OP here. I am not an older nanny but I grew up in a part of the country where kids still have freedom to be kids. I never went to daycare or had any structured early childhood education. Want to know what the result is? I am in law school at one of DC's great institutions and doing just fine.

One of my best childhood memories is when my cousins and I decided we wanted to catch a squirrel. We borrowed cat carriers, baited them with penut butter, nuts, and leaves and argued about the most strategic location to place them (base of the tree or near the back door where squirrels always went through our trash?) Our parents watched with amusement. No one said "hey that isn't teaching you how to get into Princeton." They just allowed us to learn that squirrels are not as stupid as we thought. Not a one fell for it. Lord only knows what we would have done if we actually caught one, we never got to that point in our problem solving, lol. That same creative thinking is what helps me to sift through a hundred different arguments on my law school exam to find the one that my professor will judge worthy of an A grade.

I am no Bill Gates, but I make my mother proud.

Those families are out there, OP.

My charge has known the differences between squares and cubes and triangles and pyramids since he was 2 (2.5 now)- all thanks to playing with magnatiles. Could he explain what makes one shape 2D and the other 3D? No. But the foundations of geometry have been laid just in the course of our daily play. Same for counting rocks, identifying letters or words on signs, practicing motor skills with chalk or crayon drawing, etc. We also spend most of our time outside and at mealtimes he is (gasp) encouraged to help chop vegetables (the softer ones), shuck corn for dinner, and water and pick the necessary herbs from the garden. He generally discovers the world through participating in it vs. any kind of formal drills or lessons and we have a blast. I don't think it's too uncommon but I am surprised how many parents are opting for FT preschool for their under-3s. Seems too young for most kids I know to begin their 'formal' education.

I don't come in with any sort of curriculum for charges if they are under the age of five. I'm a firm believer in play and discovery. But I also believe in learning through play and will play learning games with preschoolers.
And if the charge is interested in something, we learn about that subject. We also do science projects for their age level and go on outings and just play and have fun. We also do not watch tv and we spend a lot of time reading books.

Anonymous wrote:I think you are a bit out of touch with what families want. For most I know, it isn't an either/or. On any given day, we might work on math in the morning (although one kid is learning subtraction with skittles so that's an afternoon thing), going for a walk in the nature area near us and talking about different flowers, plants, bugs, etc followed by seeing who can race to the large boulder the fastest. Then after lunch we venture to the pool for swim lessons followed by an afternoon at the pool practicing our stroke, diving and searching for coins (also practicing math) and seeing who can make the biggest splash. Different variations every day, but there is always a mix of playing just to have fun, playing to learn, and basic learning.

What you are describing is not what this post was getting at. Learning subtraction is a critical skill but children don't come up with the idea to sit down at the kitchen table and learn math, that is an adult based approach to learning. Inquiry based learning on the other hand allows the child to decide what they want to do and the educator infuses that play with the educational objectives. So, if DC's idea was to build the biggest lego tower in the whole world then you might talk about things like numbers, shape, gravity, balance, weight, etc. I am not opining whether one approach is better/worse just that there is a difference. It also sounds like you are working with kids a bit older then the toddler ages mentioned in the OP.

Anonymous wrote:I think you are a bit out of touch with what families want. For most I know, it isn't an either/or. On any given day, we might work on math in the morning (although one kid is learning subtraction with skittles so that's an afternoon thing), going for a walk in the nature area near us and talking about different flowers, plants, bugs, etc followed by seeing who can race to the large boulder the fastest. Then after lunch we venture to the pool for swim lessons followed by an afternoon at the pool practicing our stroke, diving and searching for coins (also practicing math) and seeing who can make the biggest splash. Different variations every day, but there is always a mix of playing just to have fun, playing to learn, and basic learning.

It doesn't sound like you are working with the 0-4 age group. Granted, some of them are more advanced. I think there is merit in allowing the 4 and unders to play rather than focusing on formal educational training.

I think you are a bit out of touch with what families want. For most I know, it isn't an either/or. On any given day, we might work on math in the morning (although one kid is learning subtraction with skittles so that's an afternoon thing), going for a walk in the nature area near us and talking about different flowers, plants, bugs, etc followed by seeing who can race to the large boulder the fastest. Then after lunch we venture to the pool for swim lessons followed by an afternoon at the pool practicing our stroke, diving and searching for coins (also practicing math) and seeing who can make the biggest splash. Different variations every day, but there is always a mix of playing just to have fun, playing to learn, and basic learning.

No, you're not out of touch. You just need to find like-minded people. We're out there. My girls go to five different playgrounds each week, sometimes more. The older one, who is 2&1/2, is allowed to watch animal videos only when we're on flights, and only when those flights are over 2 hours. She spends a lot of time outdoors.

Re: Bill Gates though, he's a freak. Millions of kids spent their childhoods not touching computers, and playing outside and they don't cramk out a Microsoft-like company. So while yes, it's an interesting little fact about him, it's certainly not anything you can point to in order to prove playing outside churns out geniuses.

For parents: I suspect the problem of the in attentive nanny has some roots in this very problem. Sitting around all day in a 100% safe and predictable environment may feel more secure but it lacks the variety and intrigue of being out in the world and letting kids set their own agenda for what they want to learn. Even the park loses it's intrigue after so long. I would love to dig a hole and get messy knowing that the parents won't freak out about the bugs or the landscaping.

I am a nanny. I am also looking for a new position and updating my skills for the current job market. Something that I am curious about is the need to provide formal educational training for young children. Many nannies seem to believe in curriculums and meeting core standards and the like. I assume this reflects also what parents are expecting from their nanny?

I am intrigued by the fact that Bill Gates did not play with computers as a kid. In fact, it's well known that he did mostly kid stuff like playing outside, digging holes, and (gasp) climbing trees. My approach the learning is play based. I think kids can learn the essential skills to prepare them for formal education by just doing kid things. I am thinking of the the skills that can not be taught such as creativity, problem solving, imagination, and perseverance. Imagine when your sole mission for a summer afternoon was to dig the biggest hole in your back yard that you possibly could. You had to sweat in the hot sun, with only your Easter bucket and a large stick for tools, and because you discovered so many cool rocks and bugs along the way the hole wound up being a couple feet deep at most.

When did we decide that two year olds need to learn to count in ten languages or that three year olds need to know every state Capitol? I would love to work for a family that doesn't mind me sitting in the back yard explaining whether cutting that worm in two will make two whole new worms or designing the perfect fire fly catcher out of old peanut butter jars. Why waste a perfectly good summer days sitting in the house from of an ipad app? Am out of touch with the market for nanny skills?