Home Daycare Vs. Pre-School

Keep her where she is. She sounds happy and you sound happy with the care and attention she is getting. She will adjust when she enters kindergarten. No need for too much change before then. Enjoy!

If she's happy and educated where she is, then I'd keep her where she's comfortable. She's only 2. She has lots of time to develop more social skills before kinder.

She sounds like she is thriving in the home setting. She still has a few years before kindergarten. Taking her to play at the park, playdates, library reading times as well as her maturity within the next 2 years will help with the other social aspects.

I also run a home daycare. Sounds like your daughter is very happy where she is. Most of my kids stay here until one or two years before entering Kind. It is important to learn how a "classroom" type setting works. Your daughter is only two, right now a home type setting is perfect. Maybe when she is three she can go to a preschool two or three times a week and attend the home daycare the rest of the days.

I love that your daughter is in this lovely enviroment. I'm a home-based preschool teacher myself, with a small group, and I hear this question asked a lot by parents.

Let me reassure you that right where she is is Just Fine. At two years old, children should be learning the beginnings of the scripting for asking for help, taking turns with toys, etc.Your current situation sounds ideal; grounded and calm environment, children who play well together, a teacher who is reaching into a preschool syllabus. All these things tell me that good stuff is happening here.

One thing I always encourage parents to do is to let their children enjoy their childhood. At two, it isn't going to be age-appropriate for her to be coping with older, bigger acting-out children. Part of this may be her personality. My son is 3.5 and goes to a great home-based preschool of 14 children. We pay a lot for this, however, I really appreciate how centered the community within the school is. Kindness and cooperation are valued, and the children play well together, and receive a lot of support for this. That said, while he's blossoming, he's still very wary of rougher children.

Most especially at the age your daughter is, please keep her where she currently is. She's bonded with the teacher and with her group of friends. She knows them and they know her, and the predictability between children makes for a more peaceful environment.

Remember, too, that so many of us started kindergarten with just the experience of the family setting, and no preschool.

I'll say this from my experiences teaching at bigger daycare/preschool settings: you might find that you get less than you pay for. I found that daycares tend to have less experienced teachers, the teachers are often well-meaning but with the larger environments, it's more difficult to keep a group of 8 toddlers happy with their needs well tended to. My perspective at this age is that in the smaller group, one child needing the teacher's attention means that she has 3 she is looking after while tending to the one child. In the larger setting, even with a 1:4 teacher:child ratio, if you have 2 teachers and 8 kids, if the teachers are directly engaged with one child each (diapering/toileting, disciplining, meals, naps), you now have 6 children who are getting some secondary attention. I've also found that daycares by and large are not as high in their standards for *who* they hire; and your current provider sounds like this isn't just a job for her, but a real passion and career.

And as your daughter gets older, she's going to get great support for asking for what she needs, learning how to negotiate taking turns or having a chance to 'play her way' with an activity, or lead a dramatic play story. Good providers know that this is too-much-too-soon at age two, but three and four are ages of HUGE development. I have already seen my newest child ( 3 years old) at my preschool become a competent player in a matter of 4 months. Preschool can teach a lot, but it's the teacher, and not the institution or the size of the group, that really helps children to be prepared for the larger settings of pre-k and Kindergarten. And kids learn best when in these peaceful, harmonious settings. My first job as a teacher is to provide this sort of environment, because children are better able to learn when they feel secure in their surroundings.

H.

I'd leave her where she is. I like that with a small group, the behavior is more controlled -- she's less likely to learn bad behavior. She is learning and has some social interaction, which is what's important. Are there any other groups you could join/supervise so she socializes otherwise -- tot gymnastics, etc?

I think at age 2 a smaller setting is very appropriate. Think how many children aren't in any "formal" schooling etc at that age. She's so young that I think a small, homey environment is probably much safer feeling for her. I wouldn't rush anything at all.

She would do awesome in a Montessori school! I know a great one in Glen Ellyn called Diamante Montessori and they have financial aide too!

I'm a stay at home mom so my daughter doesn't go to daycare, but she does interact with other kids pretty often during play dates. Yet she's still very boisterous and active. I think whether or not your daughter learns to speak up and push back a little is really just a matter of personality - not necessarily something that will change based on her setting and experiences. Nothing is wrong with either the more energetic or the more laid back child - they're simply different types of children. If your so happy with your current situation, I'd stick with that. Also, your daughter might be really uncomfortable and unhappy in a larger program, and two is very young for preschool, so she may outgrow that aspect a little by the time she starts kindergarten. Good luck!

How refreshing to hear that someone is having a positive experience in a daycare environment. I LOVE this!!!

I scanned the other posts and agree that I'd leave her in her current environment. You'll know when your daughter is ready for more. I do believe that there is great benefit to having a child in a preschool environment before kindergarten because they interact more with their same aged peers and it gives them different experiences that will help when they go to kinder.

I usually see a that kids are ready to move on to a different environment when they are about 3 1/2 or 4.

Best wishes!~

She is in the perfect environment. Of course I am biased as I do home daycare. But I really am also being honest. The provider is teaching her skills she needs. You may not see it but there are conflicts in EVERY group of kids, no matter how great. And in home daycare kids change from year to year. If your provider is doing the job right she will only keep GOOD kids. This is perfect. You don't want to have social issues because of mean kids, you want the natural social issues that arise. And they do arise even with the best of groups.
At that age new kids are going to mean new characteristics to deal with and even if she was in a group of 20 she would have the same problems.
When she gets to kindergarten she will be well prepared in every way without ever having to leave her home daycare.

I teach kindergarten and I agree she will be fine where she is. You might want to switch her for the last year before Kindergarten if you think she needs to be prepared to deal with a larger group.

There is a saying: If it ain't broke don't fix it.