I am so confused. We are thinking about pulling Robbie out of Preschool. Preschool was never in our plan, a few professionals recommended it last fall.
My son has a great preschool the teachers are nice. But, several things are going on. He has just been assessed with a number of problems by a developmental team. He has some social skills problems, fine motor delays, learning style differences and trouble staying in his seat. I feel that most of these issues can be worked on outside of preschool. Preschool is helping him learn to stay in his seat, but that does not seem like a good reason to continue. As for the other issues, they are too busy a class, to take care of my son's special needs and my son does not have a shadow. This is not the fault of the preschool it is just life.
He goes to OT (Occupational Therapy) for his motor skills every week and they work intensely. He attended a group last fall for social skills and will be attending another in the spring (He loved these groups, loved the kids and the speech therapist that ran it). I feel like I can help encourage him with his social skills in groups and activities with myself to guide him, along with the social skills group in the spring. The same with his motor skills, I feel I can reinforce what he learns in OT. And I can help him with his learning style differences.
He is also unhappy in preschool. He has expressed it to me several times in the last few weeks. He misses going to playgroup and some of his other activities. He really wants to attend a cooking class that's time conflicts with preschool. He has not made any real friends in preschool, while he had several friends at playgroup and his social skills group. I feel like if he was happier, it would help development.
I also know that kindergarten is around the corner and their is only so much time for me to help him, before he is on his own in the classroom. I feel like preschool is not giving the skill he needs to be school ready, and we have the individual time to give him. I am feeling confused about the whole thing.
Not to mention I am playing with the idea of homeschooling. The professionals said in Kindergarten he would have trouble because of not wanting to sit still, because of his need for movement and because of his learning differences. I will give kindergarten a chance. But, my son is bright. If these factors interfere with him learning and loving school, I will pull him out. I think movement is natural and all kids should have movement in their school day. And hopefully the school will work with his learning differences. We all have different learning styles, I know I do. That is what makes us unique and human.
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2 comments:
Teaching a child to sit still in a chair at 5 and 6 is not a skill I feel ANY child needs to learn. Sad the schools don't offer alternative learning methods. Many preschools and kindergartens do not even have chairs because at that age kids need to explore and move.
Good for you for paying attention to what is best for him.
I would definitely pull him out. If he's unhappy now I can only see that getting worse. There is so much more to life than sitting still, which boys do seem to struggle with.
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