Preschool, is it really necessary??

Why do parents send there kids to preschool?? Is it because both the parents want to work (which I don't believe both parents should be working with kids at such a young age but that will be talked about in a later post)? Is it because they think kids can learn more in a preschool setting than they can from their parents? What is it??

Anything that a kid of 2, 3, or 4 could learn at a preschool, they could also learn from there parents. With an added bonus of being able to spend a few extra years bonding with their parents before they have to start spending all day in school. What do you think they can learn in preschool that can't wait till kindergarten?? There's not much.

• The Alphabet?: You can easily teach your own kid the alphabet.... unless you don't know it yourself
• They don't need to know how to write much yet, but they can learn to speak just by watching you
• How To Count?: I think you can also teach them this
• How about colors, shapes, and other things like that?: You also know all about that stuff and they can learn that simply by watching you too, and playing with toys that also serve to help with teaching that stuff

We could keep going, but I think that anything you could come up with could be taught by you. Preschool is simply not necessary. Why would you want an excuse to be apart from your kids anyway? You only have a few years until they have to go to school. How do you want to spend them??

FULL DAY KINDERGARTEN?? NO WAY!!

It has come to my attention that some schools, teachers, and parents think that it is better (or it would be better) to have a full day of kindergarten rather than a half day.



I think that this idea is flawed is so many ways.

1. Kindergarten is like a High School Orientation for the grade school, it's getting kids used to the idea of sitting in a classroom for the day without overwhelming them with a whole day all at once
2. Kids attention spans are not that long and after awhile they will stop listening.
3. If you do a full day then you will need to think about factoring in some nap time and some extra recess time which will take away any extra teaching time that you think you get. With stuff they could be getting at home if it was only a half day.
4. At this stage kids still learn by playing and exploring the world, they won't learn as much when they are kooped up in a stuffy room all day.

I think that parents just want to be lazy. It is still there job to be with their kids at this stage for half the day (which in my opinion should make them happier to be able to spend more time with their kids before they get into 1st grade and have to be gone all day). These days though both parents want to work (which hurts the kids when both parents are gone all day and some parents aren't even home in time to pick there kids up from school).

Kindergarten was not meant to be a full day and if you make it a full day then you completely destroy the purpose of kindergarten.

KEEP KINDERGARTEN

FULL HALF DAY