Preschool Vs. Daycare

So, I was talking to my dad yesterday and he said : "Your mother said you are putting the twins in daycare. I had told her that they were starting preschool. So, I said, "No they are starting preschool in two weeks" and he said "It's the same thing"

Personally, I think that the 2 1/2 hours that they will spend at their preschool will be benefiical in terms of learning and socialization. I don't think I am dropping them off just so someone can babysit them.

What are your thoughts?

 

I totally agree with you. My babysitter is good about teaching them things, but Preschool would be better. I plan to put DS in preschool at age 3. Actually, preschool is slightly less expensive than my babysitter. You can't beat that!!

 

I agree, preschool is very different than daycare, in many respects. For one thing, preschool is 2 1/2 hours of teaching moments. Daycare is a full day part of which includes teaching moments, but also includes meals, naptime, etc. My friend sent her daughter to a daycare for preschool, and didn't get how my children who only went for 2 1/2 hours got the same, if not more "education" than hers who went from 8-1. Once she realized all the transition time and meal times were subtracted, her daughter got the same "educational" time as my sons. Maybe your dad should go for a "grandparent" visit to see what actually goes on!

 

I have visited both daycare/preschool setting and JUST preschool settings. ( as we get ready for preschool this Fall)

It does depend on the school, but as PP said many daycare type settings do activities, but focus on care skills w/ coming and going of children- with a schdeule but not as 'learning/teaching' set up. Ages can vary a bit more in a group as well.

Preschool tends to be a set time w/ all kids coming and going w/ a focus for each day. Most of the time they do not do snack/PTing, and naps....so the learning time is around the same. Preschool is also a usual set age bracket 3s or 4s.

That said- that is what I have seen in my area. I have seen some wonderful daycare-type preschool and some preschool only type schools- and poor set ups for both. I think it depends on what you want, what you are looking for and what is available.

But, no, preschool is not daycare as most people think of it. But many daycares are trying to recreate a preschool setting for thier kids ages 3+ with good results.

KC

 

I have no advice but GL with starting preschool in 2 weeks!!! How exciting!

 

A daycare can be like a preschool setting. Our daycare morning is set up in a preschool style curriculum, and I do even have the option of just having them go for the morning session if I want. But I know that there are separate preschools around here, which are totally different than daycare. Our daycare just happens to offer a preschool option.

 

I was a teacher at a daycare for about 5 years. We had a preschool curriculum within the daycare day. From 9-11:30 the activities were about the same for the daycare kids and the kids over in the preschool only building. Group time, art, large motor games, snack, etc. So daycare wasn't just babysitting, we had lesson plans and learning goals, as well.
Don't be bothered by your dad's comment... they didn't have preschool when our parents were younger... or daycare for that matter!
Good luck with preschool!
Helen

 

I was a preschool teacher for a year and taught a three year old class twice a week. It was not totally daycare. We had centers, calendar time, learned letters, numbers, had computer class, gym class, etc, etc. I am a firm believer in preschool and the benefits it has for children to get them prepared for Kindergarten. It's great that you are enrolling them.

 

In my mind, "daycare" implies full-time or at least a few full days a week, and the purpose of it is for someone to take care of the kids so the parents can work. "Preschool" can be a stage of daycare (as it is for us -- they were in the infant room, then toddlers, then preschool), but for a child who hasn't previously been in daycare, "preschool" usually means a learning environment for a few half-days a week.

Like PP said, our daycare has a preschool curriculum for the 3-5 year olds -- yes they also do meals and naps, but when they're not doing that, they are learning just like kids would in any other preschool. And in fact our daycare has a convention of referring to the whole center as "school" (even for the infants) just to help people remember that it's a learning environment, not just babysitting.

Anyway, I don't quite understand your dad's comment. If he thinks that daycare and preschool are "the same thing," then why is he worried that they're going to daycare instead of preschool?

 

QUOTE(Minette @ Aug 19 2008, 11:24 AM) [snapback]936971[/snapback]
Anyway, I don't quite understand your dad's comment. If he thinks that daycare and preschool are "the same thing," then why is he worried that they're going to daycare instead of preschool?


I think it's that he doesn't see the need for daycare if I am a SAHM. They were in daycare for two years (until Liam was born) and he had no problem with it. They did great there and I loved it. They had a preschool curriculum there that my kids were taking part in before they even turned 2. The owner was a teacher before she had kids and decided to start her own place so she could have her kids close by. I just think my father has different ideas about things that we do with our kids these days. Most of my siblings didn't even go to kindergarten (yes, I am THAT old) because there wasn't one at the local public school. By the time my youngest sister was that age, they had built one.

 

I'm with you. I consider day care something that working parents use to care for their children while they are at work. By the time kids in day care get to be 'preschool' age, I assume day cares (and pp have said this is true) will integrate the preschool learning curriculum into their program. (I'm sure there are some day cares out there that are just babysitters, but I don't think I'd choose one of them for my kids, at least not after age 3.)

To me, preschool (as you're doing it, and as we plan to also) exists for non-day care kids to get the same learning and socialization benefits pre-k. I wouldn't picture parents who have their kids in day care sending them to preschool for a couple hours every other day, because they integrate that right into the preschool.

But for SAHP, preschool gives an awesome balanced option - you don't have to send your kids to daycare, but you can still give them the learning and socialization benefits that you may not be able to do at home. I'm so thrilled that we have preschool as an option nowadays!!

 

Definitely a difference between daycare and preschool. Preschool is curriculum based and works on Kindergarten readiness not just play time, socialization like daycare does.

I hope they love it!

 

My daycare is curriculum based from the infant room through kindergarten. From 9-11:30 in all rooms, children are doing age appropriate learning across the major learning areas i.e. fine motor skills, gross motor skills, art and dramatic play etc. There is circle time and centers even for the little guys. Each day we get a report that details the activites broken down by type of learning.

There are quite a few half day children who come in at all ages to take advantage of learning at an early age, especially with moms who are at home or have flex schedules.

My DD, who is now going into first grade at the age of 5 years 11 months, has benefited a whole lot from early learning. She began to read her first month in kindergarten. She is comfortable in classroom settings and has a real love of learning of any kind. I wholeheartedly believe in early learning outside the home.

 

Totally different IMO - they just love to let us know how hard THEY had it when WE were little!! :laughing: