We would like to send DS to preschool next year (he will be 3 years old in July) and while I'm researching I wanted to gather perspectives on what might be good for him given our situation from those who have already gone through the process of selecting.
DS currently is at home with DH. DH is Russian, has conversational but not wonderful English, and DS does not speak English yet (our home language is Russian) and understands very little. DH is not a very academic person and tends to not get around to reading to DS during the day, etc.-- I read to DS pretty much every evening plus during the day when I'm at home, but I don't think it's enough. He also tends to focus mostly on home tasks and his remodeling projects-- so while DS will get great learning from him on practical life and building, etc the other side I think needs to be balanced out and most of that will probably come from outside since I usually get home from work at 7 and have limited time, although I try to maximize doing some reading, letters, as well as creative stuff (like clay and painting) when I'm at home. Also, since we want to maintain Russian as the language of our home and realize it's an uphill battle to do that, we are reluctant to do a lot of English language stuff at home. DS watches some
So, I really feel strongly that DS should be in preschool next year (pragmatically speaking it will also be easier on DH since we will have another baby by then). Whether half day or full I do not know, although I'd rather it be three to four days since I have every other Fri off and don't want DS in school on my off days. I will try to teach him some English this summer to prepare, but with a new baby and another trip to Russia I don't know how far we will get. DS I think is pretty bright but not a wunderkid-- he's more physical than academic probably. He often enjoys stories but lately often doesn't like to sit quiet to listen or even look at pictures. He does independent play for cars, etc but usually likes a lot of "help" for claywork or block building and is often reluctant to paint or draw himself-- he usually asks me to draw things for him. I know all of this is a variation of normal, I'm just putting forth his particular characteristics. He seems to have a bigger vocabulary than other Russian speaking kids we know that are close to his age, but we don't know that many and actually don't know any English speaking toddlers of his age at the moment, so even figuring out more or less where he is on that is difficult, but he does speak in complete sentences, fantasizes, and asks a lot of questions.
So I think he needs some structure but not too much. My thoughts are at the moment to have him go to a church-based regular preschool that is a lot of play and some academic type stuff (so he learns English socially) this year and then maybe Montessori for years 4 and 5, then transition into public school 1st grade (we can't afford private school all through school and we have a very good school district). It's a bit late in the year for getting into Montessori anyhow and with me on maternity leave I'm not sure we could afford it, though other preschools may not be that much cheaper. Nonetheless, if it were truly the best fit I might try to still do it. Starting in a week he will go to a two hour Russian preschool class on Saturdays, so he will have some classroom experience this year.
Any thoughts? Anyone else have a child start out with little or no English in preschool?
Thanks!
DS currently is at home with DH. DH is Russian, has conversational but not wonderful English, and DS does not speak English yet (our home language is Russian) and understands very little. DH is not a very academic person and tends to not get around to reading to DS during the day, etc.-- I read to DS pretty much every evening plus during the day when I'm at home, but I don't think it's enough. He also tends to focus mostly on home tasks and his remodeling projects-- so while DS will get great learning from him on practical life and building, etc the other side I think needs to be balanced out and most of that will probably come from outside since I usually get home from work at 7 and have limited time, although I try to maximize doing some reading, letters, as well as creative stuff (like clay and painting) when I'm at home. Also, since we want to maintain Russian as the language of our home and realize it's an uphill battle to do that, we are reluctant to do a lot of English language stuff at home. DS watches some
So, I really feel strongly that DS should be in preschool next year (pragmatically speaking it will also be easier on DH since we will have another baby by then). Whether half day or full I do not know, although I'd rather it be three to four days since I have every other Fri off and don't want DS in school on my off days. I will try to teach him some English this summer to prepare, but with a new baby and another trip to Russia I don't know how far we will get. DS I think is pretty bright but not a wunderkid-- he's more physical than academic probably. He often enjoys stories but lately often doesn't like to sit quiet to listen or even look at pictures. He does independent play for cars, etc but usually likes a lot of "help" for claywork or block building and is often reluctant to paint or draw himself-- he usually asks me to draw things for him. I know all of this is a variation of normal, I'm just putting forth his particular characteristics. He seems to have a bigger vocabulary than other Russian speaking kids we know that are close to his age, but we don't know that many and actually don't know any English speaking toddlers of his age at the moment, so even figuring out more or less where he is on that is difficult, but he does speak in complete sentences, fantasizes, and asks a lot of questions.
So I think he needs some structure but not too much. My thoughts are at the moment to have him go to a church-based regular preschool that is a lot of play and some academic type stuff (so he learns English socially) this year and then maybe Montessori for years 4 and 5, then transition into public school 1st grade (we can't afford private school all through school and we have a very good school district). It's a bit late in the year for getting into Montessori anyhow and with me on maternity leave I'm not sure we could afford it, though other preschools may not be that much cheaper. Nonetheless, if it were truly the best fit I might try to still do it. Starting in a week he will go to a two hour Russian preschool class on Saturdays, so he will have some classroom experience this year.
Any thoughts? Anyone else have a child start out with little or no English in preschool?
Thanks!
