If your 3-4 year old does not go to preschool...

Re: If your 3-4 year old does not go to preschool...

• Notwifezilla7 member

  August 2012

  If you do stay home, have you looked into preschool costs? I know here we were surprised to find a less costly preschool in our town, that hasn't hit our budget too much. DD's school is associated with the local Methodist church.

  Our local high school also offers a preschool program  as part of their child development curriculum for the high school students. The cost is less than $100 per year. 

  I only bring up those options because even as a former K-1 teacher, attempting to formally teach my now 4 yo was difficult, especially with another LO at home.

   There are some great resources online, if you do decide to go this route. I personally love:  https://www.notimeforflashcards.com/

   

  
  

   

  

  
  

  
  

  Not Wifezilla 

  Blogging about boobs, babies, bed lust & everything in between since 2007.

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• Notwifezilla7 member

  August 2012

  Mrs.Greg:

  and you teach them preschool type things at home, how many hours per day/week do you spend with them?  Is there a site that you were able to find that listed the types of things other 3-4 year olds are learning?

  I ask because I am currently a WM but DH and I are seriously considering me becoming a SAHM.  I am very unhappy with our current DC situation and we can't really afford to pay for the kids to go to a different location.  Our DC's rates are very reasonable.  After we pay for DC each month, there's only about $700 month left over from my pay checks.  It's nearly not cost effective for me to continue working anyway. 

  One of my concerns about staying home is teaching DD1 preschool type things. She's such a smart girl but I want to make sure she stays caught up with her peers.  She knows her letters, can count to 29 (she doesn't quite understand why 30 isn't twenty-ten), knows colors, talks very clearly and in complete thoughts, sings songs and tells stories, etc.  But one thing I've been working on that we are having trouble with is her holding a pencil/crayon and writing.  She says holding it the right way hurts her fingers so she wants to hold it in the palm of her hand and wrap her fingers around. 

  Anyway, any feedback would be appreciated.  TIA!

  The OT I worked with would break crayons and sharpen the pencils down to small pieces (Like the size of golf pencils or smaller) so that the kids were forced to hold them the "right" way. You can also encourage writing by using chalk too. Easier to hold & break. 

   

  
  

   

  

  
  

  
  

  Not Wifezilla 

  Blogging about boobs, babies, bed lust & everything in between since 2007.

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• ToBeMrsT member

  August 2012

  DS does go to preschool, but there are a lot of ppl that do it at home. I think you'll find a lot of online resources.  In my area there are also friends that do small preschool groups.  A few moms will get all their kids together and do a preschool program out of their home a few times a week. 

  You also might find a program that is inexpensive enough where you could send her a few days a week for a few hours.   

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• Nwlywed07 member

  August 2012

  I agree with looking into an inexpensive preschool that is a few hours a week. I see from your siggy that you also have little twins...doing it at home might be more difficult with those two underfoot. You could always dedicate their nap time to her preschool time at home if you really want to try to do it at home. The thing with doing at home preschool is making sure you have some sort of schedule you follow and plan out what you are going to do each week so you stay on track. Good Luck! 
  

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• kar5162 member

  August 2012

  For the pencil holding, make "baby crayons" - break the tips off of crayons - the whole thing should be about 1" long - the break is just a tiny bit into the paper part. This really helps them develop the open grip that will transfer to pencil holding.

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• Angela814 member

  August 2012

  I think preschool is important for 4 yos to get them ready for the structure of school. They'll also work on writing and holding the pencil correctly. Does your school district have a public 4K? Ours does and has a separate building just for the 4K program. My niece went to a 4K in a local daycare center, but it was funded through the public school so no cost to them. 

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• 2-Step member

  August 2012

  It sounds like your 3yo is doing great already. I am looking in to a co-op preschool in my area that is much cheaper and all you have to do is volunteer one day a week. If you can't volunteer in the classroom, you can volunteer to do a weekend cleaning day etc. to make up for it.

  That being said, I think you can definitely do learning activities at home that will prepare your child for kindergarten. My brother and I didn't attend preschool and we were both very good students and in advanced classes our entire lives. My mom made some time each day to work on things with us, but a lot of it was just her reading to us constantly and making play time into learning time as well. I don't think you necessarily need a school setting to do a lot of those things and most kids will do find entering kindergarten without preschool to prepare for that environment.
  

  I'd reach out to some of the home schooling groups in your area for resources. I'm sure they could point you in the right direction. Also, check your local library for books, videos and other tools that help with development.
  

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• Que*Syrah member

  August 2012

  I am glad I read this thread for the tip on how to hold crayons! I don't hold my pencil correctly (much to the dismay of my teacher mom and all my teachers) so I'd like to make sure LO learns early on.
  

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