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A mom asked me if I do preschool things with the kids today. Ummmm...nope. I have four between 2-4 and two babies. I do not have time to formally teach them. I do things with my own 4 year old while the others nap. And with all I read books, color, play outside and in, eat, and nap, and that is what I have time for. It's hard to stay afloat as it is. I wish I'd asked what she is teaching dcb 3 at home. She can teach him his ABCs. I taught him how to play with others and use the toilet. You can do it lady with your two kids. I have six, and it isn't happening. Now I'll just be over here worrying that I'm about to lose income.
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Do you let your kids watch TV?
My daycare provider used to alternate by doing smaller groups and started the 1 year olds watching Preschool Prep: Meet the Letters and Meet the Numbers DVD's while she worked with the bigger kids.
Then she had time to work with the smaller kids while the bigger kids watched a Preschool Prep DVD. They have them for phonics and sight words and colors and numbers.
Honestly instead of worrying you will lose income, I would see if there is a way you can offer a little bit of something that pleases this mom. If it comes off as "I've got too much on my plate and I can't handle anything else" --- you will lose families. -
I'm with Happy Mom... your attitude will cause you to lose families. My babies and toddlers learn their ABC/123's, colors and loads more just in every day play (I am a play based 0-2 childcare)... when I took older kids, I still did play based, but with 6 kids under 3.5 years while homeschooling my then 12 yr old dd
It's all about incorporating the learning while singing or reading books and normal play... colors & counting can be learned when setting the table for meals, say the Abc's while moving the babies legs every time you do a diaper change (takes and extra 30 seconds), listen to preschool songs on Spotify... I am a TV free home, so music is our main thing. It's just a matter of "the little engine that could " thought processComment
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Or you could just let them play. Nothing wrong with that. They can take months to learn their A,B,C's at 2 years old or a week to learn them at 4 years old. The result is the same. You can push learning too young and make them feel inadequate which can hamper their progress in later years. I focus on play, problem solving, teaching skills such as taking shoes on and off, putting on coats, zipping, listening to directions, helping, independence, leadership when the older ones help the younger ones, an excitement for books, adequate emotions, reactions and behaviors and I expect them to leave me at 4 years old (and prefer they do even though some don't). The ones that don't have actually done better in kindergarten than the ones that left for preschool.Comment
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Yes, incorporate these things and they will learn fast. Kids love songs, use teachable moments to teach them colors, numbers, shapes, and letters. I do circle time everyday and it's just a few learning songs (abcs ect) with a calendar. They love doing the calendar, and it's literally 15 minutes out of our day.
You do not need to sit down and do worksheets to get kids to learn.Comment
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First, I provide no preschool services. I believe that teaching things like that is a parental responsibility (and one that I ENJOY teaching my child). That said, my play-only childcare is very educational. They learn from the play itself, but I try to provide toys that engage their minds and encourage them to ask questions. My kids learn about science, math, phonics, etc. without ever having "lessons".Comment
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You can do a play based program with some fun activities.
Like dance, singing, painting and reading all of that is learning!
The kids following your dance movement, or even simple games like asking them to build a tree with blocks/zoo, count with pompom. These thing count as part of preschool time.
Otherwise you can just have younger kids.Comment
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I think the problem with everybody's mindset is the word 'formally teach preschool'. You are probably teaching them way more than you're giving yourself credit for and you need to play that up to parents. Reading books, dancing, singing, coloring and painting, cutting, sensory/water table, puppets, blocks, and on and on.......they are learning so much if you do most of those types of things already.
These days, if we don't label ourselves preschool, parents think we're inadequate, which I find terribly sad. Find some good articles about what children learn through simple activities and pass them to dcps or post them on a bulletin board.
There are tons of things kids need to learn in their early years and I feel the focus needs to be shifted a bit. Sure, it's great when they can count and do their ABC's but it's not everything. They also need to listen, sit still for a few minutes for story time, social skills, potty, follow simple directions, control their emotions, problem solve, get along, there is so much. Why does everyone focus on ABC's and 123's??Comment
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Actually, you ARE providing educational activities, but you're selling yourself short.
I agree with Happy Mom, don't tell mom that you can't do anything.
Mostly because that's NOT true.
Reading to the children exposes them to language, letters, and numbers. Singing and dancing exposes them to language, and is great for large motor. Coloring, play doh or silly putty is a great fine motor activity and is great for pre-writing skills. Find the educational component in what you already do with them, and capitalize on it
Then you can say with confidence to mom "I offer a program with developmentally appropriate educational activities. This means a lot of "hands on" activities as that is what is recommended for kids under 5."
I would also look up some GOOD sources for recommended practice in early child hood education and see if you can print out parent information sheets that you can pass out when this comes up, highlighting what you already do as it aligns best practice.
Just stop selling yourself short! When I read/hear reports of kids entering Kindegarten who have no basic skills (waiting their turn, listening quietly, following one step directions, etc) I see that as a much bigger issue than if they know their letters.
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This. There are a couple of older threads that have great wording on documenting what dcks are learning through their play environment.
Op, I would ask her what she means by preschool. You could then have a conversation about what preschool skills you are working on in your environment. If she wants him learning specific things (like abcs), I would offer simple suggestions on how she can work with her child at home.
I wouldn't change my set up to appease one parent, especially if I am happy with how I run my program. I would change how I describe our daily activities to parents, framing what we are doing in educational terms. Sometimes it is easy for us to see everything that children are learning, less so for parents.Comment
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Clients today want to visibly see something and physically hold it in their hand or they feel their children aren't learning. The federal push for academics has made things more difficult because clients go by what is being said rather than researching the effects of play learning. Clients are scared their children will not be ready for Kindy if they do not attend "preschool". I do explain to clients how I "teach" and "prepare" kids for kindy but I can't make them "accept" it.
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