Homeschool Spanish Lessons - Online Learning

I recently found myself having to ponder the difference between preschool and daycare, and having to decide which one I wanted for my son.  As a “work at home” mom, it’s always a struggle to try and get a few things done during the day while I watch my 2 toddlers, 2 and 3 1/2.  I’ve actually found that one of the only ways to work at all is to get up 3 or 4 hours before the kids do. But as my son has been asking about going to school, we felt that a preschool environment would be great for him this fall. I visited 7 or 8 places, and registered him at a local Lutheran preschool. Well it turned out there was a large waiting list ahead of me, which I only found out about a few days before school was to begin in September. So I had scrambled a bit, calling some places I had thought about but had not visited. One seemed very nice; a nurturing bilingual environment, in a very clean facility. They could take him 3 times week for at least 3 hours each day, which was exactly what I was looking for. A bonus was that they had a 2 year old “class” which seemed quite adorable as well. The day we visited, they did a Spanish song in a circle group, with the teacher acting out animal sounds in Spanish afterwards, and the kids participating.

1 key about my visiting, was that the 2 year old group had 16 children with 4 women helping. Seemed like a lot of children, but with 4 caregivers, I figured that was ok.  The 3 to 4 year old group had 14 children the day I visited, again with 4 caregivers.  Well the “school” has been awaiting the finishing of their new building, a perhaps 4,000 square foot, 2 story facility with a big classroom on each floor. With this new building, they have increased class sizes. The 2 year old group has over 22 children, and the 3 year old group had between 22 and 24 (I was told that they are licensed for up to 34). Also, the true nature of the school has become much more obvious. They are in fact not running a school at all: they are running a daycare.

Now there is nothing wrong with a daycare. Many great kids come from 2 income homes, and parents need a good place for their children. But I am not a daycare mom. We have made a choice not to be a 2 income family, but rather to be a 1 income plus whatever I can make from home, whether that turns out to be something or not. The priority for us is my children. So as I watched the mayhem of 22 two year olds compete for a few climber toys with slides during recess – I sat there wondering “is there a reason my kids have to be here?”

I stayed with the 2 year old group for nearly 3 hours the other day. It was a bit amazing how much time was consumed with procedural things: washing hands, herding kids to a table, washing hands again, herding the kids someplace else. Getting ready for outdoor play took a very long time. I sat their wondering if a smaller group wouldn’t be much better for both of them.  In fact, the National Association for the Education of Young Children recommends class sizes of no more than 12 children for under 36 months, and no more than 20 for kids between 3 and 5. The “warm and friendly” place I had been looking at is licensed for up to 32 children in each room – a mind boggling invitation to a “Lord of the Flies” atmosphere, IMHO.

The ratio of caregivers to children just can’t offset the negatives of having so many kids in 1 space. Especially now that cold and flu season is upon us. Sitting in at “circle” time, where the lead teacher does reading and vocabulary teaching – cannot be nearly effective for a child when they are part of a group of 20 plus kids, all competing for air time.

After talking with my husband and my pediatrician, a homeschool dad himself – I came to the realization that I don’t want my kids in a daycare at all. My goal is to help my son learn about group settings, to make a friend or two, and learn a few new things. For my daughter I was more concerned with her not feeling left behind in any way. I wanted “school” to be a fun thing they could both do. And let’s face it having a few hours of free time for myself wouldn’t have been a bad thing.

But a little Divine intervention might have happened, as I called our church’s preschool, where we were on the waiting list, and it turns out they have an opening in the 3 year old group, and he can start tomorrow. It’s just twice a week, with a play group on Wednesdays that they can both attend. There will be almost no free time for me, as I’ll probably be playing with my daughter in the various church rooms for kids, while we wait for school to get out.  But this feels right. Way more right than the other place.

The church preschool (where I went too as a child, remarkably) is a true preschool. The other moms pretty much have to be stay at home, like me. Their families have made the same decision that my husband and I have: that staying at home with the kids is more important than the income from a job. It isn’t an elitist thing, as I know that many working families have great incomes, and many of the parents love their kids just as much as we do. But they don’t have the same value structure that we do.

I just don’t want my kids someplace with other kids who don’t really have a choice, and who are there to receive babysitting as much as anything. As my pediatrician pointed out, meeting the state standards as a daycare has more to do with meeting cleanliness and nutritional requirements for the kids, rather than some kind of educational or nurturing standard. I don’t want my kids waiting in line for 1/2 of their day, as they get shuffled from snack to circle group and back. I can feed my own kids. I want preschool to be a place to play, learn, and interact with other kids.

I found that trying to even find a preschool can be very confusing, because now a days just about every daycare calls itself a school. Some things to watch out for:

• how many of the kids are full day? (in the case of the school I tried out, I was informed my kids would be 2 of the ONLY non full day kids
• do they accept non potty trained kids? (most real preschools do not accept non potty trained kids)
• do they have before care (7:00am to 9:00am) and aftercare (up to 6 or 7pm)?
• what is their CLASS SIZE? (not the ratio – all preschools and daycares will meet the state ratio, and in my opinion class size is equally if not more important)

If I had evaluated this bilingual “school” factoring the above things as exclusionary, I would not have made the mistake to think that this place could have been right for my family.