The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

MySmallWorldof4

MySmallWorldof4

Well-Known Member
Songbird76 said:
My thoughts....we chose a preschool that was within walking distance of our house, specifically because it was within walking distance of our house. I had no drivers license and I wasn't comfortable riding a bike with my kid in a seat in front or back....so it had to be walking. We did no research into their methods. The kids could start from 2.5 years old and they went twice a week, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. When they turned 3 they got a 3rd session per week....so, something like 8 hours per week. They didn't do anything like learning to read yet....it was all the basic stuff like colors and shapes and making macaroni necklaces and painting pictures. Nothing spectacular. We, as parents, took our kids to the library, we read to them, we counted with them, never talked baby talk to them, we played with them and did easy little crafts with them....but we didn't put them in any kinds of lessons every week or follow any curriculum. My DD is now 11, almost 12, and she's not only at the top of her class academically, but she's in the top like....5% in the nation, maybe even top 1 or 2%. DS is 10, and while he has special needs, he's also way up there in the top 10% or so...probably closer to the 5%, but I don't know that for sure. It's great that you want to give your kids the best advantages you can give them in life, but in my experience, just investing the time with them and doing educational things with them, being the example of wanting to learn, that's what made the difference for our kids. We didn't do any special school or follow some elite program or curriculum and our kids are still both at the top for their age groups. We don't pressure them that they have to BE the best, just that they have to DO their best, and it's worked for us so far. Maybe it's different there...I don't know. But we actually live in a low-income neighborhood in which a high percentage of kids don't even speak Dutch until they get into school. Our school is not known for having the best of the best teachers, or for having a lot of kids who achieve high scores on standardized tests, or having the best resources. But if a kid values learning, they'll learn. Both my kids basically taught themselves to read. I taught them the alphabet and to sound out words, but there was no real method and the school refused to teach them until 1st grade....both of my kids could read before 1st grade, just because they wanted to learn how. I wouldn't stress too much about which school a kid goes to, but more about the values you are teaching them and modeling for them, and the time you are spending doing things that are fun, but they can also learn from....they can learn just from a trip to the grocery store or the playground. It doesn't have to be a highly-structured environment. Just my 2 cents.
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Perfectly stated in my opinion.:)
 
MySmallWorldof4

MySmallWorldof4

Well-Known Member
21stamps said:
I don’t know when it became a “thing” in America.. I hadn’t even heard of it until after I was pregnant.. but now there’s a push/necessity to choose certain preschools so your child can get accepted in to certain kindergartens. Don’t ask me why, when, or how, this started. That’s what we’re told though.

I could be wrong, but I think this may have pushed the ‘more people homeschooling’ trend.. at least in the elementary grades When it comes to high school, I think the homeschooled kids will be the strong competition for admission and merit scholarships .. I do kind of hope I’m wrong.
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That has been going onsince the 80's from what I remember seeing in movies. Ever seen Baby Boom?
 
Figgy1

Figgy1

Well-Known Member
Songbird76 said:
Ha!! I had a Thirty-One purse that I LOVED....it was really durable and I used it for years....tons of compartments and pockets and it was the perfect size to fit into my bike bag, but also had a shoulder strap for if I went shopping and needed both bike bags for my purchases. But it wore out and I haven't been able to find one I like as well ever since, but my husband thinks Thirty-One is too expensive, plus I have to order it from a friend and have it shipped here, because we don't have Thirty-One here at all. I love my suite skirt purse from Thirty-One as well, but it's not quite big enough and doesn't have enough compartments...I only use it for nice occassions when my every day bag isn't appropriate. I've never heard of Kelly...I'll have to look that one up.
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I'm using my Kingdom Kouture bag as my everyday bag. It's the right size for my needs and I got it 80% off at the outlet while it was still in WOD:inlove:
 
21stamps

21stamps

Well-Known Member
ajrwdwgirl said:
Me too, I love my Disney Vera Bradley cross-body hipsters.
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I think I’m the only woman who has never owned a Vera Bradley bag. I did borrow a VB beach bag from my sister for our Fall trip, I didn’t realize until too late that my beach bag had a stain on it.

I’m weird.. I have a fear of multi colored items or strong prints.lol. Hence my child not having Disney clothes or any traditional “baby” clothes or shoes. I’m so weird that if I receive a multi-colored floral arrangement, I will dissect it and rearrange in multiple bases by color.:hilarious: I’ve always been this way..maybe scarred from how my mom dressed me during the 80s? ;). Although, a few weeks ago my son brought me multi-colored flowers when I had the flu, I didn’t rearrange those.

I’m not sure if there’s some psych term for my aversion to multi-colors, if there is I’d love to know . ;)
 
Figgy1

Figgy1

Well-Known Member
21stamps said:
I don’t know when it became a “thing” in America.. I hadn’t even heard of it until after I was pregnant.. but now there’s a push/necessity to choose certain preschools so your child can get accepted in to certain kindergartens. Don’t ask me why, when, or how, this started. That’s what we’re told though.

I could be wrong, but I think this may have pushed the ‘more people homeschooling’ trend.. at least in the elementary grades When it comes to high school, I think the homeschooled kids will be the strong competition for admission and merit scholarships .. I do kind of hope I’m wrong.
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I'm lucky I live in a district where as long as you keep a B average you wind up with at least a partial scholarship somewhere:joyfull: They take great joy in naming the schools and how much money was awarded at graduations.
 
Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
21stamps said:
Look into Kipling! They have different sizes, reasonably priced, I have 3 and purchased 2 of them during great end of season sales for 25 or 30% off.
I use them at amusement parks, at sports, they get thrown on the ground, shoved in lockers, etc.. to clean- I wipe down with a paper towel. Perfection :)

Heads up though- they come with some weird stuffed animal attached.. I just remove and give to my niece.lol
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I will check it out! Thank you!
 
Figgy1

Figgy1

Well-Known Member
21stamps said:
I think I’m the only woman who has never owned a Vera Bradley bag. I did borrow a VB beach bag from my sister for our Fall trip, I didn’t realize until too late that my beach bag had a stain on it.

I’m weird.. I have a fear of multi colored items or strong prints.lol. Hence my child not having Disney clothes or any traditional “baby” clothes or shoes. I’m so weird that if I receive a multi-colored floral arrangement, I will dissect it and rearrange in multiple bases by color.:hilarious: I’ve always been this way..maybe scared from how my mom dressed me during the 80s? ;). Although, a few weeks ago my son brought me multi-colored flowers when I had the flu, I didn’t rearrange those.

I’m not sure if there’s some psych term for my aversion to multi-colors, if there is I’d love to know . ;)
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The only problem I have getting a VB bag is my dh would go through the roof. I made the mistake of making my own look alike for next to nothing once.
 
MySmallWorldof4

MySmallWorldof4

Well-Known Member
dryerlintfan said:
Recent studies have actually shown that it's a complete wash by 5th grade between children who were given solid curriculum and learned to read early and those who went only to Kindergarten. There's another study about another country putting their kids in Kindergarten at 7 years old... I want to say it was the Dutch but I'm not entirely certain, and their kids actually end up with an advantage after they "catch up" because they learned the material at a more mature age and were able to digest more of it.

And there's other studies about the benefits of play based learning instead of book learning until around age 7 as well, and how children younger than that need movement and experience to really gain from the lesson.

I chose A's school based on those studies, so I'm exactly like those parents you mentioned, but just with a different approach. My kid learns so many things in her play based environment, and will be in the play based learning environment until she's 5.5. I absolutely plan on doing as you did and putting her in her longer term school once she's in Kindergarten though, because children form some very lasting bonds during that first school year together.
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I believe in learning through play while they are preschoolers. They have such a short attention span as it is. If you can get 15 minutes out of them paying attention, you are lucky. I taught my 2 oldest to read before Kindergarten. They were in public school until 2nd and 4th grade when we switched to homeschooling. I started them when they turned 6 in Kindergarten. They are born in July and August. I held my first back because she was a late talker and it helped her to have the extra year. My ds is 2 years younger so I just kept the 2 years between them. Now homeschooling, he is in "8th* grade but is already finishing high school geometry, so he is 2 years ahead in math. I wouldn't have been able to accelerate him in public, Littlest dd is in first grade. She just finished her full second grade math curriculum. She already does multiplication and division. She says division is her favorite thing. I only learned multiplication in third grade. She is way ahead. I think a kids intelligence plays a huge role in schooling. You can put them in a fancy school, but they will only get so much out of it anyway because we are all wired differently. DS and littlest dd are awesome at math. Oldest DD is a history fiend, and middle dd is great at science and loves to draw. We all have our things.
 
Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
dryerlintfan said:
Recent studies have actually shown that it's a complete wash by 5th grade between children who were given solid curriculum and learned to read early and those who went only to Kindergarten. There's another study about another country putting their kids in Kindergarten at 7 years old... I want to say it was the Dutch but I'm not entirely certain, and their kids actually end up with an advantage after they "catch up" because they learned the material at a more mature age and were able to digest more of it.

And there's other studies about the benefits of play based learning instead of book learning until around age 7 as well, and how children younger than that need movement and experience to really gain from the lesson.

I chose A's school based on those studies, so I'm exactly like those parents you mentioned, but just with a different approach. My kid learns so many things in her play based environment, and will be in the play based learning environment until she's 5.5. I absolutely plan on doing as you did and putting her in her longer term school once she's in Kindergarten though, because children form some very lasting bonds during that first school year together.
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I believe the country you are referring to is actually Norway. The Dutch start school at 4...on the 4th birthday. And it's mandatory by the 5th birthday. But I've seen memes and such, about how Norway does everything differently than in the US, and they rank much higher in the world in their education system. When I moved here, I think the Netherlands were 3 or 4 in the ranking and the US was below 40th. That is one of the reasons we chose to live here rather than stay in the US.
 
Cesar R M

Cesar R M

Well-Known Member
dryerlintfan said:
Yeah, I've also read them a million times and didn't notice it until last night :banghead::banghead:

I think reading them in an American accent plays a part too, though. Like Grimauld Place... I know auld is old, but when I read the books, I pronounce that one Grimwald Place.
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Neither I, Considering most english names are.. well that, names of things with a meaning.
 
21stamps

21stamps

Well-Known Member
MySmallWorldof4 said:
I believe in learning through play while they are preschoolers. They have such a short attention span as it is. If you can get 15 minutes out of them paying attention, you are lucky. I taught my 2 oldest to read before Kindergarten. They were in public school until 2nd and 4th grade when we switched to homeschooling. I started them when they turned 6 in Kindergarten. They are born in July and August. I held my first back because she was a late talker and it helped her to have the extra year. My ds is 2 years younger so I just kept the 2 years between them. Now homeschooling, he is in "8th* grade but is already finishing high school geometry, so he is 2 years ahead in math. I wouldn't have been able to accelerate him in public, Littlest dd is in first grade. She just finished her full second grade math curriculum. She already does multiplication and division. She says division is her favorite thing. I only learned multiplication in third grade. She is way ahead. I think a kids intelligence plays a huge role in schooling. You can put them in a fancy school, but they will only get so much out of it anyway because we are all wired differently. DS and littlest dd are awesome at math. Oldest DD is a history fiend, and middle dd is great at science and loves to draw. We all have our things.
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Our preschool was 20 minute increments per subject, and play-based was a big part of the curriculum. I don’t have issues with the school itself, just the outrageous price... I can’t say it was “worth it”, because they repeated most of the stuff in Kindergarten anyway. It gave him an advantage then, but now I don’t see it as much. I love to read and I didn’t start at 3, T enjoys reading.. not quite as much as I do just yet, but I don’t know if the early language arts have a factor either way.

I do know that I’m seeing people elect to forgo private elementary schools to homeschool instead, and from what I see from my friends- their kids are more advanced than mine. We’re still doing multiplication, haven’t started division yet. I love history, my kid enjoys history, but he has not learned as much as what their kids are learning/know on that subject either.
The people I know who are homeschooling plan to send their kids to the same high school where I plan on T attending.. we’re called a “feeder school” for that high school, but admission is not guaranteed, a good percentage of kids do make it though.. I just wonder how much of a factor the homeschooled kids will be in the next 6 years, and if less kids from the traditional schools will be accepted/receive some form of scholarship.
 
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