Preschool or not?

[Embassy]

Research shows that preschool isn't as beneficial for a child as extensive pretend play. That said, what has been your experience with a child who was advanced or gifted? I've seen or heard from parents of gifted or advanced children who have started formal academics earlier because of the child's thirst. I HAD to start formally schooling my oldest son at 5.5. He was insatiable and that was the only thing that seemed to satisfy him.

 

So I haven't started anything formal until around the age of 5. Yet, I found my kids learned so much through play during the preschool years. Case in point, my daughter who is a young 2 knows most of her letters and a good deal of the sounds they make. This is all driven by her interest and I've never sat her down to teach her something. So I am one to advocate for no formal preschool. Then I wonder if that is fair. What if my kids learn well through play because they were advanced in some way? I hear of some parents who formally teach things like colors, shapes, and letters during the preschool years and I can't fathom that. But then again, I think of the research that doesn't support formal learning during the preschool years. Maybe the answer is informal schooling during the preschool years?

 

Thoughts? Experience?

[Sherry in OH]

All children learn through play. What they learn is a matter of environment. My oldest son knew his letters at age two because we read a lot of alphabet books to him. We read alphabet books because he enjoyed them. He learned his shapes playing with a shape sorter - "you have a circle, can you find the circle shaped hole? Good Job." My younger son learns a lot by observing and imitating his older brother.

 

My nephew did not learn letters or shapes until he went to preschool. He could, however, identify the NFL teams by the colors on their uniforms. Guess what was important in that family?

[Dinsfamily]

I haven't seen the need to start my advanced dc before K. Most of the things I tried before K bombed unless they were my dc's idea. I can easily see the case for continuing informal learning well beyond 5 even. My boys seem to do fine learning without formal school. I could see a child feeling left out and wanting formal school if they have an older sibling, though. My 4yo is not one of those and prefers to teach himself things by osmosis. We do a lot of interest-driven reading and activities.

 

With that said, I am sending my dc to a church pre-school at 4, but the reasons have mouthing to do with academics...it's just fun.

[regentrude]

My kids are both gifted but showed no interest in learning letters at that age. The early push for academics is a very American phenomenon; I am from Germany where people are perfectly fine with the idea that kids learn their abcs when they enter school at age 6 (although there are some kids who have somehow taught themselves to read at that age). There is no data showing that the early starting translates into any measurable advantage at, say age 8 or 10.

 

At preschool age, we did a lot of the following with the kids: reading LOTS of books, singing, going on nature walks, drawing coloring, playdough, blocks playing ball, climbing at the playground - for several years we spent every afternoon at the park. I believe at that age kids need to focus on their communication skills, on fine and gross motor skills.

I saw no need to drill my kids on the colors - by DD was able to name and identify most colors (including obscure ones like orange and olive green) at age 18 months just because those words happen to come up when you say "the red ball" or "the green crayon" many times or when you sort blocks by colors into their boxes.

[mlktwins]

With that said, I am sending my dc to a church pre-school at 4, but the reasons have mouthing to do with academics...it's just fun.

 

I sent my twins to church pre-school at age 4 for 3 days a week 3 hours of week for fun. They knew their letters, numbers and colors long before they went. They loved it though and I wanted to see their interaction with other kids and teachers. It also gave me a break for that year knowing I would be homeschooling K and beyond.

[catz]

My GT kids went to preschool. But it was a play-based low key 7 1/2 hour a week kind of experience. They learned quite a bit socially and about group dynamics. But they didn't do real academics. They had quite a few open ended, messy project kind of opportunities there. It was a good fit for my kids and our family at the time.

[Amber in AUS]

I think all kids are different and you have to meet them where they are at. My oldest DD was going bananas just playing all day at 3. She NEEDED some extension and once it was provided she was a calm, happy child again.

[2smartones]

I think it works for some, but not others. Both of my boys were reading before age two and knew all the "basics". There was really nothing for a preschool to teach them in a class setting. Dh wanted to send the oldest to preschool for "socialization" (can you see me rolling my eyes over here?) and to prepare him for public kindergarten. We didn't know at that time that he was gifted. He was our only child and all we really had to guage him against was our golden retriever. :tongue_smilie: Preschool was literally a NIGHTMARE for him. We had no idea about giftedness and SPD and all that sort of stuff. We just knew he was miserable, fearful, hateful, and all around confused. He had nightmares. He cried going to and coming from preschool. You get the picture. It lasted only a few months before dh realized he wouldn't "get used to it". We didn't bother sending the younger one because (1) we knew better and (2) we'd already decided homeschooling was the way to go.

 

If it weren't for the SPD, I think preschool would've been fun. Boring, but fun in a social sense. I'm sure if we were both working and the kids HAD to go to preschool, it eventually would've worked out. Who knows?

 

I'm not against preschool for gifted kids. I'm against torturing my own children because it just wasn't the best option for our family.

[SnegurochkaL]

Hi, I have 3.5 years old son who is homeschooled with his older sister. He learned how to count in French when he was only 2 years old through play. My daughter started her French so she needed a Guinea pig to practice with. Kids use 4 languages during their plays + my sons own language, which my daughter understands perfectly. She translates most of things for us. My son doesn't like long words so he shorten them. For example: strawberries-"sawsaw".

Sometimes I am trying to figure out whether he is using an actual language or the one he made up. His teacher would be very frustrated with this particular way of communication.

I do formal studies with him when he wants it. He wanted to learn about Rainforest so we are making a rainforest lapbook with him. He is finishing his 2 book of Russian math targeted to 4-5 years old(similar to Singapore Earlybirds math) and will be done with next 2 books(for 5-6 years old) by the end of the year(taking into account the speed he is consuming information). He goes to Saturday German K twice per month for 3 hours total to get exposure to German language and socialize with other kids.

 

Shortly said if your child is begging to have formal studies, try it. At first, they may not last longer than 15 minutes total but will be beneficial for the future building an academical discipline.

Edited August 21, 2010 by SneguochkaL