Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Why does pre-school exist?

What is the purpose of pre-school?

Preschool has some well-documented benefits for typical children, but in large part it exists for two reasons: 1) to familiarize kids with the school environment and get them used to separating from their parents; 2) to provide daycare.

Primarily, to give those kids who wouldn't have a chance to prepare for school at home another chance.

Stand-alone, part-time preschool that is 2 1/2 - 3 hours per day two or three days a week, and then 3, 4, or 5 days a week the year of pre-K exists to prepare children for kindergarten. It provides socialization, teaches the children how to act/behave in a classroom setting, and it is the place that some children learn the alphabet, numbers, shapes, how to count, colors and letters and how to write.

It is also usually a fun place for the children. I know that one of my twins didn't learn anything new at pre-school, but he loved getting to play with the other children, doing the art projects, and just the overall "vibe" of preschool. His brother learned to write and hold a pencil correctly, two skills that he was not interested in learning at home, but needed to know for kindergarten. They both benefited from the socialization aspect, and enjoyed forming friendships with other children.

Neither one needed preschool to learn letters, numbers, colors or shapes, but they did benefit from the experience. Some of my neighbors seem to rely on the preschools to teach their children everything they need to know for kindergarten.

In many ways, pre-school is what kindergarten was roughly three decades ago and before.

I still have my doubts about pre-school. What good is it that my child's has to learn to sit at a table and follow the teachers directions when he doesn't actually need to do any of this until two years later when he enters Kindergarten? He can play with other kids at the playground or children's museum or any other place for kids. They have so many years of school ahead of them, why turn them into little sheep that follow the leader so early on? I did put DS4.9 into public preschool after he turned 4 but he needed it because he really needed to be very slowly eased into the whole process. If we had put him straight to K, he'd be out the next week (with too many kids together, kids touching him, sounds too loud ... sensory overload at it's best). But for the most part, what is the purpose of Kindergarten if not this exact same thing?

I would say to give SAHMs of gifted toddlers a time to make doctor's appointments, get shopping done and maybe get a break to recharge? My kids gave up naps very early and were exhausting with their constant drive for knowledge.

Also, to give the kids a chance to meet friends and socialize and learn to be somewhat independent in a safe environment?

I know they worked on fine/gross motor skills and letters and numbers, which we could have and did do just as easily at home...but they also did fun crafts I might not be willing to mess my house up to do, involving lots of paint, shaving cream, water, etc.

This is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, so now you are forewarned. I think a little pre-school is great for the reasons Saritz mentioned. A little break for mom is never a bad thing! But in my neck of the woods, parents treat it like it is a necessity to "prepare kids for school." Phooey! That is a complete fiction, unless we are talking about kids from impoverished backgrounds. (And yes, I chose not to send mine to preschool which was a little lonely and hard for all of us, but I'm glad I did it now.) Check out this summary of the research of pre-school:

http://www.parentingscience.com/preschool-stress.html

To answer Mk13 - the purpose of K in my school district is to learn to read, and do basic arithmetic, but really, most of their time is spent on reading.

In our district K is only half day. So I just can't see how much can they actually learn in the 3 hours at school out of which very little will be used on academic instruction anyways. So in our case I do feel like K will be pretty much a repeat of pre-school