Our oldest daughter just turned three at the end of April and we have been debating whether to send her to preschool. My husband’s biggest reason for wanting to send her is he’s afraid she’d be behind other children in kindergarten that did go to preschool. I’m wondering for those that didn’t send their child(ren) to preschool what did you do to prepare your child(ren) for kindergarten?
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My daughter went to preschool at 3. She got to socialize with other kids regularly and learned new things. I think it’s good for them
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In my experience (mom of 8) keep her home til kinder.
Do library, zoo and play dates. Practice colors, numbers and all of the school things while also teaching kindness, sharing and manners.
They are only little once and it goes by way too fast. School will be a huge part of her life for at least the next 12+ years. Take your time with her and keep her close a little while longer.
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The most important part of attending preschool is developing social/emotional skills related to peers and non-family adults. Those are difficult things to replicate outside of a school environment. Preschool attendance is a strong leg up on positive academic outcomes later on, and that’s about those social/emotional pieces, not academic ones at that age.
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So, when mine was ready to be in preschool. That was in 2020, my dad is apart of the vulnerable population and I had to make a very hard decision since we are around my parents frequently. I didn’t send her. She stayed home with me instead when I wasn’t at work or school and they watched her while I went to class or at work. I worked on colors, numbers, the alphabet, animals/animal sounds, etc. with her at home. Keep in mind, mine had a speech delay and obviously was behind the other kids verbally. When she got to kindergarten, she did absolutely amazing and her speech improved dramatically. My baby started talking from sun up to sun down within a few weeks of going to kindergarten and she did well academically. My mom didn’t send my brother or I and just made home made flash cards to teach us colors, the alphabet, etc. and we did well in school for the most part. I’m not saying that preschool isn’t beneficial because it is but it’s not the end of the world if your child doesn’t go and it certainly doesn’t mean that they are destined to not succeed if they don’t either. I remember when mine was at that age, I just googled what they are teaching in Pre-K and did it at home.
I was lucky enough to be able to Preschool my son myself. We had membership to our favorite park and the Zoo and we were at the Library a couple days a week for activities and the 1000 books before Kintergarden program!! I absolutely loved the precious time with my son 
. He just graduated from Kintergarden yesterday, and I am so proud he did wonderful without having any daycare or school beforehand!!!
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My kid didn’t go to preschool and she’s been at the top of the class straight a student the past 6 years
I sent my daughter and honestly glad that I did. Solely because she had a lot of behaviors that showed in the class room setting (that never showed at home) and they helped tremendously in getting her into the right type of program and class when it came to kindergarten. I mean her behaviors were terrible, sometimes unbelievable and now she’s spent kindergarten and 1st grade with an IEP for her behavior and a certain type of class to help her regulate her emotions and use healthy coping mechanisms and she’s GREATLY improved. One more year with them and she’ll be ready to fully be into a “normal” class room environment. So if I didn’t send her to preschool we would still likely be a year behind all of this. I stand by preschool to get an idea of how school is going to go but every kid and experience is different 
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I did it for the socialization and to deter separation anxiety
We just worked on alphabet and writing and early reading at home. Preschool workbooks don’t hurt either. Which at that age they usually find fun anyways. My kids didn’t go to Preschool because we couldn’t afford it and even when they qualified for free Preschool programs we didn’t have transportation to drive them back and forth every day. They are doing just fine. In fact my oldest has several teachers that want her to do honors classes now in high school.
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My daughter is promoting from preschool on Tuesday. Honestly I say send her. Help her get socialized so when she does start kindergarten it’s easier. She absolutely loves it and I signed her up for summer school at her school to give her something to do
Neither of my kids went to preschool. I was a young single mom with my eldest and couldn’t afford it. My partner and I had wanted to send our daughter, but with her being epileptic we decided to at least wait until she had her 4 year vaccines, and by then the place we wanted to send her was full and our family was in a living situation flux anyway. They both caught on to everything really fast in kindergarten and were/are not behind in any way (she’s in kindergarten right now).
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My Grandaughter is in Kindergarten, her class reads short books, has spelling works and does addition/subtraction. If she had not gone to preschool I think she would have been overwhelmed.
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Where I live, preschool is not widely available. PreK-3 and -4 through the schools have very limited spots and are filled based on special needs and income based. And there are only a few providers that you can pay for that are certified as preschools, so here it is NOT available to all children. I never went to preschool but I attended a daycare that had a learning curriculum. And honestly if you don’t want to spend the money on daycare, I suggest joining a playgroup (for the socialization skills), practicing number identification and counting to 10, colors, animals, and letters (at the very least the letters in their name). Early childhood also focuses on building fine motor skills so tracing lines, using scissors, anything that has to do with dexterity- and you can do ALL of this with your little at home.
As a preschool teacher, the socialization aspect is very valuable.
The school’s I’ve worked at also taught skills such as tying shoes, zipping jackets, serving themselves, setting the table, sharing with peers, personal boundaries, and how to stay seated at a table.
They also offered soccer, martial arts and summer camp for school age children on top of academics such as holding a pencil, using scissors, alphabet, colors, numbers, how a calendar works and how to read a clock.
I believe preschool is a personal choice and not a reqiirement. As long as you’re working on all of these skills at home, your child won’t be missing much by NOT going. But PLEASE don’t send them to kindergarten with no social skills or not knowing how to sit at a table to do classwork.
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absolutely. it’s good for them. they learn social skills & basic things you may not think about at home.
however, a lot (if not all now) require kids to be potty trained. so if she’s not, start working on that now.
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All 3 of my girls went to preschool in our public schools it’s in our school district 1 went 3 yrs from 3-5years kindergarten 6yrs oldmy last 2 went from 3-4 started kindergarten age 5 it helped them they have morning and afternoon preschool mine did morning so be prepared for starting kindergarten our kindergarten was in same building as preschool but that was my 2 youngest ones. My oldest separate buildings for both.now our kindergarten is in elementary school from k-4th.and preschool has own building now.
School is not like it was back in the day. Both of my kids went to preschool and I think they would have been completely overwhelmed if they would not have done that. Also just the fact that you get to socialize with other kids makes a big difference in their lives.
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I went over colors, numbers and shapes with them. Put on education shows for them. I also got books and read to them and had them practice reading to me.
I believe they do prek at 4 not 3. Maybe you can do daycare. I couldn’t, cost too much for us
My son nor my granddaughter went to preschool and he’s grown and fine and she’ll be in 2nd grade next year and doing fine! I did do some stuff with both of them to help them be ready. It’s pretty simple to help teach them things at home. I always thought 13 years of school was enough!
5 boys- 4 went to preschool and my youngest did not. The only difference between the ones that went to preschool and the one that didn’t was that, when kindy started my youngest had the hardest two weeks of his life because he didn’t know anyone at first, he was in a strange place and had never been left alone before and didn’t grasp the idea of school. The kids that had gone to preschool knew some of the kids in their kindy class and the transition into kindy was much smoother for them emotionally. Academically, they were all the same. If I could go back and do it all over again, I’d have put my youngest in preschool simply for the emotional aspect of the transition into kindy.
I recommend preschool my daughter went and it helped her alot
But with my son covid hit so he couldn’t go and was behind he fialed kindergarten he also just tuend 5 in Aug it was rough.
I got lucky and I have 3 kiddos born in September. So they go to preschool when they are 4, but turn 5 right after, then go to kindergarten when 5, turn 6 right after. This has put them scoring above average and flying thru. I got the extra year home, and they were better to obtain the information they learned during preschool.
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We did preschool as soon as they were old enough. We decided to homeschool starting this year going into 3rd and 6th grade. Idk if our younger boys will ever go any type of schooling in that sense it’s too dangerous and unnecessary home school kids do better and are preferred for jobs/college.
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I preschooled both my boys, got the dry erase ABC and number books at walmart amazon sells stuff aswell!!! You can take them to the park for social skills and librarys usually have stuff going on too.
Preschool is such a great program.
Social skills learned in preschool help significantly in pre k/k
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As a teacher I always say, send them to preschool.
You can teach them at home. Counting, ABCs, color and read to them. They are in school long enough without preschool.
It’s so good for them! Even if it’s 2 half days a week to start.
Nope. I couldn’t afford it. We taught them at home.
Quite frankly I know numerous 3 year old kids that are much more ahead academically being taught at home, than their peers who attend preschool. As a fact they will mimic poor behavior in the classroom - not all parents make their kids mind, and not all teachers can teach.
I’m in ontario, we have day care, junior kindergarten, senior kindergarten and then grade one. Junior isn’t mandatory but senior is. I kept my older two home from jk and just taught them what they needed at home and socializing them at parks. They were ahead of everyone else when they started sk.
My third son is ASD so he’s in jk this year to help get him used to a routine and someone telling him what to do other than mommy. My daughter should be starting jk in September but she refuses to potty train and is quite aggressive so we’re skipping jk
My daughter yes, my son no. Neither were behind
I worked with all of our kids at home until they started pre-K. We started them in pre-k at 4 years old. You do what you feel is best for your kids.
If you can homeschool her, do that for preschool. But by kindergarten, they’re expected to know the things we didn’t learn until 1st grade. All their letters, numbers, and the socialization aspect of preschool. It’s not like it was when we were kids.
My son went to an all play preschool and he started off severely behind. It’s one of my biggest regrets. I wish I had sent him to a quality preschool where he would have been properly prepared.
My son went to preschool and still struggled in kindergarten. My daughter has not gone to preschool and starts kindergarten in August. I never went to preschool and was a straight A student all throughout school including college. I believe it all depends on the kid because every kid is different.
I was a preschool teacher, so I am biased. I would say there are no downsides to going. So if it something you can afford I say go for it. If your child is an only child, I’d encourage it. Yes, you can teach your child at home however socialization and learning to be apart from you are important skills.
However, if you surveyed a 2nd grade classroom you would find attending or not attending preschool had little effect on them.
I’m sure a kindergarten teacher could pick out the preschoolers but a second grade teacher could not.
Attending preschool will absolutely help in preparing her for kindergarten in every way.
I’ve sent my 4 yr old to preschool. So she can be exposed to common illnesses before school actually starts. Basically to build her immune system
Mine went to daycare the last 3 years and is about to go to pre k… but she’s crazy smart now too 
and speaks well for her age probably due to being around other kids very often
You can teach her basic things at your house like counting , the ABC and colors for example, pre school helps them with socializing, emotions and separation and you can just send her for a couple of hours a day
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I give my kids 2 years of pre-k. At 3yr we do private, and then district at 4yr
I did not send my son to preschool only because he was not completely verbal at the time and I can not send my kids somewhere where they can’t tell me if someone’s doing something to them. If something bad is happening to my kids I need them to be able to communicate it. But I’m probably what they call an overprotective parent.
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Send her to preschool! As a preschool aide for 3 years I totally recommend it! Kids need to learn social/emotional skills before kindergarten! They need to learn to be socialable with other kids their age, they need to learn what do when they don’t get their way, they need to learn to follow directions, to walk in a line, to be quiet in the hall… we teach all these things and more! My school is play based which is highly recommended! I have had kids who are an only child and they had a tough time learning all these things! Please send your child to school! Even if it’s half day!
Yep. Both of mine have been in school a few days a week since they were 3
I didn’t and absolutely regret not sending them. It would have helped them tremendously. For my boys it also would have allowed us to recognize, diagnose and set helps in place for areas they struggled in sooner making it easier on them.
My oldest went to preschool and she had to go to a developmental preschool. They said she was very behind. I only sent her 1yr. It was mostly all playing. She started kindergarten not being able to read, but could count to 10 and say her ABCs at least. Turned out the preschool was wrong. She left kindergarten reading at a 2nd grade level. She’ll be a senior in the fall, graduating with an honors diploma, a capstone, and likely an IB as well.
I didn’t send my son and, shocker, he did great in school as well. He learned to read quickly, and has always had very high scores in school, always qualifying to high ability/honors classes. Just lazy af lol.
My youngest I didn’t and wish I did tho. I could tell she was a little different from a young age. Her speech was profoundly more behind, along with her maturity level. She ended up having ID and needed a lot of support in her early years of school. She’s going into middle school and it has lessened, a lot, but I feel preschool may have helped her a lot.
So, I’m not against preschool but I think the majority of kids don’t actually need it. Offering books, and making learning fun at home can do just as good. Kids with disabilities I think benefit the most because they need the early intervention and interaction with other kids, but it’s also important to choose the right preschool.
My daughter knew her abcs, colors, shapes, and could count to 20, she was around other kids and had no problem being away from me so I didn’t put her in school until kindergarten. I personally felt like kids already go to school 13 years and I wasn’t adding to it. But that was over 20 years ago. I personally wouldn’t put my kid in school at all in today’s world, but they expect them to know so much by the time they get to kindergarten now that if you don’t have a list and the time to teach all of it to them then they definitely will be behind without preschool.
I had all my kids do 2 years of preschool. It was only a couple hours a day, but it prepared them for full day Kindergarten. It worked out great and they have all done amazing in school. Before they went to preschool, I taught them all the basics, writing their name and knowing numbers, letters, colors, shapes ect. Doing workbooks too…They were prepared ahead of time, plus they got to make friends and learn new things from someone else. Preschool can be a lot of fun for them.
My kids both went to preschool and then young 5s before kindergarten. It helped them both greatly both with a schedule and with learning.
All mine went to head start starting at six weeks, early head start and regular head start. I am a single mom who had to work so they went
I sent mine its good for them x
My son was 5 during 4k because of where his birthday fell…school started September 5th and a month later was his birthday. He went and the teacher told me it was a waste of time because he knew all his colors, shapes, was reading 50 wpm, adding and subtracting triple digits and starting to multiply double digits. So I was told he wasn’t learning anything they were reaching as he knew it, he was only getting the socialization. He is now at the end of his 4th grade year and he is coming in at a 6th and 7th grade level and math is 8th grade. His teachers complain every year he is bored and isn’t learning anything. But my son ever since he could move and talk he has asked question after question, endless quest for knowledge. He stops at nothing to find the answers he is looking for. And that unfortunately has worked against him with his peers as well. But I don’t think she would be considered behind her peers unless she knows absolutely nothing. And I’m not saying that to be mean and I know schools and Areas differ but it’s usually name, date, colors, numbers, shapes, manners. And they learn all that again and are starting to add and do simple math in kindergarten. But it can help with socializing and just getting used to being in school. Compared to not going at all, then bam you do 8 hrs of school.
I didn’t send my son to prek and he was behind I definitely regret it.