I guess you could say I loosely home school my daughter now at 20 months. When she turns 2 in November, that opens us up to the world of preschool should we choose to go that route. So far she is progressing fabulously, I don’t think “academically” preschool will teach her anything new. But they will do a lot of hands on play with new toys, games, art, that type of thing I think. She also would have more of a chance to run and play outside and use tools and equipment we might not have at home. (we don’t have a yard or a park within walking distance, the preschool has a park in the back for recess.)
She would be exposed to another authority figure which I see as a good thing, but she also would be exposed to lots of germs and potential sickness, learning playground rules and possibly biting, kicking, hitting, that sort of thing, and she would be more vulnerable away from me where I cannot protect her. She also would hopefully have a chance to develop a little more freedom although she is fairly independent now. She would get to play and have fun.
There is a very good chance we will be moving to Japan in May 2011 (we should know in a month or so), so whatever we choose may very well temporary. If we do go, I for sure want to enroll her at a Japanese preschool for the language exposure alone.
Anyway, there is a 2 or 3 day a week mother’s day out semi-preschool program at a local church. It’s not montessori (my first choice) but it is Christian which is a huge plus in my book. They do crafts and sing songs, that type of thing. It will be somewhat of a strain on our family because we only have one car and we will all have to get up very early to drop my husband off at work. Like at 630 am, and her preschool would start at 9am but she would spend about 45-60 minutes in the car going there and back to my husband’s work., spend a little time at home, then off in the car again to preschool. And then of course we must pick him up in the evening, which is another 45-60 minutes in the car depending on traffic.
She seemed to really enjoy the atmosphere and classes when we took the tour. I would have preferred a very expensive private montessori school, but this is the only one within a good distance and within our budget. One of my big hangups about this school is the 2 year old room may be divided into 2 classes and there will be only 1 teacher per class, no assistant. That means that one teacher (to a max of 8 kids) will be helping my daughter use the bathroom (she is potty trained but needs help with her pants). If there was ever any kind of abuse to take place, I assume that is where it would be. I worry that she is not old enough to fully explain to me if something bad were to happen. She can speak in 2-3 word basic sentences and tell me when something hurts, but cannot relay elaborate stories.
The door to the classroom is always open and they can call in the director for extra help as needed. Would that fear be a deal breaker to you or am I just being an overprotective mother? She has probably already learned all of the things that are teaching for the most part like shapes and colors, but the social interaction might be beneficial and the activities would probably be fun for her. I don’t know. Childhood is about play and fun, and I think it would be lots of fun for her.
This just seems like such a critical time in her life, I want to expose her to all the good things I can but not at the expense of our family stress level (it would make things tighter financially and juggling 1 car would be a pain, plus dragging my 7.5 month old around everywhere and making him sit in the car). And then there is the germ/sickness factor and the bathroom issue (although it would be a female teacher, and yes that does matter to me). There is a possibility that I could get my husband to carpool on the way home once or twice a week.
Would preschool really do that much for her that it would be worth it? Did you see your child grow leaps and bounds after enrolling them in preschool at this age? I loved it as a kid, I actually went to two or three years of preschool and one of those years I went to two at the same time (one morning program, one afternoon program). She would be able to start 1 month before she turns 2, so right around Halloween. So if we moved in May, that would be about 6 months spent of preschool.
I am home with the kids 99% and we don’t really leave the house. As far as other extracurricular things, we recently started Baby School which is a mom & me type class for 30 minutes a week. I have two friends come over with their kids for playdates twice a week on a regular basis, but that is about all of the social time she gets with peers. We go on break at church for the summer because of the way their summer kids program is structured, but starting next month she will be back in the toddler program on Sundays again. Oh, and we recently joined a semi sctructured play group but have only been twice, they do outings at the park, crafts, etc, and again we have to juggle the car to do that.
I am thinking of enrolling her in the new language school opening next month which is a mom and me type class.
So all of the activities we do, I am either present or in the building. Maybe I am just having a hard time letting go…but is 2 too young to “let go” of anyway?
I wouldn’t mind officially homeschooling her as she gets older (like kindergarten age), I think I will almost prefer it. But this is such a critical time, I just don’t want to deny her any enrichment experiences that might help her grow and learn and shape her even more (positively hopefully) as a person.
I’m really conflicted about the whole thing. Thoughts???
