Are Parents Opting Out of Preschool?

I've just started thinking about preschool for my 19 month year old. We live in Queens and we aren't planning on sending him until he is 3 or 4. But we are seriously considering homeschooling through preschool and incorporating socialization through neighborhood playgroups and group classes. I am seriously considering this option for two reasons. One I really would like to send hime to a Montessori school but don't believe that we can afford it and secondly I really don't want to deal with the drama of admissions game.

This is before I stumbled on to your website, I don't know if you are going to keep your under the radar list to Manhattan but I would be thrilled if it included Queens. I am hoping that by the time my son is ready to go into classes I will have found a great under the radar school in the Queens area. Thanks for doing the list it is a great idea!

I think that under-the-radar would apply to all the preschools in Queens, but we'll try to post some resources to help you find some outer-boro schools. What area in Queens do you live or would be convenient for you for preschool?

Does anyone have a recommendation for Sabrina?

If you don't mind, I'm going to re-post this in the forums. Maybe someone will have a reco.

thanks! i have been doing some research with other moms in the neighborhood (i live in jackson hts by the way) and the future of schooling doesn't look so bleak after all! There seems to be some good options. i am still terrified of the admissions process and home schooling is still on the table for a bunch of different reasons but i feel better about my options. thanks so much for your response and i will check the forum for other feedback

There is no reason for preschool other than parents needing a break
from their kids, and/or wanting to feel like they are keeping up with other parents (peer pressure). There is no evidence to support the notion that pre school helps kids get ahead, it may simply make kindergarden seem
like a bore for kids who have already been through much of the
material. Kids need to play, have fun and explore. As long as they have friends to play with and a fun involved parent, they will do great.
A couple of fun classes or a regular get together with other kids
is all kids need. As a parent who sees kids from preschools at the playgrounds, I am so happy my child is not being told "stay on the
mat", don't do this, don't do that.." I am sure there are some great
preschools out there with wonderful teachers, but are parents really
so insecure to think that they are incapable of caring for their children?
Forcing education on kids can kill their natural desire to learn and
discover on their own. Most kids will be in schools for many, many
years. Can't we allow them a few years of freedom? Kids learn
through play which is undervalued in our society. 10,000 for
preschool? Wouldn't this money be better spent for college? Apparently
this city is full of parents with money to burn, whose main goal is to
look like they are doing something for their children with out actually
doing anything themselves. I come from the midwest where the idea
of preschool tends to be something for a four year old.. the idea of paying
thousands of dollars for classes for a three year old is laughable. I
hope people considering it will try to find any evidence that shows it
is something worthwhile for the child, and something that could not be
achieved by simply taking a class and having a play group.

Anonymous, there is a multitude of evidence...studies up to the moon and back...that show earlier schooling results in better-educated kids overall in the long run. In fact, that's why the US is often so far behind other countries, where preschool is easier and cheaper and earlier.

And as the daughter of a lifelong kindergarten teacher--a progressive, liberal one at that--might I add that many kindergarten teachers dread the kids who come in without preschool first!

Homeschooling for preschool is great, as long as a parent sticks to it as strongly as they would homeschooling for elementary. But too many just ignore any sort of structure and development at this vital age, take the kid to a playground and let them run around the halls of a museum, and call it "school."

Jennifer,
Thank you for your response. I have looked for evidence of the benefits of preschool, and have found research and arguments on both sides of the issue. I would appreciate some links to the "evidence up to the moon" that you cite.

I would simply argue that many people assume that preschool is the best thing for their child and it may or may not be. For those considering the issue who would appreciate hearing from parents who have opted out of the preschool system a discussion can be found on:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/archive/index.php/t-411979.html

I believe people need to think through this issue themselves and do some research as well as listen on their own intuition about what is best for their child, versus going with some unfounded notion that preschool is some how "best"

A study that backs up the argument against preschool can be found here:

http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/11/01_pre.shtml

An excerpt:
"Pre-School Can Be Harmful: Study
Being in preschool for more than six hours a day can be damaging to a young child's social and emotional development compared to children who stay home with their parents, researchers at the University of California-Berkeley, and Stanford University have concluded.
The new, government-funded study, [*1] which involved more than 14,000 kindergartners across the U.S., found that a moderate exposure to preschool helps youngsters develop their cognitive abilities in pre-reading and math. But extended absence from their parents also appears to heighten behavioural problems, such as a lack of cooperation, sharing and engagement in classroom tasks, most notably among kids from more affluent families.
This was the study's "biggest eye-opener," said UC Berkeley sociologist and co-author Bruce Fuller [*2] in a news release. [*3]
On average, the report found that the earlier children enter preschool, the slower their pace of social development, while cognitive skills are stronger when children are first enrolled between the ages of two and three.
"Our results for the intensity of attending a center program - measured in hours per week and months per year - are worrisome, while varying across different types of families and children," the report states.

A child's success in life and academic performance hinges on their healthy social and emotional development. Young children need to be at home bonding with their mothers and fathers."
This study - as well as many others - warns policy-makers and parents of the implications of isolating children from their parents at such a young age."

There are plenty of pre-school options in the Brooklyn neighborhoods around where we live that are considered to be wonderful, child-centered preschools -- and I am still opting out of preschool for my twins. Why? Because I have seen several of these preschool groups on outings & at the local playgrounds for a few years. I've never, ever been impressed with any of the interactions I've witnessed between the teachers and the toddlers...and I've often been a little disturbed at how apathetic the teachers seem. They are only human, after all, and are doing a job they are paid to do, even if they might be incredibly motivated and caring, it is still a job. My children are well-socialized, we attend various storytimes/movement classes/playgroups/music classes, and we play together inside and outside every single day...I know what they're doing, who they're playing with and what they're excited about firsthand, not through a end-of-day report. When it's time, they'll go to pre-K knowing how to sit in a circle, share with others, listen to a story, etc. and I'll have had the joy of spending each day of their first 4 years with them.