Can we skip preschool and go kindergarden directly?

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My son, Alex, is 2 years and 9months, has been going to family day care since he was 1 years old. This day care similar to preschool with 2 teachers and 12 children from 6 months to 5 years old. Alex is happy there, and the teachers are willing to teach. I am thinking Alex can stay here and transfer to kindergarden when he turns 5.

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Hi! There are a lot of pros to preschool that you simply cannot match in a home environment or small daycare environment. My son has made DRAMATIC improvements in his preschool in just the first month. At age 3 we put him in a co-op preschool and at age 4 switched to our local public preschool (yes we are lucky in San Jose, CA to have this). The class is bigger and my son is learning to follow directions, listen to others, share, and participate in group projects. You can't match having a group of 4 year olds sitting at a table doing art together! They walk to the cafeteria as a group and eat together. These are all things they will be expected to do in kindergarten. As much as academics is stressed in kindergarten , social skills are just as important! If a kid can do the alphabet and count, etc. but can't relate to others, share, or make friends then they will seriously struggle in kindergarten. Also, studies show that more preschool-educated children go on to college, etc. These are longterm studies and are valid. So, before you make this decision, ask yourself what you want for your child?

I would be very careful with skipping pre-school because I feel it teaches the kids the fundamentals that they are going to learn in Kindergarten. When I was in Kindergarten, 28 years ago, no, we didn't need pre-school. But today, with everything that kids need to learn, I would say yes, they do need pre-school. If your going to teach your child at home and stay on top of it, then I would say no, don't send them, but it would be beneficial. For instance, my son is in pre-school. His teacher told me that next year in Kindergarten, they want the kids to learn how to spell their names and write full sentences the first couple of weeks. Times have changed

I stay at home with my 3 yr old and am wondering the same thing. I don't need to send him to day-care or preschool yet but am wondering if I will have to in order for him to enter kindergarten at the same (academic)level as other kids his age. There is tremendous pressure for our kids to excel in school but I wish more emphasis should be put on the importance and benefits of a well-rounded education. If your child is happy, well nurtured, socially interactive, physically active and intellectually stimulated adequately for his age of development then he's on the right track... Kindergarten should then get him ready for elementary school.

that's what I did with my daughter. She was in a daycare that was a 'preschool' setting, so she learned the basics and then went to kindergarden from their. A lot of preschools cost too much.

Yes, in Illinois. After all, parents are great teachers.

Thank you very much for your recommendation! My son goes to family daycare here in Bay Area as well since he is 5 month. I think the kid get more attention in that environment as teacher and kids ratio is lower than preschool. The reason I choose the preschool is that I like my son get into a bigger group, and learn to be more focus, and sit down for a minute as he is too active.

Yeah! I think Alex's day care is a good daycare center. And, tjlove gave me some useful advice, too.

very thoughtful answer, thanks!

It's only in recent years that preschool has become a kind of a norm - you can certainly skip preschool but in that your son is in day care and I'm sure they do preschool activities with their children. The alphabet, cutting and pasting, singing songs, hopping and skipping, reading aloud to the children - these are the things of preschool and any good day care center too.

Honestly, I think that's fine. Preschool is not legally required. My daughter is in a family daycare too and we love it. But it's smaller- only 6 kids max- but with so many jobs being cut there are usually only 2-4 kids. So we decided to send her to preschool in the fall for half of the week so she can get used to being in a classroom and being around more kids.

Many of the other families at her daycare have waited until their kids were 3 turning 4 to send them to preschool. And many families don't even send their kids to preschool. Plus you can always re-evaluate your son in a year to see how he's doing there or if he would benefit from a year of preschool.

Here's a link to our preschool page for articles that might help you in your choice:
www.greatschools.net/preschool/

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Can we skip preschool and go kindergarden directly?

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