[KatieHeitman]

Is your toddler going to preschool yet? If not, do you plan on sending them to preschool and when? Alex is elgible to start this Fall. I would love to send him, bu DH isn't sure he wants to send him this year. We either send him this year and next year or just next year. This year he would go just twice a week for a few hours. He would learn the basic, colors, numbers, alphabet, sharing, and get socializing with other kids his age. We work with him at home on all of that. Just lately he's really starting to soak up everything and really wants to learn. If we only send him next year, it's basically a Pre Kindergarden class. So they prepare the kids for a real classroom setting. If he goes this year he'll go next year too. But then DH says we'll have to send all our kids to 2 years of preschool. I've always felt like Alex was a bit slower at learning and doing everything, he did everything at a slower pace. Which I know is fine, but I feel he would love preschool and really learn a lot. It is $82 a month. I don't know how to convince DH that he should go this year. What do you ladies think? Any suggestions? Alex has his 3 year check up tomorrow so I am going to ask about some sort of preschool screening. I think the school district has one.

[katidid622]

I have not decided. I think she would really benefit from it and being around other kids, etc, especially since she is just home with me during the day. But I have not looked into yet or anything.

[ForestJenn]

We haven't put Adrian in preschool but I've been thinking about it a lot. Adrian is in daycare 4 days a week, but there aren't any children his age. My DCP does a lot of preschool activities because she worked at a preschool for 10 years before opening her own daycare. That, coupled with the reading and playing that we do at home means that he's got a good start on letter recognition, numbers, shapes, etc... So I always assumed that we'd just do pre-Kindergarten and call it good. But he recently told me that he has boring days at daycare...and he loves the 2 hour preschool class that he goes to on Wednesdays at my DCP's church. So I'm in a muddle.

If our local programs were only $82 a month, I'd almost definitely get him started. The cheapest program I've found so far is about $300 a month.

[kristianna]

Anaiah has been going to pre-school since the beginning of Feb. Just had my first parent - teacher meeting last weekend. She seems to be enjoying it. We wanted her to get to be around other children and to start to learn Hindi better as I cannot teach her that at home and DH is away a lot. She goes for about 3 hours a day 5 days a week. She even takes 'the school bus' - an SUV with a teacher's aid in it that picks her up and drops her off at home. I was nervous about it all at first but she has not cried once and is always talking about school and her teacher. (82 bucks a month is not bad.. we have to pay more.)

[LadyBugMommyof1]

Hazel goes to a time-for-2's program right now...she started im the fall. It's one day per week for 1.5 hours and a parent or grandparent stays with her. She is really thriving at it...the socialization is still going slowly (she's very shy)...but well worth it ($65 per month) and I am really happy she has been introduced to the school environment now rather than later.

She will begin regular preschool this coming fall 2 days a week for 3 hours days (drop-off) and I think that this will do amazing things for her confidence and socialization. 2 days/week for 3 hours will cost $420 per month. This is pretty inexpensive for our area...it is a lot to us, but we are going to swing it because I've seen her start to come out of her shell alot more.

We also plan to send her to a Summer program at the preschool and it will run 4 days/week for 3 hour days for 4 weeks. It starts mid-July and runs mid-Aug. I'm hoping this will enable her to do the "drop-off" with no tears or fussing come September and become confident with the potty at school...they have to be independent with all potty aspects... Thankfully her teacher will be the same next year and this summer as it is now.

With Alex, I would definitely send him...he needs to soak up as much learning as possible and being home with you is great, but he needs the external stimulation too...just my honest opinion from what you've described over the past few years on JM with his "slower" learning style.

[MamaToARockStar]

i havnt decided yet,we are around kids his age all the time,and we go to playgrounds,story time,music and i nanny for a boy his age.SO i'm not too worried about the social aspect,i work with him at home on his colors,numbers,shapes and stuff but i think he would do better learning from someone else.I am leaning towards waiting until january to start him.

[KatieHeitman]

Most of the general stuff we are working with him at home and he's starting to do good. But I feel like he could really benefit from being outside the home for a little bit and around other people. Right now in my Daycare I just have my boys and one baby girl. I just don't know how to convince DH that it would be a good idea to send Alex. The Preschool teacher is actually my Daycare Client (the baby girl's mom). So she said she would drive him there and back from Preschool, even though he'd have to stay an hour later. I think transportation was the biggest issue because there's no preschool buses here. So tell me how to convince DH that Alex should go.

[MommaTrish]

Bella goes for free to the Parent's Day Out that my mom and I work for. And they actually do work on preschool stuff. Each month the teachers have to turn in a lesson plan with what they are going over based on TN preschool stuff and the Biblical stuff too.

[SandKmommy]

I start college this year so we're trying to figure it out. Preschool here is only from 9am-11am and I know my classes wont fit into those time frames right. But for 3 or so days a week its like $300/mo. I think we'll end up doing an at home day care that has flexable hours but does some preschool work, thats around $300 for something like that. I have to take out student loans in order to pay for this so it sucks.

[SassyMama]

I haven't decided. I was leaning towards taking her next fall and just having her start pre-K then. She has plenty of cousins her age and we're always out playing with other kids or taking her to ballet class or whatever. Maybe if I can find a reasonable one I'll take her.

[maryslittlelambs]

We probably won't. With my schedule it just doesn't seem to fit as I'd have to take the entire day off. My DCP does homeschool preschool stuff with him, and he does nursery at church.

[GranolaMama]

Nope. We will homeschool, so I'm already looking into different curriculum options, and we just started a simple one called Five in a Row, that focuses on different children's books. BE goes to children's church on Sunday mornings, we go to Library story time every Wednesday an then the park after to play with friends, and sometimes we meet for a play date another day of the week, so he gets plenty of interaction. :-)

[LJD3Tdance]

Around here I don't think there is a preschool that would accept him until the fall. He's registered already though.

[KatieHeitman]

Well, I told DH I was making myself sick over this whole thing. So he said we can enroll him. Like it was no big deal to begin with, that's how he acted. Well he's enrolled now. It starts in the Fall. I'm so excited for him.

[challowell]

Jamie goes to an early head start that has a preschool in it. She will move to the preschool class in may when they get an opening. She loves it and she is coming out of her shyness a little bit.

[danniegirl]

Justin goes to daycare 5 days a week. He does pretty good there. They work with him a lot. When he gets to teh 4 year old room they treat it as a pre school. Unformatunaly i thought about putting him in preschool but not only would I ahve to pay for the preschool a m onth i would have to pay for the daycare around it. (Sucks working this much).

I have no issues with him he gets a long so well with others his ages esp if they are girls. I am going to put him in an extra curriculmn once a week like I do DD and her dance so.

[Mommy2PrestonandGavin]

Preston is starting preschool in the fall 2 days a week. Then the following year he will go 4 days a week. Kindergarten is a full day now so I wanted it to be a gradual transition from being home with me all the time to the full day of school eventually. Preston really needs the socialization, but more than that he is really excited about going to school so I want to take advantage of that and start him off now!