Pre-School

[elmo0209]

Hi! I'm not sure if anyone can help me out. My daughter just turned 2.
She is now reading at almost a 6 year old level. She knows all her letters and the phonetic sounds. She knows how to count from 1-20 and is learning simple addition and subtraction now.
She knows basic shapes and most of her primary and secondary colors.
She is now learning how to write or draw her letters and numbers.

So now what do I do when it comes time for pre-school? Do I send her or just continue her education at home? I don't even know what to look for in a pre-school. She is doing work that most 5-6 year olds are doing in Kindergarten. I called a couple of local pre-schools in the area and I am awaiting calls backs. Do I mention to them that she is an early learner and what her abilities are? I'm totally lost about this. Part of me wants her to be socialized and go to pre-school and the other part wants to homeschool.
What has everyone's experience been with early learners and pre-school?

[Mandabplus3]

I teach kindergarten ( age 3.5 to 4.5) and my advice would be to definitely tell them what she can do. If you get the right place then they will be enthusiastic about her achievements and willing to extend her. If they arnt interested in her achievements then don't send her there, it won't be a good fit for you.
If you don't need her to go to preschool then keep her at home for a another year at least. Children age 2 don't need socialising. They are naturally self absorbed until they get to around 3 or 4. The only people important to them is immediate family. If you want some child interaction the playgroup or a regular play date would be a great alternative.
Personally unless your child is shy, unable to share or naturally very outgoing, then socialising alone isn't a good enough reason to send them to preschool. As to the educational aspect, obviously you have that covered. Add in days of the week, months of the year and a weather or gardening focus and you are done with preschool 

[NPLight]

You have definitely done an amazing work with her elmo0209, and your girl must be really smart! Congratulations! I totally agree with Mandabplus in keeping her at home with you if it's possible.
I also think a lot about preschool, the problem is that I have no choice. We live in a very small village with only two possible preschools, and I'm just considering one of them. I don't know if my twins will be so advanced as yours when they turn two this summer, but what I know is that they won't teach them to read a single letter at least in three more years, they will just paint and sing. They can sightread a lot of words in English and Spanish, know the alphabet, colors, shapes, planets, they read and sing the notes in Little Musician,etc. But I have a full time job and no chance to stay at home with them. They don't need to socialize with other children for the moment as they have each other and they are with my mother now but she needs a rest! So they will definitely go to pre-school. But I'm so worried about the lack of resources they will have there... 

[MissCaden]

I wouldn't recommend sending them to school or preschool just for social reasons. Research has shown that homeschoolers outperform public and private school kids in all areas including social skills. Plus at two years old, as another poster said, theres not going to be much socialising anyway. As long as you don't lock yourselves in the house and go out every now and again your child should be in a better enviroment for learning social skills than if they were in a classroom (not to say preschools and schools are completely bad). There are also plenty of clubs you can use to expose your child to other children with better adult supervision than in a preschool - but at two I wouldn't expect them to get as much out of other children as they will when they are older.

[Korrale4kq]

I am with everyone else. If it is possible I would keep her at home and continue with her education.
Preschool Are becoming  more academic. Basics like colors, shapes counting and recognizing ABCs are taught. Preschools however won't push the academics or accommodate thriving children. Their real focus is to give the struggling children some help so that they are ready for Kindergarten.  And frankly, most preschool teachers in the US aren't qualified, or trained to teach much more than the basics of school readiness.

There was a lot of researching popping us saying how great preschool was for children. So there is now a big push for it, (at least here in the US).
What isn't often noted about the research was that preschool was great for "disadvantaged" children. Often, but not exclusively, low income children. The children that don't get any interaction, or those that sit at home watching mind numbing TV all day benefit greatly from preschool. A child with an interactive, stimulating home enviroment does not need preschool for academics.
Your daughter, and many of the kids in this forum I assume, do not fit the need for preschool criteria.

Now as far as socialization goes, I believe 2 year olds benefit more from being around kids with a parent close by. Play dates etc.
However when they are 3–4 and become more social they can benefit from the structure and social aspect of preschool.


Now... This is my experience.
My son was in a 2.5 hr class once a week when he was 16-36 months. He was in the class for speech therapy and socialization. Not the kid of interactive socialization that people think about. But rather he was in the class so that he could get used to being around other kids. My son would have a sensory break whenever a child walked or looked in his direction. The class helped with that. It helped him establish a routine. Play, go outside, come in, wash hands, eat, do craft, go home. What was important about this class was that the parents were there to guide their children through the whole process. So there was a class of 8 kids and 8 parents.
In that year and a half that James was in the class he did not socialize with other kids, he didn't play with them. All the kids just wandered around and did their own thing. The routine had a lot of hiccups because it is extremely hard to get the children to follow. There was a theme and a story each week, but no real way to teach academics. Even circle time was too structured.
All in all I loved the class. James did well at the end. He became used to kids, which was the most important thing. But he didn't get anything more out of it than that.

[elmo0209]

Thanks for all of your opinions. My concern is that my daughter is EXTREMELY shy!
We do other activities such as ballet, swimming classes and story times at the library.
However, she is the shy kid in the groups. She clings onto me for dear life and won't let go of my hand the whole time! We is scared around other kids and adults.

I spoke to one pre-school today and they do a Montessori-type classroom. I'm going to visit tomorrow. The Director didn't really believe that my daughter was reading already. So I'm not sure if this Pre-school idea is going to work.

Does anyone have any homeschool websites that's state specific? I trying to connect with homeschool Mom's in my area to see what the opinion is on the local Pre-Schools and for general support.

Thanks again everyone! This forum is such a big help!

[fatty kiddy]

Lots of other places also do not have pre-school available.  She is a bright kid.  Agree with the other, wouldn't send her just for socializing reason.

Just wonder how she is like with relatives?

Perhaps try inviting kids to your home and see how she is reacting with other kids?  Involve her in the process, lets her choose which friend to come....

If she is ok with that, then perhaps plan an outing with her friends, eg. at the park or playground...

Hope this helps.  May be you are already doing all these things already.

[sashimani]

Hi
I can completely understand your situation.'Caz i was dealing the same with my lil daughter when she was two.Now she goes to preschool nearby.
I would'nt say that its of much use.For your satisfaction you can put her in school.My kid is doing good as always .she is 3.5 and can read book as a 1st grade kid with lil help for very long words.but still does'nt feel free when she see a new person,and still feel shy to talk or be ok with new faces.

[Mandabplus3]

Your daughter being shy is normal behaviour for her age group.
Like I said before unless you want to send her ( hey a day off is a marvellous thing for sanity  ) you probably are not going to solve her shyness by send in her at age 2 when she is 3.5 then sending her will help with her shyness. So you could wait until then if you want to. Sending her now isn't going to hurt her though. Also she doesn't need to go for the full day, just send her so she is their for the morning play session and a bit of outside play time then pick her up.
That preschool you have selected does not sound like a good fit for you. A director who doesn't believe our child can read is a director who isn't going to be encouraging her staff to extend the educate standards! Run away! Or don't expect anything in the way of education from them.

[elmo0209]

I toured one Pre-school today that has a set curriculum. I think my daughter is too advanced for them.
She would be placed in a room with 2.5 -3 year olds and learn 1 letter a week, 1 shape a week, etc.! She has known her ABC's since she was 15 months old! I asked the Director what they would do for an advanced child and she said they wod give her the "workbooks" the older kids use! I looked at the older books and it was still pretty basic, 2-3 letter sight words and phonetic practice, etc. So I think she would be bored there. I had my daughter with me and she was definitely not socialized like the other kids. She was afraid to go near the kids and teachers and only wanted to play with the blocks and books with "Mommy"!
She was also over stimulated there with all the noise going on!

There are 2 other pre-schools that claim to do an "early learning" curriculum in the area. I'm going to check those out. But I'm starting to think pre-school is definitely not for her!!

She gets scared around other relatives she hasn't seen in awhile! She is shy with almost everyone! I'm online now looking for other play groups to get her involved with. I contacted a couple homeschool groups.

Hopefully this is just a stage. She was such an outgoing baby! It seems like her personality totally changes around others and she freezes up! I'm worried that when she get older she will still be like this. In our area in order for the child to get into the gifted programs they need to be tested. At this point she wouldn't be able to do it as she is so afraid of strangers. She would freeze up and it read a single word!

[elmo0209]

Sorry for the typos. Using the iPad. :/

[Mandabplus3]

I am pleased to here you are going into this with your head in the right place. Don't stress about her shyness yet, you have a couple of years. By all means look at the others. In the end it usually comes down to the enthusiasm of the room teacher. Good luck. Playgroups would be a great stepping stone into preschool at a later date. A mummy and me music or gymnastics class could be great too!

[Ilala]

Freezing up

Yes 1st child did that
She was definitely not shy later on.

Please ignore this if it dosnt strike a chord.

I used to reflect that if you pushed me into an equivalent environment.
An overcrowded noisy day room At a severely mentally disabled psychiatric ward I would freeze up.
Add people rushing around with big blocks and the carpentry corner saw sand hammers.

It took time - lots of time for her to assess it all.

Whereas baby number 2 went there as a newborn and had no difficulty ever.
Streetwise I called her.

1st child was 2.5 when we first entered playcentre.

She had lots of experience in small groups.
We had changed house countries and friends(except for the imaginary ones she brought with her)

Maybe that was part of it.

She tended to scowl at adults who baby talked to her or ignored
Them despite her very good vocab.

Anyhow she grew to love it.
Most importantly it was a good place with high adult child ratio
Crowded and noisy too.

[Ilala]

Having.

If I could turn back the clock 30years and the resources were available I would  playcentre for a  while then Montessori preschool and or homeschool.

The playcentre was the the only place I could learn about children.

My grandchild attends the same concept today but her  mum knows
So much more than I did.

[Kballent]

I think this is an interesting topic.  I recently read an article comparing the different types of preschools and they found that for most kids, it just didn't matter.  The only kids who benefit from preschool are those "at risk" children who do get the attention and academic support at home.  Obviously, that is not the case for your child, who is getting much more attention than normal. 

Personally, I do not plan to enroll my son in preschool.  He seems very close to your daughter academically (except he lacks the motor skills to write letters and numbers).  I think he would be bored to tears at preschool.  I also think he is more likely to pick up bad social habits from children with parents who are less strict than I, than he is to gain positive socialization skills.  He goes to a great home daycare, so he can get his socialization there!

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