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Reading Cheri's thread about pre-k made me realize that this whole parenting gig and trying to find the best environment and education for your kid is a difficult road that starts way too early. I naively thought I don't have to worry about this until 1st grade.
DD3 is in pre-school at the local JCC (where she's been in daycare since she was 1 and will hopefully stay through K). Overall we're pretty happy with the school, however, the teachers get shuffled around every year and it's a total gamble who will end up in what class. Her age group has two classes as there are too many kids to fit into one. Last year we lucked out with rock star teachers (one of whom still babysits for us). This year I'm really not impressed and it's only been a few days. One of the teachers from last year is now in pre-K but the other one is teaching the other pre-school class. I could potentially have DD transferred to her room.
My issues with the teachers - they're older (late 50s at least) and very old-school. This translates to the kids just playing on their own for the most part. There's no lesson plan, no interesting art projects, no learning (of letters/numbers/concepts, etc.), not a lot of photos taken throughout the day. The teachers are more like glorified babysitters. In part they also really remind me of another older teacher that DD had in the pre-Toddler room (the one that kept insisting that DD needs to learn more English). The tuition is too high for plain babysitting. I spoke with another mom today and her son had these teachers last year and she also wasn't crazy about them for the same reasons. Last year there was only one class for that age group, so transferring wasn't an option.
On the other hand, she's been in the same class with 10 out of 12 kids for the past 2 years. They're all really good friends. She's also now upstairs with all the big kids and I already made a big deal out of that (0-3 are on the first floor of the building and 3-5 on the second). The other room for 3s is downstairs (basically same room she had last year). She knows the kids in the other room fairly well.
I'm just not sure if my personal dislike of the teachers or their methods is enough of a reason to make a stink. She's only 3, shouldn't she be just playing anyway? DH thinks we pay too much not to get any kind of "school" aspect.
There's no school until Monday, so I have a few days to figure out what my "battle plan" is.
DD3 is in pre-school at the local JCC (where she's been in daycare since she was 1 and will hopefully stay through K). Overall we're pretty happy with the school, however, the teachers get shuffled around every year and it's a total gamble who will end up in what class. Her age group has two classes as there are too many kids to fit into one. Last year we lucked out with rock star teachers (one of whom still babysits for us). This year I'm really not impressed and it's only been a few days. One of the teachers from last year is now in pre-K but the other one is teaching the other pre-school class. I could potentially have DD transferred to her room.
My issues with the teachers - they're older (late 50s at least) and very old-school. This translates to the kids just playing on their own for the most part. There's no lesson plan, no interesting art projects, no learning (of letters/numbers/concepts, etc.), not a lot of photos taken throughout the day. The teachers are more like glorified babysitters. In part they also really remind me of another older teacher that DD had in the pre-Toddler room (the one that kept insisting that DD needs to learn more English). The tuition is too high for plain babysitting. I spoke with another mom today and her son had these teachers last year and she also wasn't crazy about them for the same reasons. Last year there was only one class for that age group, so transferring wasn't an option.
On the other hand, she's been in the same class with 10 out of 12 kids for the past 2 years. They're all really good friends. She's also now upstairs with all the big kids and I already made a big deal out of that (0-3 are on the first floor of the building and 3-5 on the second). The other room for 3s is downstairs (basically same room she had last year). She knows the kids in the other room fairly well.
I'm just not sure if my personal dislike of the teachers or their methods is enough of a reason to make a stink. She's only 3, shouldn't she be just playing anyway? DH thinks we pay too much not to get any kind of "school" aspect.
There's no school until Monday, so I have a few days to figure out what my "battle plan" is.
Cat mommy since 2002 
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