Preschool for Emily

We enrolled Emily in a preschool yesterday. It was a huge decision and we feel very happy with our choice. First, we had to make the decision if we were even going to enroll her in a Pre-K program. I can’t say that I’ve officially been homeschooling my children, since we don’t follow a curriculum, but we do learn every day at every opportunity. The decision to enroll Emily in preschool was really driven by her desire to go to school. And, it’s a decision that we didn’t take lightly.

The preschool business in our community is something else! There are the full-time preschools that run 5 days a week from the early morning until early evening. Then, there are the preschools that are run by churches in our community. Enrollment is some of these 2, 3 and 4-day Pre-K programs is highly competitive. Moms have been known to camp out for days to get a spot for their child in the program of their choice. I’m not a highly competitive person and didn’t want to get involved in all that. After researching, several emails, phone conversations with directors, and school visits…we found a school that we love and that we know Emily will love.

On the day that we toured the school that we chose, Barbara at Mommy Life posted a response to a Mom who is debating about home schooling her 4 year old rather than sending him to preschool – What About Preschool?. As usual, Barbara provided wonderful insight and even gave us a glimpse into her new book, Mommy, Teach Me!, which is coming out in June. I can’t wait to get my hands on it!

I really like and relate to these points made by Barbara:

The answers to the critical questions are already inside us. We have to listen to the whisper that we hear from our heart, which is more important than what is being shouted at us from outside sources.

Parents must make the most of our children’s early years so that they will grow into lifelong learners. She says, “you can be of great influence in your child’s future by improving your understanding of him and providing for his developmental needs.”

Many in our society wrongly believe that only the professionals can teach. Although I do not have the years of teaching experience that Barbara has, I have witnessed this belief in action in many classrooms in my community.

There is only so much that my children can learn in the classroom and I firmly believe that it is our job as their parents to build up their passion for learning all the time. I’m sure that there are lots of new things that I’m going to learn over the next 18 years. I’m really looking forward to teaching my girls to read, to do math (maybe I’ll finally get algebra), to explore the world through science, history and geography and so much more!

I’ve heard parents complain time and time again about the amount of homework that their child is expected to complete. If my child doesn’t come home with work to do outside the classroom, how am I going to know what she’s doing all day at school because you know that the answer to, “What did you do today?” is always going to be, “Nothing.” And, how can I possibly build her up to tackle the hard stuff, if I don’t know what she finds challenging?