Rather than having your son or daughter attend a traditional child care center, have you considered enrolling them in a private preschool? If your child is 3 or 4 years of age, they may be ready to attend preschool. While some preschools may offer part-time programs, others have full-day care available.
The Benefits of Private Preschool Programs
You may also be interested to know that private preschools stress the importance of early education and development. When your child attends a private preschool, they will also receive more individualized attention.
While there are several benefits to attending a private rather than a public school, a main advantage is that private schools tend to be much smaller and have fewer students. This can assist children with developing a sense of community and belonging. It is also easier for them to develop friendships.
A Wide Variety of Fun Activities
In preschool, your child will also have the opportunity to engage in a variety of fun activities. Each of these will assist them with developing cognitive and social skills, which will prepare them for kindergarten and beyond.
A good private preschool will offer your child a number of opportunities to have fun and interact with other children. While having fun, they will also be learning new skills. Here are just a few of the types of activities which your child will experience:
- Singing
- Dancing
- Arts and crafts
- Storytelling
- Free play time
- Indoor and outdoor games
In addition to being fun, many of these activities assist with developing motor skills such as balance and strength. While playing indoor and outdoor games, your child may jump in place, stand on 1 foot, run, kick a ball, and other physical activities that increase coordination.
Learning Math and Numbers
Your preschooler will learn math and numbers during day-to-day situations. They will learn how to count, for example, when passing out milk, juice, or water containers during lunch and snack time.
Preschoolers also learn how to recognize and name numerals from 0 to 9. This is the first math skill that they will usually learn.
While they’re playing with blocks and creating art projects, your child will learn geometric shapes. These include common shapes such as triangles, rectangles, circles, and squares.
Learning Letters and Pre-Reading
In order to prepare them for reading and writing, preschoolers will first learn their uppercase letters. While they may also learn a few of the lowercase letters, these tend to be more challenging to learn at this age.
Other language development skills your child will learn include the names of colors and shapes. They will also learn different body part names, often through songs and rhyming games.
The Benefits of Early Education
Currently, over half, or 2/3, of 4-year-old children attend child care centers or preschools in the United States. While many of these children may be in private centers and preschools, others are enrolled in their public counterparts.
Given the findings of ongoing federally-funded studies, it is being demonstrated that children experience improved language skills and memory as a result of receiving an early education. A specific ongoing study with 1,364 children has shown that they are developing these and other important skills.
Studies have also been conducted with adults, some of whom attended preschool while others did not. It was demonstrated that for those that did receive a strong educational foundation in preschool, they were more likely to do well through school. Furthermore, these individuals were also more likely to attend college and complete a higher degree of education.
Since you want your child to have a strong educational foundation, consider the benefits of enrolling them in a private preschool rather than traditional child care. If you do need child care because you work full-time or have other obligations, however, you can inquire whether there is a full day preschool near you.
