Mom to Jordan said:
I am a director at a wonderful preschool and here are my thoughs. It depends on whether you plan to send her to kindergarten or home school through out her school years. Either way, 3 year old preschool is not necessay, but for many parents and children a fun and rewarding experence. If you do not plan to send her into a group setting for kindergaten, then I see no need to send her to preschool even in the four year old program. If however, you will be sending her to a group setting kindergarten, I think it is important to give her one year of preschool. It has nothing to do with learing her letters and numbers etc., but with learning how to adjust to a group setting. It is a big adjustment when most of the children have been to preschool and already know about standing in line and sitting as a large group for a story. Our preschool is a development preschool but more and more are finding ourselves doing things that are not developmentaly ready becasue our kindergarten programs are so off base with their expectations. On a personal note, I did not send my DS to preschool until he was 5 and waited until he was 6 to start kindergarten. I am a big supporter of holding back children until they are developmental ready. Age is not a good indicator.
We have had kids come to our preschool and then be home school. I truly do not understand this as the basic pre-school are so easy and fun to teach your child in everyday life. As Tobias said, just talkand read to her, give her lots of rich experences. Take her places, point out letters and numbers as they come up in daily life. Supply her with art supplies, makers etc. If however she is going to a group setting kindergarten, consider at least one year of preschool. Don't however ever hesitate to take her out of that preschool class to travel. Any school that does not encourage that for preschoolers is not developmental on track.
Enjoy your child.
Jordans' mom
Yeah!!!! I am a nursery school (2's and 3's), and I think that everything Jordan's mom said is great! We also have a developmental nursery school and are feeling pressure (mostly by parents) to work ahead of the children's developmental levels because they feel the stress of kindergarten on the horizon.
Our 2's class is a class with child and attentive caregiver. It certainly isn't anything that the parent couldn't do at home, but it provides special appointed time with all the supplies and social interaction. We show the parents how doing a craft together is a learning process. We have the space to set up ride-on toys and obstacle courses for gross motor coordination/development. We have areas set up for emergent writers, experimenting with different substances, imaginative play, etc.
Again, our 3's classes don't do anything that a parent couldn't do at home, but the children do learn to work together, line up, respect another authority figure, sit for snack and story. The "academic" concepts that we work on aren't always readily apparent, because they are done in the context of play, crafts, and fun.
2's, 3's, and even 4's don't need worksheets, workbooks, and timetables for learning. (Please note, I'm not saying that you shouldn't use worksheets if your child enjoys them. My oldest LOVED to do workbooks from a very young age.) Playing board games, for example, works on concepts such as colors, counting, turn taking, forward progression, etc. Ordinary chores, such as setting the table, can be used to reinforce counting, sorting, one-to-one correspondence, pattern-making, etc. Reading and sharing stories with your child is one of the first steps in literacy. Have fun comparing volumes of different containers at bath time. Experiment with things that float and sink. Take walks and make observations.
The best way to teach a preschooler is to LIVE a full life.
Beth
Actually, I think independant play is awesome. And my homeschooled children are all reared and launched, so I didn't have to worry about them while I was on the computer. My only point from the beginning of posting on this thread was for this gal to spend as much time as possible with her child, involved with her. This was a much better use of time than searching out the latest curriculum. There are those in the homeschooling curriculum fields that will try to convince you that you NEED all of their stuff to homeschool best. Even the darlings at RAINBOW! They could sell ice to an eskimo!
. With the older two, we used HIPPY - a program mainly in lower income areas. My friend volunteered for the YWCA at the time and got the curriculum for me. It was a lot of fun and their K teachers were quite impressed with what they had learned. BUt, she is no longer there and we don't meet the income guidelines to use the program 
. So. I will be chcking into the websites you have all recommended (AFTER she's in bed 
