I greatly appreciated this post from Life As A Mom about Planning For Preschool. To preschool or not to preschool has been an issue my husband and I wrestled with for years. I was a preschool kid. My husband was not. We both agree we had positive experiences. So the ”I turned out fine” argument does not work.
The fall that my oldest turned four, I got together with two friends (who also had four-year olds with fall birthdays) and we created our own preschool co-op. They each had a toddler and we were all pregnant with our third child. We attended the same mom’s group. Our preschool met once a week and we each took turns hosting. It worked and our children thrived on the routine.
Our preschool co-op group from 2009
I also started working with my oldest child two or three days a week. The whole idea of homeschooling intimidated me. I had no idea where to start and was overwhelmed by curriculum choices. Did preschoolers need to be homeschooled anyway? She needed something. So we read books, memorized Scripture, did math worksheets, and practiced handwriting. It did not come naturally to me and it still doesn’t. But we did it for several months.
Now my middle child is four. We tried a co-op preschool, but for various reasons it has not worked as well. Although I am still friends with my preschool co-op friends, there is less weekly contact. We are now at different churches, different mom’s groups, and juggling other projects. I picked up a part-time writing job, am doing more volunteer youth ministry and striving to get involved in my now first grader’s school. Life changed in two years as it usually does.
I feel like homeschooling is still not “me.” I have met many moms who are passionate about it and driven by all homeschooling has to offer. While I appreciate what they have to say, I often feel intimidated by it.
We committed to homeschooling for preschool. My husband has understood my challenges (and my intimidation) and agreed it is something we can both share. All the homeschooling responsibilities need not fall on myself. I also realized there is no magic way to home school my son. Whatever we try (and probably change and try something else), he will grow and learn. When we do send him off to kindergarten in the fall of 2013, he will be better because of the extra time he was given at home.
Becky Olthof
We did the same thing with all 4 of our kids and I truly belive that the extra time home with mom for them is SO important. I am doing this with our youngest right now but not quite as structured as with our other 3. A lot of what I do on a daily basis includes the basic pre-school cirriculum such as letter sounds, writing, colors, shapes, etc.. I have found that with my youngest just being intentional about bringing these things into everday life works better for her than just sitting down and “doing school” (We do that about once a week for mabye 15-20 minutes). She helps me write out the grocery lists, looks for shapes when we’re out and about, listens for beginning and ending letter sounds in almost everything, There are some days that we pick a letter to focus on “finding and hearing”. There are so many ways to incorperate pre-school into everyday life that we never found it necessary for our kids to head out into the “real world” at 4. She gets plenty of time with other kids her age and seems to do great so we found no reason to send her! I do get some flack from people who think that all kids should be in pre-school but not too many. We know that this is what is right for our family and have been very blessed by handling pre-school at home. Like you, I am NOT a home school mom and don’t feel called to go beyond pre-school!
artoornstra
Thanks so much Becky for your comment! This kind of reassures me that I am not alone! When we lived in Michigan it seemed like everyone sent their kids to preschool–it was a given when your child turned three. Here is seems to be about half and half. I know Derek needs more than just free play all day and we’re looking into some ideas. Your suggestion of incorportating into everyday life is great. Rob is a natural teacher and he is so much better about this than me.