I am a stay at home mother of 3. None of my children have attended preschool. I have enjoyed having the one on one opportunity to teach them myself. Two of my children are now in elementary school. Neither of them have had trouble with school. If anything, they are better behaved than many of the kids that had one or more years of preschool. I think many people underestimate how much a child can learn just from interacting with parents (and siblings) at home. I would not stress about not having your child in “school” yet. Enjoy this time with your child! Everything changes drastically once children are in school all day.

It is usually at age five with cut-offs in September or December depending on your location. This means that your child should be 5 on or before the cut-off date to be eligible to start kindgarten in the fall.

My daughter missed the December cutoff by days so is one of the oldest in kindergarten this year. Before that, my daughter attended Montessori pre-school for 2 years. I too have been a stay at home mum during this time.

For us, because she is an only child and we don’t have many friends with kids her age, pre-K was great – she got to play with other kids, got to learn the basics of reading and writing (according to the Montessori program) and she learnt a little about personal responsibility and independence in a nurturing and supportive non-home environment.

She really bloomed there and was not at all scared or upset when she started KG at her new school. In fact she felt that she had moved on to “big school” and is reading simple books by herself.

If you want your daughter to stay at home but still learn the basics there are some great workbooks out there for pre-K’s to help with identifying letters, phonetics and numbers… (I usually buy them from Target or Long’s).

If you want your daughter to get a taste of another learning environment you may want her to attend part-time or just for short days. Just be sure to check out a few places and take your daughter with you – that way you can get a feel for how she feels there, how the teachers interact with the kids etc. If you or she are not comfortable (and I don’t mean the initial settling in period) then you should find another place.

I personally would recommend pre-K for the benefits it brought my daughter that I could not have provided myself but there is no compulsion to send your child to pre-K – it is your choice as parents.

Good luck!

The normal age is about 5. I started when I was 4, but I have a late birthday. I think if I were left behind another year, I would have been at a disadvantage for the rest of my life. Your daughter should be in Pre-K as we speak.

Kindergarten now is what first grade was when we were kids – they learn to read and write, and do basic math. It is expected that they already know how to line up, and listen and all those other important school skills.

Yes, your daughter should be in something structured so she learns how to act in school. Additionally, she should be learning how to get along with other children and how to be independent with her coat, shoes and snack.

4 is a little young for kindergarden but perfect for pre-K. I strongly suggest you place her in some sort of structured academic program to prepare for kindergarden and also for socialization.