Changes! Eek!

[rivka]

I just scheduled a visit to a nursery school for next Thursday.

Well, nursery school/daycare. They have both. All the kids do nursery school in the morning, and you can either bring them home at noon or have them stay for lunch, nap, and afternoon daycare. They have a two-year-old classroom. If we like the school, we'll be signing Alex up to start in May.

I had despaired of finding a good play-based nursery school, because all of the ones that advertise in Baltimore's Child magazine talk about "computer literacy" and "pre-reading skills" and "kindergarten readiness." It's part of a trend that, unbelievably, includes academic tutoring for 3-5 year olds. From the way things are going I do predict that Alex will master preschool concepts early and be reading by three or four - but I am utterly opposed, philosophically, to sending her to an "academic" nursery school where those concepts are formally presented.

My friend Suzanne passed on some materials about the Bolton Hill nursery school. "Play is a child's work," the flyer began, and went on to explain that young children learn best from exploring their world, not from formal instruction. The teachers provide a rich environment - music, art supplies, pretend play equipment, a courtyard and a nearby playground for outdoor play, books, building materials - and help the children negotiate social interactions. They do all the traditional nursery school projects, like sprouting seeds in Dixie cups and visiting a fire station, but "rarely will you enter a classroom and see all the children seated at a table doing the same art project." It seems very free.

Best of all: they offer a flexible schedule - anywhere from 1-5 half and/or whole days a week - and they are much cheaper than a nanny. They're located just six blocks from our house, so we can walk there. And Suzanne's son Leo, who is in playgroup with Alex, will be going 1.5 days a week - so she would be starting out with a familiar playmate.

Still: nursery school? Already? What a scary thought. And yet, Alex really enjoys being with other kids. We've been thinking that when our current nanny graduates from school and takes a full-time job, we'll probably want to put Alex in group daycare. It's just the word "school" that's making me think "Whoa!"

Comments

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

That is a really lovely picture.

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a great setup. The place Liam goes is similar in some ways. Definitely play based. There's a nice mix of kids who are going part-time and others who are full-time. We like it a lot - I hope it lives up to its press!

My friend Sue's 3-year-old just started going to pre-school 2 days a week. She found the whole "school!" thing to be a scary thought/ big transition too. I never got that, because since we've always used a group daycare, Liam's been in school since he was 5 months old. I won't get the big "eek - school!" moment until Kindergarten...

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a member of the informed-ignorant (two siblings of almost 20 years age less tham mine, when averaged, whom I was in the house to help with for the first few years), that school sounds way cool, and a decent idea.

Kids do well with other kids, and it will pay off at home.

TK

[aloha-moira.livejournal.com]

"But I am utterly opposed, philosophically, to sending her to an "academic" nursery school where those concepts are formally presented.

But Rivka, then how will she ever get into Harvard? She'll be SO BEHIND!!!

Kidding, obviously. That second "school" sounds like a wonderful place, for both of you. Hope it works out!

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I hope the visit goes well. From what they say in their literature, I think it will.

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a great place. We're looking for something similar for our Alex, either for January or next fall.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

The warning labels are for your protection.

That place sounds good, though. Walking distance!

Oh, I don't know...

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

...my brother was the only one of us kids to go to kindergarten, and he ended up a dairy farmer. ;-)

[jmhm.livejournal.com]

I found with HM's friends and the kids I saw hwile I was helping out at her Pre-K that there was a window for them learning how to be comfortable and fluent socially, and use their imaginations in play, and that window seemed to me to start closing at four or five. It may be a coincidence that they started to be resorted by academic aptitude at that age, but it didn't seem that way to me.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Will Alex get to go along on the visit?

I would have thought that the idea of <1.5yos having friends was kind of adultomorphic (which, if it isn't a word, should be). Until I watched my younger-than-Alex nibling go into climbing-the-porch-railing squealing pointing glee last week when he recognized the little girl coming up the walk to join the crowd we were visiting. He obviously remembered that she was one of his people, and she was coming to play with him. So yeah, having Leo in the group would be a bonus.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I read the article about tutoring, and it doesn't really sound all that different from what any academically minded parent would do with their kid: teach them things. Obviously, it's weirder than weird that the parents are paying someone else to do this, but the ideas and activities are not any more advanced than most middle class kids are expected to master.

Parenting has been made incredibly complex in the last 15 or 20 years, I opine, as a parent of some mid-20-somethings.

K. [and who, for the record, sprouted her bean seed in a dixie cup in kindergarten]

[iamjw.livejournal.com]

This sounds terrific. I look forward to Alex-at-school stories.