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desabean
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when did your LO start pre-school?
desabean
member
I feel like I dropped the ball on this. I wanted G to start this fall (my mil watches her and I think she could use some additional socialization). I thought I found one in March but it was full time and I felt that was a bit much. I really like that she goes to the zoo, aquarium, swimming, etc with MIL so I didn't want to stop that just yet. So, I dragged my feet and now all the part time ones are full. Im hoping I'm not putting her at a disadvantage by starting her at 3 (and 2 months) next fall. How old was your child when they started? Any pros / cons to waiting vs. Not waiting as you see it? Thanks!
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Re: when did your LO start pre-school?
DD started one day a week MDO at 18 months. Now at 2 1/2 she will go two days a week, continuing until K. Most kids here start around 3 or 3 and a half for actual preschool.
I think it all depends on a child's social needs. For DD, she really benefitted from being in an organized environment early since she spent all her time with me. Making friends, learning social skills all helped her out.
Paige started MDO at 16 months. But she is techinically in "school." She is in the school that she will be in until 8th grade.
They have 3 class rooms before actual pre-K.
She was in the big bird room from 16 months - 27 months
She is in the bear room this year from 28 months - 3.5 years
She will be in pre-school from 3.5-4.5
Then she will start Pre-K
For Paige, I first signed her up because I was pregnant with twins and knew that I wouldn't be able to take her to do much because of the babies.
Also, she craves the interaction with other kids. She is the creepy kid at the park who walks up to other kids, grabs their hand, and drags them over to the swings.
If I were you, I would want to get G in some kind of MDO (do they have that in your area?) so that when the babies come home, she has her big girl thing that she gets to do, she still gets to do fun things, get away from the babies, etc.
I think that was very helpful in helping Paige deal with her brothers and adjusting to her new life.
And FWIW, even if you weren't pregnant (or if you were having a singleton), I'd still say that some kind of MDO, a few days a week, would probably be helpful for her.
Should have said - her first year, she went T/Th 9:30-2:30
Now, she goes T/W/Th 9:30-2:30
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Reed turned 3 in July and he's starting a part time one in a couple of weeks. All of the preschools I saw around here required the kids to be potty trained (or almost). I didn't want to put Reed in preschool last year. He was 2 and barely talking.
This year is a totally different story. He loves playing with other kids and reading/learning/doing crafts. I think it will be great for him socially to be in preschool. I am a SAHM...so full time wasn't really an option. Financially for one thing, and also because I want spend time with him too. He starts kindergarten next September!!
My daughter started 3 days a week (for 3 hours a day) when she was 2 years, 10 months (last September). It was considered an "early 3s" class and it was the youngest class at her school; maybe not official pre-school but it was pre-school (if that makes any sense). Her school continues with a 3s class, a pre-k class (4 yr olds) and then kindergarten (her school actually goes up to 8th grade but that's the pre-school portion). As the kids get older, they attend longer/for more days. We could have even opted for 5x a week even in the early 3s but we felt she had the rest of her life (or at least another ~18 years) to go to school every day...we could wait another year.
I don't think you're at a huge disadvantage to put her in at 3 years from an education standpoint b/c at this point it's really about socialization. My daughter got a ton of social interaction before she started pre-school - she took music & gym classes 2-3x a week, went to the library reading time 1x a week, went to the park daily and also had playdates ~3x a week. As long as you're daughter is getting a lot of social interaction anyway like we were, I think you're covering that well.
One other thing is that many schools offer enrollment mid-year since some kids 'age-in' around that time so you could look into that as well.
You should hear what my friend thinks about starting preschool before the age of 4. She thinks that any SAHM that puts their LO preschool before the age of 4 or 5, is irresponsible. She thinks that as a SAHM, it's your job to be with your kids 24/7. She also says that there are crazy people in the world (like pedophiles) and a 2 or 3 yr old isn't going to be able to tell you if something "bad" happens in school (like a stranger gets into the school and does bad things to your kids). She kept her kids home with her until right before they started kindergarten.
Wonder what she would think if she knew Nicholas has been in MDO since he was 22 months.
Dillon won't start preschool until 3 years old. I am taking him to a few pre-preschool type classes at the YMCA here. It is kind of a structured "school" enviorment for 2 hours, 2 days a week - but caregivers stay with them. It helps him get used to the whole idea of school, but not be without me.
Maybe your MIL would be interested in attending something like this with G? if your Y offers it? They get the learning skills/social skills and you can sign up 2 months at a time - so it wouldn't be "too late"
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Jacob will be starting preschool next week - 2.5 years old. He'll go MWF mornings from 9:15 to 12:15.
As a SAHM, I give him a lot of attention and interaction with other children. But I feel like there are just things that I cannot teach him. Like respecting teachers/other adults. He needs to learn this by interacting with them. He's not around other children every day, so I think learning to share and interact with other children on a really regular basis will be helpful. There are times when he's supposed to be sitting (library story time, a dance presentation, etc) and he just doesn't understand. I've tried a lot of things to get him to sit down and pay attention, but I'm not succeeding with that skill. I'm hoping they can help with that. Finally, as a SAHM I drag him to a lot of places that I know he doesn't want to go (gym, grocery store, Target, etc.) I plan on doing these things while he's at school and this will make for the time that we do spend together to be more focused on him and his needs, rather than running errands.
That being said, I'm off to Target!
DS started this year, he had only ever been home with DH and my cousin and I wanted more socialization for him. The one that I found that I liked is 5 days a week but he does the 1/2 day from8-11:30. So far he's been sick close to 1/2 of the 12 school days that he's had. Right now he's getting over croup, he's never really been around kids his own age so I'm glad that I'm doing it because he likes it but I wonder if the sickness would be less if he was another year older.
I don't think she'll be at a disadvantage from starting next year vs this year.
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Caroline started church day school when she was 15 months. She LOVES it...and I love it.
I wanted to start her well before Park's arrival...so it would just be totally normal for her.
It is really the only time she gets to play with other kids...it has been way too hot for me to be out and about, and we live in such a small town anyway, there aren't any activities for kids her age.
She goes MTT from 9a-1p...and she will continue that same schedule until she goes to kindergarten.
I think it depends a lot on your situation and the kid.
For us?
I tend to follow DH's lead on this kinda stuff since he's BTDT (been there, done that).
His advice? They've got the rest of their lives to be in school and such a tiny blip of time to just be a kid. Let them be a kid as long as possible before they start school.
I worked part time and we had a nanny. Dylan started pre-school 1/2 day 2 days a week at age 4. Even now at 5 he's only going 3 days a week.
Jace started at 3.5.
Neither of them will go 5 days a week until kindy.
If you're able to do academic work with them at home and they're getting socialization I don't see a rush to school. We did/do plenty of crafts and such and I think they're getting more out of it 1:1 than they are/will in a 1:5 or greater ratio. Both of my kids are sounding out words, doing basic math, etc and doing well academically and I think it's in part because I CAN work 1:1 with them, KWIM?
The main things they learn in pre-school are how to be a part of the heard and function in a class room - how to stand in line, open their own snack container, use scissors, glue, sing songs, sit cris-cross-applesauce, raise their hands, play nice together, etc.
One year is plenty to accomplish learning that stuff. No need to put them in pre-school more than a year before kindy unless you as a Mom need her to have some time away (or in your case if your MIL needs a break)
On the flip side - both of mine do enjoy it so I don't see a problem with it but I don't think it's necessary and you're not behind at all for waiting until 3.
Don't sweat it!!
Total score: 6 pregnancies, 5 losses, 2 amazing blessings that I'm thankful for every single day.
Our boys were 3yrs3mos when they started. At that age they were potty trained and were able to do a 5day/wk program.
For us, this was the perfect age to get them started in pre-school.
DS has been cared for at our home by my mom while DH and I work since he was 4 months old. He is and will be an only child for the forseeable future. Sometime last year I felt like he needed to have more opportunities to spend time with other kids on a regular basis and work that stuff out. He had a speech delay as well and his therapist and service coordinator both thought he should be spending time with other kids on a more regular basis. My mom took him with her to do adult things (Target, the bank, errands) and he enjoyed that but he was only making it to the kid's story time at the library or to the park about once every two weeks with DH or myself. It was just not enough.
So I enrolled him in a Montessori school last fall when he was 2 years 3 months old. By that time he was talking well but not PT. It was a mixed age class as is typical for Montessori schools. He went 3 days a week for 4 hours at a time. It was a rough transition for him and he cried at drop off for over a month.
But he learned all the stuff we hoped he would learn and loves it now (and has for at least 6 months). He knows songs. He made friends, loves the routine of school, loves his teachers, etc. He knew how to hold a pencil and use scissors from doing stuff at home with us and Gramma and does not know his letters or numbers, but he can count verbally which I love. He is now going 4 days a week, including the three half days like before plus one longer day of 7 hours which has been a bit of a rougher transition.
If I or DH were home with him I would have waited until this fall to enroll him, and it was certainly harder than I expected to get him adjusted but overall it's been great to see him learn new things and routines.
We are staring Ava right now (2 years, 10 months) and she'll be in the 3-year-old classroom. Honestly, I'm starting her for fun and because she seemed interested, not at all because I think she NEEDS it, KWIM? I wanted her to get out a few days a week for a few hours, meet some new friends, and practice some social skills. I was lucky to find a great place at a church, 2 days per week for 2 1/2 hours, and it is really inexpensive.
Have you looked into church-run programs? We looked at several (private and church run), and the small, church-run programs were just what I was looking for -- fun, no pressure, and a third of the price of the private ones. And they aren't really too heavy on religion -- a prayer, some bible stories, some holiday programs and parties.
I think it's really your decision and certainly won't hurt her to wait another year. It sounds like she is already in several programs, so in terms of socialization, she's probably doing great already!