Anyone's preschooler (3-4) not in school or any extra-curricular activities?

cecee36

I'm wondering if you guys (moms/dads) ever get overwhelmed and if so, how do you keep it all together.  how you keep your child/children occupied day after day? I'm also wondering what your reasons were for not enrolling them in daycare/school or any kid-friendly activities such as dance, art or cooking classes, sports, etc.

Mrs Manners

Ds is in daycare while I work and I still feel overwhelmed sometimes so know that you aren't alone! 

SweetBaby2004

Our kids are now 7, 5 1/2, and 2.  When our older kids were that age, they were not in any activities like preschool or classes (gymnastics, dance, etc).  We knew we were going to homeschool but we didn't really jump into our homeschool group like we are now.  We didn't do activities, mainly because we were still getting our stride; DH is a SAHD and we moved from AZ to WA when DD#1 was 3. 

Our kids turned out fine and have made so many friends in our homeschool group.  We got DD#1 in gymnastics at 5 but she didn't enjoy it so we stopped.  She recently picked it back up and loves it now.  DS started karate recently (at 5).

We will get DD#2 into gymnastics after I am done being pregnant, but that is because she wants to do what DD#1 does.  She will be younger than we started the other kids, but I am at the gym anyway, might as well get her in the class.

howleyshell

Our now 5.5 yr old didn't start pre-school until he was 4.

Why?

Because you never get this time back.  I was lucky to be home with him and wanted to extend the time he was getting 1:1 care and love from me and bonding with his brother as long as possible (without negatively impacting his education of course).  We did plenty of learning focused stuff at home and academically speaking he was actually ahead of most of his class mates when he did start pre-school so that wasn't a concern.

We have a 16 yr old.  Our take on it is that they've got the rest of their lives to HAVE to be in school, work, etc.  Let's let them be kids as long as possible. 

Why no sports, etc?  We tried soccer and it was a big "fail".  He's just not a sports kid.  The younger one LOVES it so we do it with/for him.  They don't NEED that kinda stuff at this age.  They just need exposure to their world and lots of love and support as they explore it.  We have plenty of friends with drastically over scheduled kids.  I'm not jealous in the least and neither are my kids.

Of course I wanted them to have socialization opportunities so we did plenty of library story time, children's museum, playing at parks and splash pads and practicing introducing ourselves and asking other kids to play with us, etc. 

Alex26

DS just turned 3 a couple of mos. ago and he is just in daycare.  I was thinking about putting him in pre-school around age 4, but I just learned from our school district that DS will have to go to Kindergarten in 2014, not 2013(per their cut-off date)  as I was planning to do, so I think now I'm not going to enroll DS into pre-school til he's 4.5 yrs old.

At this time, DS is in a pee wee soccer class every Sat, and in the spring, I will be enrolling DS in t-ball and hopefully in the summer some swimming classes.

toomanycats1

howleyshell:

Our now 5.5 yr old didn't start pre-school until he was 4.

Why?

Because you never get this time back.  I was lucky to be home with him and wanted to extend the time he was getting 1:1 care and love from me and bonding with his brother as long as possible (without negatively impacting his education of course).  We did plenty of learning focused stuff at home and academically speaking he was actually ahead of most of his class mates when he did start pre-school so that wasn't a concern.

We have a 16 yr old.  Our take on it is that they've got the rest of their lives to HAVE to be in school, work, etc.  Let's let them be kids as long as possible. 

 

This!!!  I agree with what you did 100%... I did the same thing!  Strangely though, in my community all the other mom's thought it was weird that I wasn't taking him to preschool at 3, they just didn't get that I wanted him home with me.  But then again, where I live everyone has their kids in daycare, even if they are stay at home moms!  Maybe I'm not crazy?  Time is ticking down and he heads to full day kindergarten in a few months, and it will be a sad day for me, but preschool has helped make the transition easier. 

I chose his school because it suited his interests more.  The art schools were out because he isn't terribly artsy, and a center that is "all play" was out because he can do that at home... so I knew right away that the preschool he's in is the right one.  It's at a park, so they go outside when it's warm, it's also in a museum, so they do alot of "science minded" things there, and explore different types of animals and stuff...right up his alley.  If you do a little research and know your kid, that usually helps point you in the right direction.   

lmdbww

I work FT so we have never been able to participate in moms groups, library reading time, etc, during the day.  The few short hours after work each night are spent together, dinner, playtime, winding down, bedtime routine.

She started Preschool in September and that was the first "group" thing, or time when she was with someone other than a relative for an extended period of time.

Our township sports associations don't take any kids under 5 (they have to be school age, 5+), and as for dance and that sort of thing, another parent friend of mine recommended not enrolling them in anything until they asked to do it. My sister enrolled my niece (same age as DD) in a 10 week gymnastics course (it was one night a week) and she made it 2 weeks before she said she didn't want to do it anymore and they pulled her out (and she was also out of the money).

brightning

My DD just started preschool at age 4 yrs 8 mo. It was more important to me that she get time at home, doing stuff with me, having an unstructured life with lots of opportunities for extended family visits, learning about what interests her and just being a little kid. We did library once a week but to be honest, I don't think she gets much out of it and we skip it as often as possible. Even now, she's only in preschool 9 hours a week.

I fill up the rest of our time with lots of arts & crafts, play, errands, cooking and normal household stuff. DD is a part of it all. I really don't believe in structured sports for young kids - I want it to be about play and having fun. If she wants to play soccer, we bring a ball to the park.  I have made a point of doing a lot of Montessori-type activities, too.

There are plenty of benefits to preschool, but I believe there are equally large benefits to being home with me. When I taught middle school, there was a kindergarten teacher who said, "All kids come to school with 5 (or 6) years of experience." Some kids can read. Others are really good at entertaining themselves. Both have value.

momtoRaegan041008

DD1 goes to an in-home daycare, so she is gone all day while we are at work.  We couldn't get her in a preschool and when a spot opened up a week before school start, we decided we would wait until next year.  We are going to put her in soccer this spring.  We plan on starting ballet when she is 5.  My daughter is always active at home and never seems bored to me.  She has a very good imagination.