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School at 2? Are kidding me?
My wife tells me about parents she knows with children about my daugher's age. (Ana Isabel is 21 months old.) And they're already talking about sending their kid to some pre- pre- kindergarten program.
I know there are hyper-competive parents out there who want to give their kid every advantage. And don't get me wrong, I want to give Ana every advantage as well. But school at 2? That just seems so foreign to me.
Here's an article in the The New York Times that details how children do better when they're the older kids in their class. It's seem logical since at such a young age, a few months can mean a world of developmental progress.
Look, I'm a proud papa who can rattle off Ana's long list of vocabulary words (a few even in Spanish). She strings some words together. She likes to sing something that sounds like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
I think she will get much more out learning from Carrie Ann and me at this point than from some program with 20 other kids. Does that make me strange?
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Comments
No question about it...I'm a homeschooling mother of three so no, you're not strange. Not that you're in favor of homeschooling with your comments, but I do agree that at this age, your daughter can learn the most with the one-on-one attention she is getting from you guys. Besides the fact that she's probably safer, not sick as often...At least, that's been my experience with all three of my little monkeys!
Posted by: Becky | June 7, 2007 12:54 PM
I believe it as well. I started my daughter in Kumon at 2. Now she is 4 and knows addition and is reading as well. When she starts VPK in sept. she will be advanced. This is when they learn the most.
Posted by: jeannette | June 7, 2007 2:39 PM
My daughter started pre-school part-time at age 2 - we primarily wanted her to have more interaction with other children and build social skills. She is 3 1/2 now and has just now started to make friends and really enjoy it. With my second child I will wait until he is at least 3 before putting him in school - 2 was much too young, esp. for the reasons we did it.
Posted by: Fla Girl | June 7, 2007 2:44 PM
I think both ideas are fine. They will learn well with your undivided attention. However, they will also learn well from a class not of 20, but probably about six to eight other children. It seems like most parents use the preschool option because they have to work or maybe have a new baby at home and need some help. To me it seems like the real issue is that as parents we are ALWAYS wondering if what we are doing is the right thing. And ALWAYS feel we need to justify what we are doing is the absolute best thing. So, to do that we need to say what someone else is doing is wrong and what we are doing is right. I wish we could all just support each other and see that as long as we are doing what is needed and what is best for our own family then that is the right choice. My son has both. For nine months out of the year he goes to preschool because I am a teacher. The other three months he stays home with me. Both work out great and have there positive and negative points. As long as they are loved and engaged in activity throughout the day your children will grow and learn.
Posted by: Laura | June 9, 2007 10:01 PM