I'm Lindsay Ferrier, a Nashville writer with a passion for family travel, exploring Tennessee, and raising kids without losing my mind in the process. This is where I share my discoveries, along with occasional deep thoughts, pop culture tangents and a sprinkling of snark. Want to get in touch? Use the CONTACT form at the top of the page.
September 1, 2009
>I feel like I need to write a quick post on this topic because I’ve spent the last two years on this blog periodically asking myself (and all of you) whether I was doing Punky a disservice by not sending her to preschool.
Now, three weeks into her kindergarten year, I’ve gotten my answer.
And it’s a big, fat NO.
Punky is breezing through her kindergarten coursework. She has easily adapted to the classroom setting and, if anything, enjoys it more because she’s never done it before and she’s finally getting to do all the “school” things she’s seen in books and on TV over the last few years. I’ve gotten a peek at what she’ll be learning over the next month or two and she’s covered it at home already. I really felt like I got my reward yesterday, when she told her dad, “I don’t really learn anything at school. We just play and color.”
This may sound strange, but that was exactly how I wanted her to feel during kindergarten.
I figured that if I could teach her the basics at home the year before, she could breeze through her first year and focus more on socialization. And so far, it looks like that’s what’s happening.
Now. I’m not saying AT ALL that preschool is bad or unnecessary or a waste of time.
But I’m guessing that some of you out there are in my situation- and can’t really afford preschool, but feel a little pressured to make financial sacrifices and put your child in anyway since all your friends are doing it. And if you didn’t do it, you may be worrying, as I did, that your child will be woefully behind his friends when kindergarten rolls around.
However, if you are at home with your child most of the time and if you have between 15 minutes and an hour three or four days a week to spend working with your child on letters and numbers and basic shapes, rest assured that he will most likely not only be ready for kindergarten, but may very well be ahead of many of his classmates.
I bought a kindergarten curriculum to use with Punky last year, but we went through it very loosely and honestly, most of the work we did can be found on the Internet for free. I made sure that Punky knew how to write all of her letters, knew letter sounds, and could sound out simple words like “cat” and “pit,” when she read them. I taught her to count to 100. I taught her the days of the week, months of the year, and her city, state, country, address, and telephone number.
I looked up kindergarten lesson plans on the Internet and the same themes kept popping up over and over again, like “the five senses” and “shapes” and “nursery rhymes” and “the seasons.” And so for the last two years, I’ve had “theme weeks,” which have mostly consisted of me checking out books from the library based on that theme and reading them to her throughout the week- and maybe doing a few art or cooking projects based on it as well.
Maybe this sounds like a lot, but it really didn’t take much time at all. Punky did very little “school” in the grand scheme of things- and yet, it was more than enough preparation for kindergarten with a classroom full of kids who seem as if they have all attended preschool.
I’m breathing a big sigh of relief now. And when I thought about it today, I wished I could go back and reassure the “me” from two years ago, who was so worried about putting Punky at a disadvantage by not enrolling her in preschool with many of her playgroup friends.
I hope I’m at least able to reassure some of you out there. If you can’t swing preschool, just spend a few minutes a day with your child on the basics. Look up preschool and kindergarten lesson plans online if you need ideas or worksheets. Your efforts will pay off and more importantly, they will be enough.
What are your thoughts on preschool?
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