Advocate for "Real" Preschool

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

Have any of you run into the Moms who are looking for the Preschool version of Harvard?

[Countrygal]

Have any of you run into the Moms who are looking for the Preschool version of Harvard?

ROFL!!!

Just give them a copy of Harvard's original rules and precepts:

Harvard's "Rules and Precepts," adopted in 1646, stated (original spelling and Scriptural references retained):

"2. Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the maine end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (John 17:3) and therefore to lay Christ in the bottome, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and Learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth wisedome, Let every one seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seeke it of him (Prov. 2:3).

3. Every one shall so exercise himselfe in reading the Scriptures twice a day, that he shall be ready to give such an account of his proficiency therein, both in Theoreticall observations of Language and Logick, and in practical and spiritual truths, as his Tutor shall require, according to his ability; seeing the entrance of the word giveth light, it giveth understanding to the simple (Psalm 119:130)."

[jojosmommy]

Have any of you run into the Moms who are looking for the Preschool version of Harvard?

Nope but I did have one kid who attended my preschool 3 afternoons a week and a different preschool a few mornings a week. :confused: Lots of money, wanted lots of schooling I guess!

[Michelle]

Ooooh, thanks, BC! I never even thought of looking there!!!

Yes they are very inexpensive but the caps do not stay on their heads so I am making headbands with velcro on them to attach to the caps so they don't fall off, lucky I just have girls this year.

[Unregistered]

It depends on what you think a "Real" preschool is...

Some issues I have with your statements:

How many of you encourage kids to attend a "real" preschool once they reach a certain age

if the teacher is quilified and teaching the same things they would learn in a school/center preschool then that IS a real preschool

In our area you can either attend preschool 2-3 hours per day a few days a week OR attend a daycare center, in a preschool age classroom up to 12 hours a day.

I am taking ECE classes at College that does preschool and they say that most studies say that a few days a week is not enough to be consistant with the child's learning and 12 hours for 5 days a week is too much because kids get cranky being in a center and forced to learn how to sing the ABC song (when they are just remembering the words to the song; NOT the letters)

I personally think all kids benefit from classroom experience, even if their daycare provider does curriculum. I don't think a traditional mixed age daycare home can provide the same environment as a preschool with 15 kids. This can be good or bad I guess depending on the child and their needs.

In my classes they promote child advocating, and that means doing promoting what is good for children as an individual- not just a random group. Not ALL kids do well in the same environement! And in my state home daycares can have up to 12 non-schoolaged children at a time if their is 2 adults present. And home daycares provide more flexability in scheduals and curriculum than most centers. I am taking a preschool curriculum class where we are learning about how to do a "creative curriculum" for individuals and groups- very NON TRADITIONAL! Because the TRADITION way that people are teaching children (even up to high school) are making them "surface thinkers" so they can just barely answer questions on a one-time test but we need to teach them to be "deep thinkers" who will make the future better.

I am sending my own son to preschool (2 days for 2.5 hours) next year. I also have a difficult 4 yr old dcb whos mom is entertaining the idea of sending him to preschool next year but doesn't like that she will have to pay for daycare and preschool. Here in this area that is pretty much the norm. This child needs more structure, stimulation, and real traditional classroom experience than I can offer with only a few dcks here however because he gets so overstimulated a 10 hour day at a center would not be good either.

That is why there needs to be different options that just preschool centers. Just because one kid needs a certain structure doesn't mean all kids learn that way. Some parents like the fact that they have a chance to learn to work in small groups other than just a big group all the time (my ECE instructor says it is what is missing in most PreK-6th grade classes) because while you need to learn how to work with a big group of people; you also need to learn how to work one-on-one because you may one day have trouble working with only one person and need to learn how to resolve you issues with them one-on-one. Children learn from hands on expieriences not just things the teacher tells them to say! (http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9745&page=182) All my ECE teachers say that while sitting down and hearing a lecture and taking notes may help some schoolaged kids, teens, and adults learn- that children need to use all of their sense to learn (hense the sensory stage) this is to make sure it is hardwird in their brains.

Ok so what about a child who NEEDS to be in preschool? A 4 yr old very difficult dcb here needs structure. He needs to learn he isnt the only being on this earth, he needs to learn how to wait, how to listen to somone besides me, he needs to learn how to make friends, not annoy them so much that they still like him after ten minutes, not cry if he isnt first evrytime, etc.

Who says that a home preschool has to automaticly be less structured than a center? There are some home preschools that are very stuctured and some centers that are very unstructured- there is no black and white- because everyone (espesually children) are different! If the director/owner wants structure it will be structured if they don't want it to be stuctured it won't be! if you did take any classes in child development you would understand that most kids don't fully grow out of this phase until about 5 or 6. You were technicaly his "toddler teacher" so you could have done some things to help him start to phase out of this stage sooner by trying to teach him empathy: helping take care of someone who is hurt/sad or helping him right his wrongs other than just teling him "say you are sorry!"- not saying you do or don't do these things just examples. for turns you can try sharing games or turn taking games or even dramatic play (sharing diologe and taking turns talking).


If some of this sounds a little harsh sorry, I think I just got a little iffy with your comment because it's like say "Oh because it's at home so they aren't really learing" that like saying that because you do daycare in your home you just a babysitter (providers are usually called this but I am NOT saying you are). Overall, I say that as long as the teacher is qualified and educated on how to create effective curriculums and is willing to work with each child individually to help the child progress than that is a REAL preschool. I don't consider it a REAL school to just teach them the ABC's song forward and backwards if they can not point out most of the letters in the alphabet (meaning other than "A,B,C" and the ones they need to spell their name) that's why many children in school are illiterate because some people assume "oh, they can sing the ABC song so they can read and write". What YOU think is right for YOUR child is fine, but you shouldn't be so closed minded in saying that ALL children need this and it should be the only optin- it is up to the parents to decide what is write for their child.

What I DO advoacate is for a requirement that anyone who teaches and advertises their business as a preschool (whether in a home or a center) at the very least have to take some classes (curriculum, observation, priniciples of ECE/CD), if not have an ECE/Child Development certificate (ususally about 24 ECE credits) or AA (60 credits of 18 ECE which include a student teacher class and the rest in general Ed). Because while it may be easy to just print out a curriculum you find on the internet every day for the group it would be more benifitial for the child if you understand their learning style and what they need in their environment to benefit most from it.

If you want to convince mom that HER child would do BETTER in a larger class room, one thing you can do is try to look up a DRDP- for preschoolers (they do have them in other age groups) (http://www.wested.org/desiredresults...rguide1012.pdf)
and observe him (using non judgemental and NO opinions just facts and verbs {"he walked/ ran/skipped to" instead of "he went to the door"). Then have a parent teacher conference with his parents and give them advace and suggestions you think will help him.
You may decide to use this with other kids to help you build curriculum that would help them improve. These are great to measure how well a child is doing in one area of development (learning foundations and domains) some children are better with language but still need help with social and emotional.

[Mommy2One]

All but a couple of families over the years have chosen the half-day preschool option over moving their kids entirely to a center for a full-day program.

How does transportation work for those children?

We have free (to parents) VPK for 4 year olds in my area. It's available at any preschool/day care willing to meet the state requirements/do the paperwork so there are a variety of quality programs to choose from. The program covers about 3 hours/day, and most schools are set up for something like 9:00am-12:00pm. My daughter's an only child who spends 2 days with her grandmother and the other 3 with very low ratio outside care (1:2 - 1:4 usually) so I think she'd benefit from being in a larger group in a more structured setting. I don't want her to be in a school/daycare environment the full 9.5 hours/day though and I love our current provider and the home-like atmosphere - I just don't know how to get her to/from preschool. I'd be fine with my provider transporting her, but feel that that's a bit much to ask so I'd love some other ideas.

[The Play Room]

Since this is an on-going debate, it reminded me of how a member here posed a challenge to people who strongly believe in the benefits of pre-school and asked that they post proof (actual studies) that showed the benefits of preschool academics for children who were not already academically behind, or living in poverty.

This poster challenged others to find studies they could show/post that proved preschool has it's benefits.

So far no one has been able to do this.

Here is an excellent debate about the benefits of preschool and early education. https://www.daycare.com/forum/showth...fits+preschool
There is definitely two different perspective s with very valid points on each side. I know where i stand but prefer to let others choose for themselves.

For anyone wanting documented evidence re: preschool google "the Perry Preschool Study". This preschool program was NOT academic. It allowed children to be children, to explore their own interest through play. They were not confined to desks to do educational tasks. They had short group times that brought the group together for information, but mostly the children chose what they wanted to work on and with who. The 'teachers' were observers, sometimes co-players. They taught with suggestions and guidance. They introduced new concepts and then let the children go with it. This is definitely NOT what you find in a normal preschool and for this reason I don't really feel that preschools are a good thing. BTW- I homeschooled all three of my children from middle school through high school. If I had it to do over, I would have started homeschooling earlier and they would have never entered the doors of a public school.

[Blackcat31]

For anyone wanting documented evidence re: preschool google "the Perry Preschool Study". This preschool program was NOT academic. It allowed children to be children, to explore their own interest through play. They were not confined to desks to do educational tasks. They had short group times that brought the group together for information, but mostly the children chose what they wanted to work on and with who. The 'teachers' were observers, sometimes co-players. They taught with suggestions and guidance. They introduced new concepts and then let the children go with it. This is definitely NOT what you find in a normal preschool and for this reason I don't really feel that preschools are a good thing. BTW- I homeschooled all three of my children from middle school through high school. If I had it to do over, I would have started homeschooling earlier and they would have never entered the doors of a public school.

Perry provided preschool education and home visits to disadvantaged children during their preschool years.

The Perry study is a critical experiment in the literature that examines the benefits of early childhood intervention.

The study is based a randomized controlled trial, considered the gold standard for assessing the effectiveness of a treatment.
However, these social experiments often suffer from imperfect randomization protocols, and the Perry study is no exception.

When only a SMALL percentage of children are studied, the results of course are skewed.
The Perry Preschool study is not a valid example of how children that aren't disadvantaged benefit from preschool experiences.

ANYONE disadvantaged in comparison to their 'peers' will obviously benefit from extra attention and experiences. I don't need a 40 yr study to know that.

I DO find the Perry Preschool study to be a valuable resource for early childhood but not in the context in which they meant it to be.

[hwichlaz]

Nope, I've been doing this for 18 years, and the kindergarten teachers all look forward to and hope to get my students. I use Mother Goose Time and Funshine Express if I have 4 year olds. Earlier than that and I use Letter of the Week.

There is only one preschool in my community that isn't a low income preschool, head start, or a home daycare doing preschool. They can't take all of the kids.

[Jupadia]

No I don't push preschool. As a pp stated here in Ontario kids start kindergarden the year they turn 4, so some like my youngest start at 3 years.

Already I think 3 young for kindergarden (mine will be the youngest in his class unless someone has a birthday on December 31 the day after his) it's already early to have him gone for a full day of kindergarden.

Overall though cause ages do change I would say that if a 4 year old is lacking things to do in your program that they have outgrown it . While they may not be ready or need a preschool program that it's best for them to move on to an environment that is better suited to them and their growing needs.

[flying_babyb]

I agree with jokalima. I worked in a larger center in the 3-5 room. My kids could count, spell there name, know months, colors, shapes, days in spanish and english. Most had great cutting skills, could paste and fallow directions. I copied the 4k curriculum standards and ran with that.