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cdngirl
09-12-2012, 11:54 AM
I have some questions for those of you who offer educational programs.

At what point did you feel qualified to say your daycare offers such a program?
Do you follow a strict curriculum and did you take classes if you were not already an ECE?
How much of your day is spent on learning?

Momof4
09-12-2012, 12:01 PM
I make up themes and put them on my website, newsletter and my calendar. Then every week I get books from the library to tie into my theme for storytime and I google to find songs and crafts to match the theme. But I have cut way down on crafting to one a week. The parents can't handle a craft every day any more than we can!

My program evolved slowly as I learned and I'm not an ECE, just a Mom & Grandma with a TON of experience and I was involved in Scouting/Guiding for many years. You don't have to learn everything from books, common sense is a lot better, just my opinion!

I have 1 library day/week, 2-3 park days, 1-2 learning/craft days. It all depends on the weather. If it's nice we are out of here, so sometimes in the summer we don't craft at all.

Don't spend a ton of money when you can find everything you need on the internet. And don't make yourself crazy. Children NEED to PLAY! They are learning when they are playing.

michellesmunchkins
09-12-2012, 12:09 PM
I totally agree with the play based learning as well! I do offer a preschool program too that I incorporate into our daily activities. You would be amazed how much you teach a child just in your everyday activities. When we go on walks we talk about the different type of trees, the colour of the cars that drive past us, what type of leaf did we pick up from the ground, what the weather is like, etc. At mealtimes we talk about the colour and size of our food, which one is a fruit or vegetable, who ate the most (meaning who has the least amount left on their plate).

Then during circle time I use the songs/stories etc for learning. We do the days of the week and what's the weather. I have coloured mats on my floor so we play games where we have to pick say a blue square to all stand on. I also have them use worksheets. I give them to everyone. The little ones may just scribble on the sheet but if the worksheet is about the colour green I give them only a green crayon/marker/paint. For the over 2 group, they pick out which crayon matches the word on the paper (usually they need help) and then they colour it. I have they try to trace the letters of the alphabet.

Essentially, they are learning all day long without realizing it, but for those parents who need concrete evidence that their child has learned I send home the worksheets at the end of each week. I limit crafts as well because let's be honest, generally its a hand over hand craft where it ends up being our work hanging on the fridges of the parents homes lol

kidlove
09-12-2012, 12:11 PM
Not to mention...they will have their TIME in school, and oh how much time it is! Let them play I completely agree. Not too much needs to be spent on education at our level, time or money, (thats my opinion) HOWEVER....if you find parents to be interested in their child getting a "solid" preschool education rather than the basic 1,2,3's and A,B,C's, there are GREAT already "set up programs" out there as well as planning your own. When I have a big enough group and enough parents interested (and age appropriate children) we do "mothergoosetime.com" I love it and the kids do to! It is free for you, IF you charge 5$ per week tuition for each child (parents that want a pre-school type learning experience are usually more than happy to pay that small fee) and the program is so adorable and comes with EVERYTHING you need. Just a thought! :)

cdngirl
09-12-2012, 12:57 PM
Thanks everyone for your responses. I admire how much effort you are all putting into making your daycare mentally stimulating for your DCKs.

michellesmunchkins: i had to laugh about your comment about crafts. That is so true about it being our work the kids are taking home lol I had never thought of it that way! Though I'm sure the kids had fun and learned something from crafts, sometimes its about showing the parents hey, we actually did something here today and there it is lol

kidlove: thank you for the suggesting mothergoosetime. Bookmarked and will definitely check it out :)

I couldn't agree more that children learn while they play. In that sense we are all offering an educational program to a degree...

Momof4
09-13-2012, 06:18 PM
Littlefeet, I certainly wasn't putting down any ECE's, but I'm just a Mom/Grandma as I said and I run my themes exactly as you stated, the books, games, songs, crafts and playing all relate to the theme weekly at least 1 or 2 days a week at circle time and all morning. I feel the more we do that relate to the theme the more the children remember and understand. I know a lot of people hate themes but I love them. It makes me feel like a real teacher which makes me happy.

Momof4
09-13-2012, 09:01 PM
I completely agree!

Inspired by Reggio
09-14-2012, 06:17 AM
I just took it that the educational programs being discussed were "on paper" or "teacher led" where as what I teach is more day-to-day learning through play.

Agreed ~ even Ontario kindergarten programs are moving back to the play based learning from back when kindergarten first began and moving away from boxed preplanned curriculum where the themes are the same across Ontario regardless of the interests of the child, theme related worksheets, flashcards and other academic geared lesson plans and expectations of 'early years education' that had crept into this age groups programming over the decades with the increasing importance of 'teaching' them certain things which has proven over time to actually be hindering instilling 'life long learning' for children as by the time they reach grade 3 statistics are showing that children exposed to this academic push too early get turned off of school and their desire to 'discover' for themselves gets squished out of them by the testing style 'right answers' often associated with that form of teacher led curriculum.

There is certainly a time and a place for that type of curriculum ~ IMO the early years are just better spent learning to LEARN for themselves with support from the adults in their live around that so that when that time comes for 'academic learning' they have the skills needed and their passion to do it is still intact ;)