Thanks! your post was completely relevant. Your program sounds great. He is in a similar play-based pre-k but probably with less resources. There are 2 teachers and 10 students. It's only 2.5 hrs 3 days a week. They have a big gym they play in, they have "music and movement," weekly sign language which he enjoys, craft time (which he typically finds boring based on the simplicity of the crafts,but sometimes enjoys),they have snack time, and centers that they go to. They try to add some more challenging things for him, and have done some workbooks and math games with him.
I am glad that you posted that because lately I have been feeling that maybe he needs to be in Montessori and yet I don't want to move him and the program (location and time of program) is completely inconvenient for us. His current teacher is great and she really is interested in learning different things and how to work with him best. She has asked other teachers that teach older grades for assistance and has brought things from home and borrowed things from others(she used to teach 1st and 6th grades in the past). She has expressed that Montessori may be a better fit in some ways because they have more manipulatives and can work with him more at his level. While this program has different things, most are tailored to 4 year olds. I wonder if that will keep him occupied through the year. It may though. The one thing she has mentioned is she notices he gets antsy and acts out a little during circle time. She says he has a hard time sitting during this and feels it is because the topic is so simple (today is December 5th, what comes after 5? Right 6, so what day will tomorrow be?). Also she says that he seems to be bored with the same songs and routine, while the others seem to enjoy it. Anyhow, she is open to suggestions and even recently talked about maybe doing something a little different with him during circle time, which I am definitely okay with. He does have some structure there and routine, so he shouldn't be too shocked when he goes to K, although 2 - 3X the amount of children every morning with one less teacher may be a little different. We are possibly looking into a private school in our area if they can give us some assistance. But I plan to visit both our public school and the one private school we may be able to afford to see which is better for K. Both have perks I am sure.
