Do Any Of You Provide Child Care Without Providing A Pre-School Program?

[momma2girls]

I do not have a preschool program, but do preschool things with children over the age of about 2 1/2- abc's, counting, nursery rhymes, fingerplays, singing, dancing, shapes, etc...... we do something different everyday. I have circletime, weather and date for age 3 and over.

[harperluu]

I agree with this....and I did go back to school and get my education. I find that the children I care for are all under Kindy age and really need developmentally appropriate activites that help them learn self-help skills and independence vs academic skills.

The reading, writing and all the 1,2,3's and A,B,C's come naturally if the environment is supportive of their natural development. I will leave the actual teaching to the teachers in public school and will instead focus on manners, emotional maturity, self help, taking turns, sharing and how to use silverware and cups without lids instead.

This is perfectly stated, and my philosophy exactly. For me, early childhood is about nurturing and life skills. When someone asks if I have a preschool program, I always say that we do preschool activities but do not have a formal preschool curriculum. My art tends to be open-ended rather than project based. We spend mornings outside soaking up the fresh air and working on large motor skills. Nearly every moment in early childhood is a moment of discovery and learning. Children will not have a time in there lives where they can be so carefree until they retire.

[Sunchimes]

I don't offer a formal program. I am rabidly against pre-K or forcing a child into formal learning before the age of 6. I wouldn't even send mine to kindergarten if I had kids. I won't be part of it, but I know that I'll lose all of my kids when they turn 4 because our school district offers full day pre-K. Of course they are going to ditch me for the free child care they get through the school. Of the 4 I have on my roll now, 1 will turn 4 ten days before the start of pre-K. The others missed the cut off by 7 and 10 days, so I'll have them an extra year (of course, that's assuming I still have them 2 years from now.)

That said, I've been teaching them since they were 6 mo and 10 months old. I never say ball, I say round ball or red doll. I never say blocks, I say one block or two blocks. In a book, I say "That's a dog, woof woof". The oldest knows almost every animal sound. Her cat is priceless. I am constantly using color or number or shape words, even though I know they aren't ready for them. I think that when their minds are ready, they already have those reference points. They can already bring me the yellow block at 19 and 20 months old. I'm not sure why I do that, it just is a natural thing for me--I think every moment is a teaching moment for a young child. I even did it for my grandkids and for the neighborhood kids that always hung out on my porch.

I have no plans to have a formal program unless they decide to leave them with me instead of going to pre-K.

[LK5kids]

I love to teach so I do offer a preschool program.
My preschool time sounds a lot like what many of you are doing who feel as tho you don't offer preschool activities.

I am a licensed early childhood K-6 teacher.
I believe in free play wholeheartedly. When I taught kindergarten I made sure my class had 45 min. of free play. I had literacy built into the learning centers but they could go to the doll house, blocks, sensory table! Etc., as long as there was room. They chose where to learn and play.

In my early childhood center I teach with "teachable" moments, do not use things like flash cards, etc.
I do plan my day and have a daily circle time.
I teach with flannel board stories & activities
Songs, movement & movement
Story time, etc.

I also have a planned creative, open-ended art project about 3 x per wk.

I think we are all offering lots of great learning experiences. It shows there is a wide variety of ways to teach. Hats off to all you wonderful providers!!!

[CozyHome]

If you talk to the children all the time about anything that comes up inside and outside about nature, life, shapes, colours, you are teaching them. I have weekly or bi-weekly themes and get my library books, crafts and lessons to match them so that I'm planting little seeds in the children's minds.

It makes me happy to think that I'm a teacher, not just a chef and bum changer!

[nanglgrl]

My daughter is in the free preschool offered by our state. I started her there because she needed time away from the daycare. She's 4 and all of my daycare kids are 2. She comes home from preschool every day and tells me what they talked about and so far they haven't done anything that we don't do here.
They don't send home crafts...every piece of art she makes is entirely her own creation. The state offered preschool is only about 4 1/2 hours so during that time they eat lunch, snack, have outside time and free play/center time. The centers are the same we have here (reading area, family center, art center...etc.) I think a lot of people over think what preschool is. It's nothing like kindergarten and is virtually the same as most good daycares with the exception of having all one age group.

I don't know how it works in other states but here the free preschool is only a half day and they do not provide transportation so it's incredibly difficult for people who are employed to use. My daughter rides with a friend who's mom works from home. The site where my daughter is at does not offer before/after care and they are also limited on how many children they accept. I'm pretty sure most if not all of the sites are the same.

[MarinaVanessa]

I love to teach so I do offer a preschool program.
My preschool time sounds a lot like what many of you are doing who feel as tho you don't offer preschool activities.

I am a licensed early childhood K-6 teacher.
I believe in free play wholeheartedly. When I taught kindergarten I made sure my class had 45 min. of free play. I had literacy built into the learning centers but they could go to the doll house, blocks, sensory table! Etc., as long as there was room. They chose where to learn and play.

In my early childhood center I teach with "teachable" moments, do not use things like flash cards, etc.
I do plan my day and have a daily circle time.
I teach with flannel board stories & activities
Songs, movement & movement
Story time, etc.

I also have a planned creative, open-ended art project about 3 x per wk.

I think we are all offering lots of great learning experiences. It shows there is a wide variety of ways to teach. Hats off to all you wonderful providers!!!

My DC kids get a full-day of free play ::. I guess that's also what a lot of us here do and that's what I mean about me not offering a pre-school curriculum. I don't plan it, or prepare for it. It's all "teachable moments" Our "circle time" isn't even a circle . It's all the kids playing in the playroom and we talk about what day it is and look out the window or go outside to see what the weather is like and such and see where the conversation takes us.

We learn only through play, talking ans song. No worksheets, no crafts. It's all child-led here.

[Scout]

I am just curious as to whether any of you provide childcare but do not provide a pre-school program?

I provide Unlicensed In Home childcare and I do not currently have a "Pre-School Program" in place. I do however do activities with the children such as reading to them, letters, flashcards and things. I just do not have a pre-school program in place.

My three children attend an Online Public School and they do their schooling at home. Well my youngest this year is in Kindergarten. So I have taken the opportunity this year to do the things that his school required and done those things with the children. We read stories, work on letters and things like that. I done this with the children I provide childcare for while doing my own son's schoolwork.

I am wondering if a Pre-School Program is something I should have in place??

I dont want to create more responsibilities than I am able to handle and one of my main reasons for wanting to do a business from home was to be there for my children and their schoolwork. So I dont want to over do it.

The children in my care definately stay busy with fun activities, listening to stories, outdoor play and lots of fun educational things. I was just wondering if it was necessary to have a pre-school program in place?

Since I am an unlicensed provider I watch a very small group of children.

I don't have a program. We do a lot of baking though! The kids basically free play most of the day. We will go for walks in warmer weather. I have them watch videos on Stranger Safety or house safety so I guess they are learning a bit! I always have them help me make applesauce, cookies, banana bread, and so on. They love it!

[providerandmomof4]

I have a monthly theme and we check out library books weekly to coincide with the theme. They also pick out one book a piece of their choice weekly. Even the babies, the older kids will pick one out they think that they would like. We do some sort of craft daily, and have a learning time where we focus upon our ABC's, colors, shapes, etc. Some are further along than others. I don't force, if one or all the dck's don't want to do the project at project time, then that's fine, however the tv is not on and only the books and puzzles are out to play with.

[mamac]

What exactly defines a "formal" preschool curriculum vs. play based learning vs. someone like me who really has no clue what they're doing but wants to have a schedule of things to do so the kids will learn. (with no experience other than raising my own 2 kids)

I want to call my DC ***XX family daycare and preschool. I added the preschool part because I want parents to know that I will make every effort to teach their children and ready them for kindergarten and not just plop them in front of a tv all day, but I don't want to fall short of their expectations either.

If my experience with this goes well my husband and I are considering getting a separate building and expanding in the future. I think advertising with the preschool name is more prestigious than just a "daycare" especially when there are people out there that just don't "get" what DC providers do.

[Play Care]

I love to teach so I do offer a preschool program.
My preschool time sounds a lot like what many of you are doing who feel as tho you don't offer preschool activities.

I am a licensed early childhood K-6 teacher.
I believe in free play wholeheartedly. When I taught kindergarten I made sure my class had 45 min. of free play. I had literacy built into the learning centers but they could go to the doll house, blocks, sensory table! Etc., as long as there was room. They chose where to learn and play.

In my early childhood center I teach with "teachable" moments, do not use things like flash cards, etc.
I do plan my day and have a daily circle time.
I teach with flannel board stories & activities
Songs, movement & movement
Story time, etc.

I also have a planned creative, open-ended art project about 3 x per wk.

I think we are all offering lots of great learning experiences. It shows there is a wide variety of ways to teach. Hats off to all you wonderful providers!!!

This is how I do it as well. My kids LOVE their "school" time and always ask when we are going to do it. When I first started providing child care I did not offer any formal preschool activities - it was free play with teachable moments through the day. But I noticed there was a natural lull at a certain time in the AM and it was perfect for having a more formal story time/theme discussions. I also have ADD tendancies so when I wasn't offering formal preschool activities there were many days I felt that I got so overwhelmed with diaper changes, potty training, preparing meals, cleaning up from meals, etc. etc. etc. that I wondered if I had even talked to the kids at all, much less had/took the time to recognize and capitalize on teachable moments.

My formal learning time is based on the children, their ages, interests and maturity level. I don't use worksheets or flashcards. If the color "red" is one of our themes we color/draw on red paper, have a variety of red blocks in the sensory bin, paint with red paint, etc. Out of a 10+ hour day our formal learning time is tops 20-30 minutes of it.
This works well for me, because no matter how busy the day gets, I *know* that we had a set time to do certain things. It also takes the pressure off me trying to remember at the end of a long day what I did with the kids

[Laurel]

I do not provide a preschool program. I am NOT a teacher. I am a replacement for mommy and daddy while they are working. This is not to say that we don't "teach". I try to use every moment I can to teach them something. ABC's, counting, colors, etc. We also focus on life skills, taking turns, sharing, interacting with others, washing hands, covering our mouths when we cough or sneeze and on and on. They have ALL the rest of their lives to go to school. They have a very very short bit of time to be kids! I try to embrace that!

Laurel

[Laurel]

This is how I do it as well. My kids LOVE their "school" time and always ask when we are going to do it. When I first started providing child care I did not offer any formal preschool activities - it was free play with teachable moments through the day. But I noticed there was a natural lull at a certain time in the AM and it was perfect for having a more formal story time/theme discussions. I also have ADD tendancies so when I wasn't offering formal preschool activities there were many days I felt that I got so overwhelmed with diaper changes, potty training, preparing meals, cleaning up from meals, etc. etc. etc. that I wondered if I had even talked to the kids at all, much less had/took the time to recognize and capitalize on teachable moments.

My formal learning time is based on the children, their ages, interests and maturity level. I don't use worksheets or flashcards. If the color "red" is one of our themes we color/draw on red paper, have a variety of red blocks in the sensory bin, paint with red paint, etc. Out of a 10+ hour day our formal learning time is tops 20-30 minutes of it.
This works well for me, because no matter how busy the day gets, I *know* that we had a set time to do certain things. It also takes the pressure off me trying to remember at the end of a long day what I did with the kids

I always thought about documenting what I do and now I kind of do but it kind of happened by accident. I don't do a preschool program but, like others, do a lot of educational things everyday just in the course of life.

I noticed I was documenting because I have my phone camera and take pictures of the children cause they are so cute doing things. I send them daily or almost daily to the parents...just one or two pics not a ton. They love it and going through the photos gives me a visual reminder of how much stuff we really do.

Laurel

[itlw8]

bang bang bang.. hear that? that is my head against the wall.... ALL of us that care for preschool age children have a preschool program. The question is what kind do you have.

For everyone that says I do not do worksheets or parent pleaser crafts we just play and explore. We read dance color and have fun... YEAH!!!! that Is what preschool is supposed to be. You are a wonderful preschool teacher if you do these things.

yes we can al make it better and planning can help with that... but really if you listen to what the kids are interested in learning you can not go wrong.

READ READ READ dance, sing explore nature. what a wonderful preschool experience your children have.

[Blackcat31]

bang bang bang.. hear that? that is my head against the wall....

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