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Experience with afterschooling with a nanny?


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Has anyone done afterschooling via a nanny? Any advice or recommendations?

 

I'm going back to work full time in September, and we have two lovely boys aged 2 and 4 who will attend preschool in the morning and have a nanny at home in the afternoon. Over the last year, I developed a routine with ODS of a short 30 min "schooltime" together, where he learned to read and do math in a very fun, play-based manner. He's enjoyed it, and it seems like it would be possible to ask our nanny to continue this habit.

 

Am I being unrealistic? I'd love to hear any experience, positive or negative. 

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Please check ahead of time whether the nanny is on the same page as you regarding after schooling. I tried 2 different nannies for homework supervision, instrument practice and weekly school test preparation. Both, did not seem to understand that "academically rigorous" private schools with subject acceleration require kids to do "real" academics for homework and weekly tests. They were of the attitude that kids needed to only play after school. Which would have been great if my DS did not choose to go to a school with a lot of LA and Math and Science with seat work for homework. They also did not do anything beyond asking my DS if he wanted to practice his music or not - he is not old enough to go through the entire music practice session without an adult guiding him. This created a lot of stress for both DS and myself because we had to play catch-up after I returned later in the evenings.

There is a difference between a babysitter and a coach/afterschool instructor. If you want 30 mins of after schooling, please state so before hand, make out a weekly list of what needs to be done on each day of the week and get the nanny's agreement to stick with the plan.

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The only way I got this to work was to use online programs that my kids could do independantly. Specifically we used reading eggs and math seeds. The nanny had the password to let them in and they would work on it by themselves... this worked for my 3-4 year old (at the time she was 3-4). For my son she would do some basic games but nothing as intense as what I did with him. 

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Thanks for all of the tips! These are definitely things I hadn't thought about. Actually, because we're in Asia, the (Asian) nannies here often on their own try to teach the kids. The level of English isn't always great (our future nanny is not bad but reads for example the word "dairy" as "diary"), and their education level also isn't very high. But yes, a plan in advance sounds like exactly what I need.

 

Word Nerd, I can completely understand your point as well, and that's my biggest hesitation. With a highly educated mom at home, there is more organic learning than with a nanny. Especially for my two-year-old, I was just thinking on the lines of some suggested games and activities for a "special learning time," more just a fun stay-inside-because-it's-too-hot-outside time. But yes, you are very right.

 

 

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Of the nannies I know, some have degrees in early childhood education / psychology and/or are educated mothers who nanny during the day when their own (older) children are in school. They understand organic learning, and in one case actually suggested afterschooling TO the parents (she had noticed some gaps in one daughter's knowledge).

 

For other nannies I know, they wouldn't feel comfortable "teaching" (even though it might be very play-based), but those nannies often have a list of tasks that they do with the children, such as: library at least once a week, listen to child reach for 20 minutes, read to child for 20 minutes. Those things alone can free up your time later on in the day.

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Since you are in asia, the advise changes a bit :) Can you offload a lot of the outside enrichment to the nanny? Art class, toddler gymnastics, library visit, swim class, computer time with Reading Eggs like program etc so that you can save your time for fun and play based learning activities.

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In Sidney Ledson's Raising Brighter Children: A Program for Busy Parents he talks about how he used a series of afternoon college-kid babysitters to execute a tutoring program he laid out. It was their job to make sure his girls did their reading or math or whatever work. I believe he was a single dad and when he went back to work the babysitters were tasked with doing all the afterschooling program he laid out.

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I tried to do this but it was unsuccessful.  Even though my kids' nanny was a trained teacher and native Spanish speaker, she refused to do immersion Spanish with them and usually balked at anything I suggested (or she didn't understand me or something).  She would say "oh yes yes yes" and then not do it.  So I agree with making sure the nanny has a similar philosophy about teaching kids and isn't too set in her ways.  :)

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I tried to do this but it was unsuccessful.  Even though my kids' nanny was a trained teacher and native Spanish speaker, she refused to do immersion Spanish with them and usually balked at anything I suggested (or she didn't understand me or something).  She would say "oh yes yes yes" and then not do it.  So I agree with making sure the nanny has a similar philosophy about teaching kids and isn't too set in her ways.  :)

 

So sorry that didn't work for you. How old were your girls when you had this nanny? Did the nanny feel they were too old for that approach? It should have been the ideal situation for language immersion.

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So sorry that didn't work for you. How old were your girls when you had this nanny? Did the nanny feel they were too old for that approach? It should have been the ideal situation for language immersion.

 

She was our full-time nanny from the time the girls were around 1yo until they were 2.5, so not too old.  They had heard Spanish before as they were in Spanish-speaking foster homes as infants.  It should have been easy to do immersion with them.  Instead she kept trying to make them speak in English with wrong pronunciation.  (I recall her insisting that they say "chew" while she held up a picture of a shoe.  They just sat looking at her mutely.  It was frustrating for all of us.)

 

I put the girls in preschool when they were 2.5 and Nanny became part-time (Saturdays).  She still takes them some Saturdays.  But she just won't do the immersion thing.  I don't understand why.  (They study Spanish in school and have other exposure, so again, it's not like they'd be completely lost.)  My parenting style rubs her the wrong way in other respects too.

 

I've also asked my sister (my other part-time nanny) to work with my girls on some things.  Her opinion is that my kids shouldn't have to do that stuff (even when it's required for school), so she is half-hearted at best.  Needless to say I keep the important teaching to do myself.

 

So anyway, I've learned that just because you pay someone to do something, that doesn't mean it's going to get done.  :P

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We've had a lot of success with our nanny doing all the homeschooling for the kids.  But honestly, I think it's just that we were very very lucky to find her.  She's a certified teacher, young, great with "quirky" kids, and familiar with homeschooling because her younger brother is homeschooled. This is her first nanny experience so she didn't have preconceived ideas, and we've been able to discuss together how we want things done.

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