Long hrs in preschool/daycare harmful
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Long hrs in preschool/daycare harmful
| Sun, 03-19-2006 - 3:09pm |
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051101/news_1n1earlyed.html
Very interesting. Particularly the difference in the middle to upper income kids vs low income.
"I personally feel children need the nurture of their parents and the home," she said. "Those early years, that's when they are bonding to their family. That nurturing, only the family can give that."
I tend to agree.
MM, WOHM to B&E, 7.24.03

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I agree. But I'm also starting to think that HK is also trying to get a dig in at the rest of us parents who apparently plop our kids down in front of the t.v. or Playstation all day while we ignore them.
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OK, now I'm finally beginning to understand your bias. You think ~ or perhaps you need to convince yourself ~ that the rest of us parents allow our kids to sit in front of the tv or Playstation every minute that school is not in session. That would then elevate your efforts to the level of "homeschooling" and as you said earlier make your and your DH's value equal with that of your child's teachers.
As an employee of the schools, what educational value do you see in the various projects HK does with her DD? I think your opinion is very relevant here.
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Not at all. It was just my polite way of saying you are not homeschooling. There's no educational value in the paper projects you've described. Fun? Absolutely, but not educational.
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Good luck with that in the upper grades, college and grad school. I can't see having the time for turning every high school lesson into some kind of paper project, 3-D puzzle or origami object.
Does your DD have some type of learning disability? If not, then your efforts could work against you when she gets to the upper grades and does not have the time to turn every little lesson into a fun paper project. Generally, children are expected to learn from books.
<> No reason. But I felt the desire to point out that I too have joined the unanimity of opinion here ~ what you are doing is not educational in nature. Just fun.
I believe strongly in play based learning for the youngest kids, an element of play for all, and engagement of all the senses in learning. Hands-on projects, experiential learning, and multisensory approaches have all been recognized as effective tools for most (but not all) learners. Unfortunately, they can be hard to use in schools because of restrictions on time, space and materials. So, the more we can use them at home, the better.
I'm only looking at the parent's role in this as HK is certain she is educating her child by her own involvement in her DD's Chinese painting and construction of paper black holes (?).
*My* playing with my children is great fun, but not a learning enhancer IMO beyond their playing on their own or with other children. So I disagree with HK. But my goal *if I am to get involved* in educating my children beyond checking/assisting with homework is to do the workbooks, flashcards, sequencing puzzles, etc. which will help them later in the classroom. I'm not convinced origami or a 3-D puzzle of the Eiffel Tower is going to help in the classroom. Super Duper Inc. and Scholastic Publications have been our good friends these last few years.
I love Super Duper! I have an annual budget of $500.00 for instructional materials and supplies, and I look at their new stuff first. Free shipping!
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Maybe she is, and maybe not. To call it learning, I like to see evidence of independent skills or test results. There's a difference between giving guidance and materials vs. co-authoring kids' projects. Anyone who isn't clear on this needs only to look at any elementary school "All About Me" display lol. I don't know too many kindergarteners who can actually photoshop all those pictures and play with all those cool fonts lol.
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As a classroom assignment, these projects might help. But for a parent to suggest or require or share in creating them as enrichment, I'd say nah. If kids choose such things, why not? But once it stops being play and starts being "educational", I'd say kids can get burned out.
There are kids who see hands-on projects as clutter; they get lost in all the production and materials and chaos, and so does the instructional content. For them, auditory/visual approaches with less emphasis on manipulatives can work much better.
Jennie
Jennie
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