help please, re: my son's pre-school!!

[Amanda01]

daniel starts pre-school in september, he turns 3 in august ... i've got his name down to go monday / wednesday / friday mornings, to their 'play session'.

the woman who runs the pre-school just phoned me, she's suggesting i send daniel twice a week to their 'headstart' sessions, which is basically a bit more structured, educational, and more like school. she was thinking tuesday & thursday afternoons ... the problem is, he does get tired bless him!! he probably sleeps every other day, and he can get quite grumpy if he's tired & not slept!! ...

should i send him to the 2 afternoons anyway? i think it would benefit him in the way or preparing him for school, but i'm not sure if it might be a bit too much? i mean, that'd mean him going from never having been to nursery or anything ... to going to pre-school 3 mornings & 2 afternoons every week!!

ugh, i don't know!!!!!!!!!!!

xXx

is pre-school the same as the nursery sessions that start when your lo turns 3? My dd turned 3 in November and started nursery 5 mornings a week in January (2.5hrs per day) and has got on great. She had never been to anything prior to that except a toddler group once a week

3 mornings is enough at the moment, he has a whole school year to "prepare" forprimary school, he doesn't need to start it all at once

I am deputy in a Pre school I too agree three mornings is enough to begin with. They do find it very tiring and Pre school is normally slightly longer than school nursery days. good luck

thanks girls ... the problem is, the woman who phoned said that the 'headstart' classes were almost full, so i need to say yes now, or we might miss out.

xXx

I wouldn't do the extra afternoons.

I think you'll find the 3 mornings plenty for now. I am sure a place will come up later in the year/next year for the extra sessions if you want them!

when will he start full school? My ds1 starts school in September 08 and the pre-school don't start the afternoon structured sessions until the summer term. I would say that the afternoons may well be too much if he'll only just be 3.

Stick with 3 mornings , surprised that any decent preschool are trying to push 2 afternoons like this. I think they are thinking about the money not your DC, sorry to have to say that .

yeah he'll start the big school summer 08 aswell!!!! yikes!!

here's an idea ...

monday - morning play session
tuesday - afternoon 'headstart' session
wednesday - day off
thursday - afternoon 'headstart' session
friday - morning play session

how does that sound? the more i think about it, i think he would benefit from a bit of a 'headstart' anyway, if it might help him when he goes to proper school its gotta be good. so i could drop the wednesday play session so he can have a rest!!

xxx

He doesn't need anything 'more strcutured ' or 'educational ' he should be learning what he needs to be through play and enjoyment . He is only just 3 yrs old.

he really doesn't need to start the afternoons until next year. they should not be pushing them on a child that has an entire year of pre-school yet.