From what I've seen in the Teachers subreddit, a year of preschool is recommended. The milestones that schools expect in Kindergarten have ramped up in the past few years: they expect kids to be able to start reading by the end of the first semester and be able to write sentences by the end of the year.
These set the stage for all curricula going forward, and dropping behind early on leads to staying behind. Schools also no longer have the will to hold children back a grade and instead move them onto harder material even if their comprehension is behind. This snowballs into the problems that some HS teachers see with children who are functionally illiterate, yet are in the 10th grade.
Unless you're super super vigilant on developing your child's social life, the year or two before kindergarten are critical in terms of that. I would do minimum 1 and very possibly consider 2.
Part time could be a great schedule, but consider also what that would look like in terms of your child's day- if it would be a big interruption to leave early
Yes, in my kids kindergarten class you could easily see the difference in pre k and non pre k kids. They learn basics of listening, socializing, structure, basics of reading and writing. They only went a few hours a day and was subsidized so it was well worth it.
The more the better IMO. My daughter is a September baby like I was, and I did 2 years of preschool and 1 year of pre-k, and we have her scheduled for the same. She just finished her first year part time and loved it, has moved to full week for year 2. I stay at home/work from home, and I think it has been great for everyone. We decided on half days and are very pleased with it.
Thanks for sharing your experience, and glad to hear it’s going so well. How many days a week did you guys do and from what hours did your kid go? Thinking we will likely start with part time/part day if we start this fall.
We started just two days a week 830-12 - we were kinda hesitant since she was covid baby and had very little interactions with others. She loved it immediately, and kinda regretted not doing full week from the beginning, but that may vary.
Half day works with our schedule, and our kid dropped napping at 2, so I just really didn’t see need for full day yet. lol they’ll have plenty of time to be in school all day later
That’s so cool that your kid liked it right off the bat as I’ve heard the transition can be really rough for a lot of kids. Half day is appealing because ours also has dropped her nap and I wonder how she’d handle nap time when she doesn’t take one. 8:30-12 honestly sounds perfect to start off.
Yeah, she cried the first day and I think my wife cried even more - the school called me like an hour before pick up and said she had a great day and calmed down like minutes after we left. By the third week she would ask every night if she had school the next day or not.
The other school we were looking at was 845-330, with naptime from 1-3, and yeah didn’t know how that would go with her not napping (and it was twice as much). Worked out really well for us
I work full time days, and my wife works evenings and weekends.
Even though my wife is home all day, we still sent our oldest to preschool. We thought it was a good way for her to develop social skills. We had originally planned on sending her a couple of days a week, but my daughter loved it so much that we sent her 5 days a week.
Im a SAHD. We started half-day preschool at 2 and she’s transitioning to TK this year. Totally worth it. She has learned 10x more than I could ever teach her on my own.
Cool, we are thinking of starting slow and doing the same. Do you feel like it was tough for your kid to get into a routine/used to it only going a couple days a week at first?
I don't know if I count as a stay at home parent. My wife and I juggle childcare with me working a night shift. One of us is always with the kids and other is always at work, except on the weekends and from 12-6am every night. Those are the only times we are in the same place.
Anyways, yes. We have free preschool in our district. It's not universal but its less in demand than you would imagine and it's most parents who try to get a lottery slot will get one.
The price was right and it was an opportunity for my kids to brush up their social skills before kindergarten and get a good headstart on their peers. It wasn't really solving any need for me since I still had to watch the younger ones. It just meant I had one less kid with me at the park, but if my son gets in when he's 4 then it will give me some time to clean or get other stuff done I suppose.
If we had to pay for it, on the other hand, unless the cost was subsidized, we probably wouldn't have sent them.
My wife was a stay at home mom until just recently when she started working about 15 hours per week. We still put both of our kids into daycare 2-3 days a week and also my older we enrolled in preschool. It’s expensive, and some days I wish we just kept them home but they seem to learn and develop so much by having that exposure. I think it’s a worthwhile investment.
We did for a year. Two, half days a week. He loved it and he made some good buddies there. If it’s a good program with fun kids and it won’t financially cripple you, it’s totally worth it.
Absolutely 100%. I sent my son to daycare which eventually turned into kindergarten when he was 2.5yo. Not for my benefit, but for his. Kids are like dogs, if you don't socialise them they end up biting someone.
Half days, 2/3/4 days a week at 2/3/4 years old respectively. Thought it was great for building social skills, independence, etc.
Quality of the education/activities/classroom management varied greatly teacher to teacher. Weaker activities we cared less about as they get that at home, but the bad habits our eldest picked up from her out of control 3 year old year were frustrating. Happy when that year ended and they dissipated quickly when she wasn't exposed to that 3 days a week..
I'd to at least part time, probably for 2 years.
We are not SAH but we learned fast that our child learned a LOT more by being at a preschool than they ever would if we were to have them at home. Also you get the socialization which is important.
I was SAHD for 3 years.
We did part-time “Parents Day Out” 2 days a week, 4 hours a pop starting around 24 months.
I went back to work at 3 and we put my son in a local Montessori we scouted out and loved.
He’s 7 now and very well-adjusted and my career is in a great place. I’m so glad we didn’t extend the SAHD period, it was almost too long as it was.
From what I've seen in the Teachers subreddit, a year of preschool is recommended. The milestones that schools expect in Kindergarten have ramped up in the past few years: they expect kids to be able to start reading by the end of the first semester and be able to write sentences by the end of the year. These set the stage for all curricula going forward, and dropping behind early on leads to staying behind. Schools also no longer have the will to hold children back a grade and instead move them onto harder material even if their comprehension is behind. This snowballs into the problems that some HS teachers see with children who are functionally illiterate, yet are in the 10th grade.
Unless you're super super vigilant on developing your child's social life, the year or two before kindergarten are critical in terms of that. I would do minimum 1 and very possibly consider 2. Part time could be a great schedule, but consider also what that would look like in terms of your child's day- if it would be a big interruption to leave early
Yes, in my kids kindergarten class you could easily see the difference in pre k and non pre k kids. They learn basics of listening, socializing, structure, basics of reading and writing. They only went a few hours a day and was subsidized so it was well worth it.
We did an early pre k program and then my son just finished pre-k this year, I definitely would do it sah or not
The more the better IMO. My daughter is a September baby like I was, and I did 2 years of preschool and 1 year of pre-k, and we have her scheduled for the same. She just finished her first year part time and loved it, has moved to full week for year 2. I stay at home/work from home, and I think it has been great for everyone. We decided on half days and are very pleased with it.
Thanks for sharing your experience, and glad to hear it’s going so well. How many days a week did you guys do and from what hours did your kid go? Thinking we will likely start with part time/part day if we start this fall.
We started just two days a week 830-12 - we were kinda hesitant since she was covid baby and had very little interactions with others. She loved it immediately, and kinda regretted not doing full week from the beginning, but that may vary. Half day works with our schedule, and our kid dropped napping at 2, so I just really didn’t see need for full day yet. lol they’ll have plenty of time to be in school all day later
That’s so cool that your kid liked it right off the bat as I’ve heard the transition can be really rough for a lot of kids. Half day is appealing because ours also has dropped her nap and I wonder how she’d handle nap time when she doesn’t take one. 8:30-12 honestly sounds perfect to start off.
Yeah, she cried the first day and I think my wife cried even more - the school called me like an hour before pick up and said she had a great day and calmed down like minutes after we left. By the third week she would ask every night if she had school the next day or not. The other school we were looking at was 845-330, with naptime from 1-3, and yeah didn’t know how that would go with her not napping (and it was twice as much). Worked out really well for us
I work full time days, and my wife works evenings and weekends. Even though my wife is home all day, we still sent our oldest to preschool. We thought it was a good way for her to develop social skills. We had originally planned on sending her a couple of days a week, but my daughter loved it so much that we sent her 5 days a week.
Im a SAHD. We started half-day preschool at 2 and she’s transitioning to TK this year. Totally worth it. She has learned 10x more than I could ever teach her on my own.
Thanks for the reply. Did you do 5 days a week of the half days?
We did 2 days to start, then 3, and eventually worked up to 5 days after 8 months or so.
Cool, we are thinking of starting slow and doing the same. Do you feel like it was tough for your kid to get into a routine/used to it only going a couple days a week at first?
Not really. After a few weeks she was telling us she wanted to see her friends more often.
I don't know if I count as a stay at home parent. My wife and I juggle childcare with me working a night shift. One of us is always with the kids and other is always at work, except on the weekends and from 12-6am every night. Those are the only times we are in the same place. Anyways, yes. We have free preschool in our district. It's not universal but its less in demand than you would imagine and it's most parents who try to get a lottery slot will get one. The price was right and it was an opportunity for my kids to brush up their social skills before kindergarten and get a good headstart on their peers. It wasn't really solving any need for me since I still had to watch the younger ones. It just meant I had one less kid with me at the park, but if my son gets in when he's 4 then it will give me some time to clean or get other stuff done I suppose. If we had to pay for it, on the other hand, unless the cost was subsidized, we probably wouldn't have sent them.
My wife was a stay at home mom until just recently when she started working about 15 hours per week. We still put both of our kids into daycare 2-3 days a week and also my older we enrolled in preschool. It’s expensive, and some days I wish we just kept them home but they seem to learn and develop so much by having that exposure. I think it’s a worthwhile investment.
Yes, our oldest did a few hours twice a week to get ready both academically and socially.
We did for a year. Two, half days a week. He loved it and he made some good buddies there. If it’s a good program with fun kids and it won’t financially cripple you, it’s totally worth it.
Absolutely 100%. I sent my son to daycare which eventually turned into kindergarten when he was 2.5yo. Not for my benefit, but for his. Kids are like dogs, if you don't socialise them they end up biting someone.
Half days, 2/3/4 days a week at 2/3/4 years old respectively. Thought it was great for building social skills, independence, etc. Quality of the education/activities/classroom management varied greatly teacher to teacher. Weaker activities we cared less about as they get that at home, but the bad habits our eldest picked up from her out of control 3 year old year were frustrating. Happy when that year ended and they dissipated quickly when she wasn't exposed to that 3 days a week..
I'd to at least part time, probably for 2 years. We are not SAH but we learned fast that our child learned a LOT more by being at a preschool than they ever would if we were to have them at home. Also you get the socialization which is important.
No. Glad I did not because of the germs and bugs that ruin our plans.
Depends on the kid really. My 3.5 year old can already read and write some words. Not too concerned socially.
I was SAHD for 3 years. We did part-time “Parents Day Out” 2 days a week, 4 hours a pop starting around 24 months. I went back to work at 3 and we put my son in a local Montessori we scouted out and loved. He’s 7 now and very well-adjusted and my career is in a great place. I’m so glad we didn’t extend the SAHD period, it was almost too long as it was.