Madie is 2 1/2 now, and it's starting to show that she needs a little more than I've been giving her. I think it's great for her to have Kaleb around every day, but he's much younger and, at this point, it kind of like another family member rather than someone she has to learn to work with in semi-unfamiliar setting. So, I've decided to start preschooling her. At home. I am not the type of mother to spend a lot of money on my kid unless I feel it's the only way to reap the most benefits. In this instance, I definitely feel I can provide what she needs here at home, if not more because she won't be crammed in with 15 other kids. I also don't feel like formal preschool is an essential to starting kindergarten.
What I do feel is that there are two major benefits to be gained from preschooling: the first is socialization and the second is an introduction to structure. I can definitely provide the structure, the socialization is what I'm most concerned about.
Recently Madie has shown what I would call mild social anxiety--which, for her, is completely new. When she's in a familiar place with familiar people (i.e. home with friends or at church in nursery) she does great. Her nursery leaders love her and say she's wonderful. She does well at home most of the time, although sharing her things is sometimes an issue--but she's 2 so it's not like this shocks me.
But the past few times we've gone to story time at the library, Madie has had a meltdown that is triggered essentially by nothing. I can usually get her to calm down within a few minutes and we go back in, but she doesn't interact with the other kids, even though it's a relatively small group (we've started attending the preschooler story time, which only has maybe 15 kids in there. The baby/toddler story time has upwards of 30, I'd say, and is INSAAAAAAANE!) and she although she wants to participate in the songs and activities, she refuses to. She won't even sit on the floor with the other kids, but rather spends the whole time standing in front of me or trying to climb on my lap. Eventually, about half-way through, she starts to bawl. I take her out, calm her down, ask her if she wants to go back in (which is always a "yes"), and we continue as we were before.
I am determined to get her some playmates. I've even offered to preschool a couple of friends' kids here at my home (since I'll be doing it with or without them anyway) just so she can see other kids her age more regularly. We've also been working on responding to adults when they speak to her. She will usually respond to me or Mike (unless she's angry at us, or thinks we're angry at her) but anyone else, even friends, she will look away from and decline to answer. This has improved marginally over just the last couple of weeks, so there is hope.
So, mothers, what do you think? Any preschooling tips? Any socialization tips? Blogs you use? Methods? Suggestions? I'm open for it all.
What I do feel is that there are two major benefits to be gained from preschooling: the first is socialization and the second is an introduction to structure. I can definitely provide the structure, the socialization is what I'm most concerned about.
Recently Madie has shown what I would call mild social anxiety--which, for her, is completely new. When she's in a familiar place with familiar people (i.e. home with friends or at church in nursery) she does great. Her nursery leaders love her and say she's wonderful. She does well at home most of the time, although sharing her things is sometimes an issue--but she's 2 so it's not like this shocks me.
But the past few times we've gone to story time at the library, Madie has had a meltdown that is triggered essentially by nothing. I can usually get her to calm down within a few minutes and we go back in, but she doesn't interact with the other kids, even though it's a relatively small group (we've started attending the preschooler story time, which only has maybe 15 kids in there. The baby/toddler story time has upwards of 30, I'd say, and is INSAAAAAAANE!) and she although she wants to participate in the songs and activities, she refuses to. She won't even sit on the floor with the other kids, but rather spends the whole time standing in front of me or trying to climb on my lap. Eventually, about half-way through, she starts to bawl. I take her out, calm her down, ask her if she wants to go back in (which is always a "yes"), and we continue as we were before.
I am determined to get her some playmates. I've even offered to preschool a couple of friends' kids here at my home (since I'll be doing it with or without them anyway) just so she can see other kids her age more regularly. We've also been working on responding to adults when they speak to her. She will usually respond to me or Mike (unless she's angry at us, or thinks we're angry at her) but anyone else, even friends, she will look away from and decline to answer. This has improved marginally over just the last couple of weeks, so there is hope.
So, mothers, what do you think? Any preschooling tips? Any socialization tips? Blogs you use? Methods? Suggestions? I'm open for it all.
3 comments:
i agree that preschool isn't something that is needed before kindergarten, if you teach them what they need to know at home. because of sterling's speech delay, he would only progress so far with speech therapy. he needed to be around kids his age. so he started preschool (early head start) in feb. he loves it and i enjoy time alone with quincey. i like the idea of having a few kids that would do preschool with her.
i don't know of any blogs or websites, but if i find any, i'll let you know. oh...PW does have a section of her site that is for homeschooling. have you looked there?http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeschooling/
Here's my pinterest board for preschool ideas/websites:
http://pinterest.com/taricakes/preschool-resources/
It kind of depends on what you are wanting as far as what site to recommend. My favorites are preschoolexpress.com, 1plus1plus1equals1.com (with this one, she has themed packs you can print at home and she has them for toddlers and preschoolers). When I plan preschool I like to do themes, and I usually have good luck just googling what I'm wanting to do.
As for actually getting playmates, I'm assuming you've asked around the ward? This year we did a preschool co-op with Nathan and two kids in our ward. Nathan was actually a year younger than the other two, but it worked out fine. So maybe a young 3-year old would work ok, too? Of course developmentally it would be ideal for them to be the same age. But beggars can't be choosers. :) You could always just do a play date to see if it even would work first. I wish we lived closer because we would totally do it with you! Good luck!
We started a "mommmy preschool" here back in August and it's been great. It kind of started to fall apart after a few months so I decided to just do preschool with Owen everyday--at home. It's help A LOT. His speech has improved, his manners, his recognition of things and it gives him something to do and results in less tantrums. It wasn't any easy fit for me at first (i'm not expert teacher) but there are a lot of helpful sites on pinterest if you look. I have a preschool folder and a folder called "atta boy" just for activities for owen. I highlighted a few our family blog too. Hope it helps! Good luck!
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