When did you send your only to preschool?

[magdalenab]

Hi!

My only is almost 2 and she's been in an in-home daycare for a year. We love it there. She loves her friends and the lady who runs it is an angel.

When did you send your only to preschool or a daycare facility that is more like school/classroom based?

My friend just posted on Instagram that her recently turned 3 year old can write a three word sentence. She goes to preschool.

My only is really smart and it would be awesome if she could learn that by 3. I just don't know if I'm ready to send her.

Edit: Thanks for all the responses everyone! I'm a 3rd grade teacher. I know that writing sentences at 3 is uncommon but when I saw that, I had a freak out moment. I'm going to wait to put her in preschool until she's at least 3. She'll go to free Pre-K at 4. I want her to play and enjoy being a kid. You all made me feel better!

TIA!

 

[writergirlrs]

@magdalenab My son will be 4 end of July and will start pre k in August. He has been with me this whole time. It wasn’t until recently I have seen he needs more than what I’ve been providing him.

That’s great he can write a sentence, but I believe in letting kids be kids. They spend their whole childhood in school. No rush.

 

[seeker0]

@magdalenab 3.5. She knows the letter A. lol. Def not writing sentences

But she can now zipper her jacket. Recognize her name. Cough into her arm. Open her own snacks. And better express her needs.

 

[dyvinka]

@seeker0 Opening their own snacks is a huge one. I have second graders that still don’t know how to open a bag of chips

 

[mudpuddle]

@magdalenab I’m a former PreK teacher, so please know I actually think kids are better off waiting until 3 or 4 for preschool rather than starting at 2. The main draw of preschool is the socialization aspect, and they haven’t even moved out of parallel play at that stage.

 

[magdalenab]

@mudpuddle Thanks! I'm an elementary teacher and I wanted to wait until 3. I want her to play and be a kid longer. But when my friend posted that, I kinda freaked out lol.

 

[corta]

@magdalenab At age 3 just for socialization. Any 3 year old can write a sentence if their parents hammer it into them as a skill long enough. Intelligence isn’t measured by what pony tricks your toddler can do. My toddler is very smart in regards to her grasp of language and complex concepts, she just turned 4 and still doesn’t write her name or any consistent letters because I don’t focus on it as a skill and her pre school is play based instead of skills based. Kids learn those things later when they have interest in learning those things. We don’t need to use our kids to complete on social media with other kids

 

[kuysniks]

@corta Amen!!

 

[altrechts]

@magdalenab my daughter has one of those birthdays thats close to the cut off. so she started prek when she was 2, turned 3 a few weeks later.

however, prior to that she was never in any kind of daycare/school setting. so socialization and structure was super important to me and is why we started her in prek asap. i'm an only child myself. so i feel like the more you get them out there, the more well rounded they will be.

but the writing a small sentence at 3yo is not the norm. so don't have that expectation! if i remember correctly, the teachers were beyond thrilled if the kids could just write their name at 4yo.

prek should mainly be fun with academics sprinkled in. at that age, its all about socialization and getting them used to following rules and structure.

 

[imranies]

@magdalenab I'd stick with the smaller setting to keep her healthier. It doesn't really matter to me whether a kid can read early or not.

 

[beorh]

@magdalenab My OAD starts pre-k this fall. He'll be about 3.5. But, I am not sending him there for academics really. I am sending him for socialization. He is home with my mom and a part time nanny. My pick of a pre-k was one that had tons of art, music, physical activity, and play. Yes, they will also work on letters and colors, etc, but his butt is not sitting in a chair with a pencil all day.

IMO, if you and kiddo are happy in an in-home daycare and he's getting socialization and plenty of play, I don't think you need to worry about pre-K until closer to 4.

 

[orchard]

@magdalenab I sent my daughter to preschool at 3 mostly because the cost was greatly reduced compared to daycare! But it was a play-based preschool. I mean, they sang the alphabet song and did some counting and fun "science" experiments, but they definitely weren't writing sentences.

I honestly think academics are being pushed too early. Cultivating curiosity, a desire to learn and enjoying school are the most important for early childhood.

I would say that if both of you love her daycare, have her stay! I don't really see the need for more than 1 year of preschool.

 

[jehoshaphat123]

@magdalenab We didn’t bother with preschool. It was a lottery anyway.

But I also did not attend preschool.

Some kids need it and some really don’t. I understand it helps the child adjust to classroom settings, social interactions and the sort. We went to the library a lot, so she got all those - there’s lots of free things and activities for kids to also learn these things.

Anyway, she’s in 4th now & testing above her peers. Don’t think we did any harm in skipping on prek

 

[maryannmaria]

@magdalenab I’ve read studies that say it’s actually not beneficial to force kids to learn to read and write before kindergarten. It’s possible, but it’s more for the parents’ bragging rights than the kids.

Smaller settings are better so they can build social skills in a more comfortable environment. Bigger schools can be overwhelming for little kids.

You can practice a little reading and writing at home (no more than 30 minutes per day) but AFAIK there’s more benefit to that than formal preschool.

Anecdotally, I didn’t go to daycare, preschool, or pre-k. I even started kindergarten a year later than most because my birthday is in September (I was almost the oldest kid in my class). My mom taught me to read and write at the age of four, and I have loved reading and writing ever since. I went into the the GT program in elementary school, competed in UIL academic competitions in middle school and high school, graduated as salutatorian with a handful of college credits, and got into the Honors Program in college. I later wrote and published three novels and received a full ride scholarship to law school.

Obviously, I could be the exception, not the rule. But my point is that having support at home and fostering a love of books is far more important than being thrown into a rigorous curriculum at a young age.

I’m keeping my daughter in a small in-home preschool until she starts kindergarten. She turned four in February and can already write the alphabet, her name, “I love you,” and mommy. She can read more words than I can count because we taught her phonics.

Source: I’m now an English teacher. There are actual studies to back me up, but I’m on my half hour lunch break so I don’t have time to find them.

 

[gomez2219]

@magdalenab

My friend just posted on Instagram that her recently turned 3 year old can write a three word sentence.

Doubt it.

Not saying it isn't possible but this reeks of "parent embellishes/lies to make themselves look like the best parent ever on social media"

And I say that as a kid of parents everyone thought were lying when they said I could read before I entered kindergarten.

Is it possible? Yes.

Is it something you should, based on a social media post no less, be using as a measuring stick for your own kid's development? ABSOLUTELY not.

 

[zionswarrior]

@magdalenab I feel like it's important to let the kids be kids. It's ok. You don't have to push them early. My parents pushed me early and for a long time and now I hate school. My kid, on the other hand, I did not push, and he's soaked everything up like a sponge so far and has a pretty good attitude about it. That's not to say I don't expect anything of him, of course I do. But I didn't expect written sentences at 3.

In my area public preschools have very limited spaces that are for low income and disadvantaged kids. We were poor but not poor enough so my son did not start actual school until kindergarten, when he was 5. Before he started school his grandmother watched him during the day, and he would go to his cousins sometimes. I would read to him every single night, I still do! Now he's in 3rd grade (public Montessori) writing informational, persuasion, pros & cons, and opinion essays about various topics. His teacher even sent him to another 3rd grade classroom with a multi-paragraph persuasive essay he wrote, to show the teacher there! And he's doing great in math, science, every other subject. He reads for fun on his own. Etc.