Home Based Daycare vs. Preschool for 2.5 year old
My child is 20 months old and at a wonderful mixed-age home based daycare. Many children stay at the daycare until kindergarten, but I am struggling with whether we should send him to a more "traditional" preschool program when he is 2.5. For many reasons, the daycare would be the easier option, including the one-on-one attention he gets, convenient hours and flexibility with regard to my work schedule, the incredibly loving environment, and the relatively inexpensive cost compared to many preschools. My main concern is that by the time he is 3, he will start to get bored at the daycare, and the preschool application process does not seem conducive to a "wait and see" attitude, since the schools are on a specific enrollment schedule and fill up quickly. Since this is my first child, I don't have a good sense of whether boredom is a valid concern, or whether I should just not mess with a good thing. I would love to hear from other parents who have been faced with similar decisions.
Parent Replies
My 5 year old stayed at a wonderful home based daycare all the way through pre-school. When he started Kindergarten this year, he was almost a grade ahead of some of his classmates in terms of reading and math. But he did have some trouble transitioning from the small daycare to the much larger class size, which is a whole other issue. He was never bored at his daycare and everyday they did projects and learn new things. If you feel that your child's daycare is not doing enough to stimulate them, then it's a problem with the individual daycare.
Don't mess with a good thing! He's really little and sounds like you have an envious set-up.
I am a parent of two older children and a teacher for over 20 years. My gut feeling is to stay if your child is happy and it works for you. If, later, it really appears to be not working you can make a change then. Yes, it will be a hassle but better than changing when you have a good thing now. In a loving environment with some interesting toys, playmates, and play spaces preschool age children will learn a lot and be ready for kindergarten. To reassure yourself talk to some parents whose children stayed through the preschool years and listen to what their experience tells you. For me red flags would be using tv or screens, not reading to the children daily, not providing art materials or music, or overly punitive discipline. There are enough challenging moments educating our children. Feel happy you lucked into a good thing!
You might get a lot of replies to this but I do think that boredom is a major factor. My daughter is at a home-based daycare and she is already one of the oldest even though she is only 26 months. Every other child has moved onto a preschool once they hit the 2.5/3 age range. There's another girl who is in that range and is extremely bored according to her parents and it's a struggle to get her to go . They've just enrolled her into a preschool. For their development, I think it's good to have them with kids closer to their own emotional and educational level. I do agree though, I love our daycare and going to a preschool brings a lot more challenges (location, cost, less flexibility etc) but in the end I think it's best to move on.
I have two teenage girls and have experienced both home-based daycare and traditional preschool. It's easy for me to say now, but don't stress over this too much. If you stay at the daycare your child will be fine. If you go with traditional preschool your child will be fine. My child was reading at 3ish and was never bored in daycare. Your daycare sounds fantastic, and convenience and flexibility are a huge deal, so I would probably stick with that. If the daycare doesn't work out, there really will be other options -- our home-based daycare closed suddenly (one day's notice) and of course we panicked, but all 10 or 12 kids found something quickly, including "mid-year" at schools that supposedly always have long waiting lists.
We had this same decision to make with our child. Ultimately I decided to keep my kid in her daycare--she's now 4. Here were the factors that influenced our decision and how it's worked out. most notably, her birthdate made her eligible for TK. Since I knew she'd be in a two-year Kindergarten, I felt that there was no pressing need for preschool. Her daycare had introduced "some" elements of preschool (she knows her colors/numbers/letters, some basic counting, how to write her first name, a little Spanish, how to interact in a group, etc.). While I don't feel it's nearly as comprehensive as I assume preschool to be, I think it's good enough to get her to TK; like you, the daycare's caring environment and amenities (all meals included, flexible and extended hours, cost) were a win for us. Now the downsides--she HAS to leave this year. If she doesn't get into a TK that works for us, for example, we'll still have to enroll her in a bridge-K anyway for a year. She is rather bored in her daycare--she's ready to meet new kids and take on new challenges (she's been at this daycare since she was an infant). Sometimes she doesn't want to go to "school,", and this wasn't the case her first three-ish years at the daycare. We've tried to address this by getting her into a youth club as an extra-curricular (or anything would work that doesn't require huge commitment IMO). Overall, I think it was the right decision for us to keep her in daycare. I might have gone a different way, however, if she were starting Kindergarten this August instead of TK.