play based always better?
Anonymous wrote:Last year my son, 4.5 yo, was at a traditional preschool. It was a good mix of play and academics, with daily circle time, exposure to letters/number and name recognition etc done in a fun way. He was very engaged at this school and always volunteered a lot of information about his day there upon pickup on his own. He often played "school" in the afternoons. Unfortunately the school did not open this fall.
We now have almost finished two weeks in a very play based school that focuses on "projects" (seems close to reggio emilia but they don't describe themselves as such). There's no circle time and they write their name with glitter instead of a pen type thing. My concern is he is unable to recall absolutely anything he did there and I wondering if that's because whatever "project" they are doing is not impressionable to him and he's not engaged? Maybe not a good fit?
Should I try to find somewhere else that is more "traditional", like his previous school? All I ever read is that it's not as developmentally appropriate yet he seemed to thrive better in that environment than the current play based one.
I would just give him time. He is adapting to the change, just like you. IMO, the *type* of school doesn't matters unless you have a child who is "extremely" something - extremely shy, extremely misbehaved, extremely smart, etc.
Anonymous
09/22/2020 21:10
Subject: Is play based always better?
As I've been writing on here for a numbers of years, it's not the method, it's the teachers. Finding highly intelligent, motivated and dedicated teachers in preschool is difficult.
We found a wonderful set of teachers at the Montessori school we selected. They nurtured both our children, who had very different needs (one of them was advanced and the other had significant delays).
As attached as I am to the Montessori method, I realize that my kids could have had a great experience elsewhere, provided the teachers were smart enough to encourage their academic, creative, physical and expressive development.
So please interview as many directors and teachers as you can. After a while you'll get a feel for which one is truly worth their salt.
Anonymous
09/22/2020 21:04
Subject: Is play based always better?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Depends on the kid. For mine, no. They did best with a combination of play/academics at that age and it really prepared them well for school.
I had a curious kid who read at age 3 without formal instruction.
Sure he/she did. I guess your child spoke Latin too, right?
He did. And, I know others who did too. Just because yours didn't doesn't mean others don't.
Whatever allows you to sleep at night.
Meeting my child's needs does let me sleep at night. Play based is not right for all kids. And, by 4, they need more structure to prepare for K.
Play based does provide structure. It doesn’t mean your kids are just playing all day. It means that the children learn through engagement instead of worksheets, beads, breaking dishes, etc.
It is not the same structure. We did both. Play based was not a good fit and when I looked at the older 4's group they did not seem prepared at all for K. Many didn't know colors, alphabet, numbers or basic reading but some of that is on the parents too.
Nothing wrong with worksheets to teach reading, writing, math and handwriting.
Anonymous
09/22/2020 21:01
Subject: Is play based always better?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Depends on the kid. For mine, no. They did best with a combination of play/academics at that age and it really prepared them well for school.
I had a curious kid who read at age 3 without formal instruction.
Sure he/she did. I guess your child spoke Latin too, right?
He did. And, I know others who did too. Just because yours didn't doesn't mean others don't.
Whatever allows you to sleep at night.
Meeting my child's needs does let me sleep at night. Play based is not right for all kids. And, by 4, they need more structure to prepare for K.
Play based does provide structure. It doesn’t mean your kids are just playing all day. It means that the children learn through engagement instead of worksheets, beads, breaking dishes, etc.