What is Feb child working on?

[brachysira]

Inspired by a mom at storytime asking if we liked our preschool--it's play-based and they do nothing except play, have a storytime, and sing a bit.  I said it wasn't very challenging, but I liked the social aspects, and that was what was hardest for my kid anyway.  This woman had previously taught at a competitive urban preschool where they had all-day classes, taught French, called the curriculum college-prep, etc., and was like, "it's all what you want for your kid." Another mom said that she was interested to hear from K teachers about the schools from which kids came in prepared. I said that my kid could learn the pre-K stuff at home and the social skills were what we expected her to get from pre-K.

So, what kind of things is your Feb kid working on?  Anything from personal skills, physical skills, academic skills.

[expatmama]

DS2 is working on mastering the laws of physics by studying in depth the difference of what happens between dropping crap on the floor and throwing things at an arc. Also he is mastering how to draw bugs. All kinds of bugs. And he loves eating boogers. (ok, to be fair he blows me away with his bilingual skills -- but mostly he is just a goofy 3 year old kid). Oh and he also was steering a pony over some cavalettis on his own this week as my riding trainer lets him have a few minutes at the end of DS1's lesson riding a small pony and he is rather thrilled -- but I would say this is like 90% pony and 10% the trainer. (or maybe the other way around).

But mostly he just plays. A lot. And the language stuff is from our home (and that he has another main language at school) his preschool is play based and really non-academic. Are there really college prep preschools because that shit is insane.

[brachysira]

Yeah, it sounds stupid to me...like, your kid is going to college after preschool? That doesn't mean I'm not jealous of your bilingual children and my kid would also kill to be able to ride a horse. Drawing bugs sounds neat. My kid is starting to draw a bit but really has not had much interest until recently, and her stuff is totally just scribbles.

[pinkie]

Unless someone plans to send their child to private school for their entire life, I think preschool and prek should be totally focused on social skills, play and some learning.

Several of my friends sent their kids to daycare like we have our kids in, think of larger national chains. They all sent their kids to K in the daycare because of only half day public K or just convenience. All these kids went to first grade and are now totally bored. My BFFs son is still totally bored in second grade.

Z has started gripping a crayon like you do a pencil, is coloring more within the lines on a coloring book vs scribbling all over the page and is starting to recognize and write more letters and numbers. He's so proud of himself. He definitely has advanced a ton since starting in the preschool room at daycare

[brachysira]

We are working on going to the potty alone and washing hands alone after without prompting. Still working on getting dressed. Working on brainstorming solutions to brother conflict and playing together. It's probably just developmental, but I love how well my children have been playing together lately. Working on balance bike riding, sounding out words, drawing and writing letters (although not really very far along), and we talk a lot about biology/nature. I'd love to do some science experiments or math activities, or even just some more crafts. Big focus here on fun exercising in all forms because my son's BMI is very high off the charts, but for us that means walking to school, going to the park, and playing in the front yard which inspires them to run around wildly. Plus, both kids are do gymnastics once/week, as I'm anticipating it will be too cold for long play periods outside soon.

[brachysira]

I was always way ahead in elementary school and was bored-ish, but this also led me to be hysterical when it was something I hadn't seen before, so that's an additional problem that is clear my daughter will face. But I don't think we can avoid it, as I'm not going to quit doing things with my kid. Plus, she'll be in school with a bunch of prof kids and I know they're all going to be ahead of the norm. With my kid's interest in social things, I don't think she'll be super bored. At her boring preschool, they girls plan playdates and engage in social drama. Her old preschool had a high ratio so there was more adult interaction and they did a lot of cooking, gardening, experiments, etc. so I feel like that definitely was more stimulating, but there wasn't really a lot of time for the kids to interact.

[wineandcake]

My kid can make some pretty awesome train tracks! And his ninja moves are amazing, he could probably be a ninja turtle someday with those sweet moves.

But seriously, he draws a lot. He's very creative and loves to colour pictures or do imaginative play. He's very into pretending so we have about 17466 pretend birthday parties a day, we fight off bad guys all morning, we bake pretend cakes and have tea parties every afternoon, and then we build castles and towers with the blocks. He's very active and talks non stop, the kid won't even stop long enough to take a breath most of the time. He's very affectionate towards animals and would play with his kitten all day. Sometimes he goes hunting or fishing with H and he can identify the different types of fish or birds.

He goes to nursery school two mornings a week to develop his social skills, have fun, and give me a bit of a break. He loves playing with the other kids. I feel that I negatively impact his social development because I have so much anxiety about rejection and being around people that we don't do play dates or anything. Him going to school gets him that interaction.

[brachysira]

wineandcake, but playing with your kid and giving him all the opportunities at home has certainly built up his skills. DD can pretty much do none of that. I would love to teach her fish or do pretend play with her more, but I have limited endurance for that and DS always breaks up anything we're doing. She's stuck pretending with DS, which is cute, but probably far less good for her than having conversations in the pretend realm with an adult.

[kleigh926]

DD has recently become quite good at coloring in the lines, and is getting better at drawing things. She can identify most letters and some numbers, so we are working on learning the ones she doesn't know. At preschool they sometimes trace letters but she isn't too great at that yet. She can write an L (the first letter of her name) and is very proud of that.

They also do a lot of crafty stuff at preschool which I think she really enjoys. She's getting a bike for Christmas and a scooter for her birthday so we'll be working on those types of physical/motor skills soon.

We are also working with both her and DS on emotional and listening skills- there are way too many tantrums and too much whining, and I think DD especially is old enough to start controlling her responses and become a little more emotionally mature.

[Meghanfelldown]

Nicky's preschool is play-based as well and they stress that for three year-olds, the main thing they should be learning at school is social skills. It's a French school so he's picking up some French here and there, the four year-olds have less English and more French in their class. We're in Canada, so French schooling isn't a hoity-toity, college-bound-preschooler thing.

He's never been in an organized classroom before, so the fact that he listens and sits during circle time and plays nicely with the other kids is huge. there are only 8 kids in his class, so I think that really helps. His teacher told me that he behaves beautifully and is the "gold standard of behaviour" for his class!

My aunt was a K teacher for a million years. I asked her if she could tell which kids did preschool and which did not and she said no, there was no difference. For Nicky I wanted him in preschool so he could learn to sit and listen to the teacher, play with kids other his cousin, etc.

Outside of school his drawing of humans are looking marginally more human, and he's starting to recognize some words when they're written. his favourite is "exit", whether on a red EXIT sign, or just written in lower case.

[brachysira]

Heh, taking French here is snotty except that about half of the people enrolled are from French-speaking countries (or countries near a French-speaking country in Africa), and so are just enrolled to give their kids some exposure to a native language and therefore aren't insanely competitive, although most are doctors or something so they're not totally chill either.

I am surprised that K teachers can't tell who has been in preschool--perhaps it makes a difference for some children and not as much for others as so it isn't really discernible when looking at a group. My child was 2.5 when she started preschool and immediately she became less insane and more capable of organized learning, but perhaps by the time kids start K, they are mostly just ready for slightly more formal activities.

[Meghanfelldown]

brachysira,
Where are located? Nicky's preschool has a francophone programme that's 100% French in the afternoons. Morning classes are Immersion, so they assume that they speak English at home. when I was in school fro K on, I got into the Francophone programme due to a technicality (even though I'm totally Anglo). nicky's eligible for the programme too, since I was in it. so a big part of me putting him in oreschool is to teach him French before he goes to K.

[brachysira]

We are in Michigan. Maybe we'll move to Canada and then I'm sure French is much easier to come by in many places.

[dc2london]

Oh you're in Michigan? Lol I think I have an idea which snooty area. I used to live there and I taught thise kids in 1st grade. Loved it

[pinkie]

Today he tried to work on self grooming and tried to shave his hair. Thank goodness he didn't turn on the clippers.

He has beautiful beautiful curly hair - I probably would have cried.

[dc2london]

Nov 10, 2016 11:16:39 GMT -5 pinkie said:

Today he tried to work on self grooming and tried to shave his hair. Thank goodness he didn't turn on the clippers.

He has beautiful beautiful curly hair - I probably would have cried.

Oh no!!

[brachysira]

dc2london, not THAT snooty area. No day schools here. Snooty part of a poor city but not the largest city...many residents from that area tho.

[seadragon2013]

Nov 10, 2016 11:16:39 GMT -5 pinkie said:

Today he tried to work on self grooming and tried to shave his hair. Thank goodness he didn't turn on the clippers.

He has beautiful beautiful curly hair - I probably would have cried.

Oh my goodness! I'm glad he didn't turn them on.