The importance of early childhood education has been established for decades. Currently, two-thirds of the nation’s four-year-olds are attending preschools and child-care centers. Early-childhood education classes, or preschools, also accept children as young as three. While some schools have a full day preschool schedule, others have part-time options.
When considering public versus private preschool for your child, you may have quite a few questions and concerns. If the cost of private preschool tuition is an issue, for example, you may want to focus on the significant advantages of your child attending a private school.
The Advantages of Private Preschools
One of the main advantages of private schools is that classes are almost always smaller. This is a major benefit because your child will receive more individualized attention from his or her teacher and develop a stronger sense of belonging.
Another advantage of private schools is that they encourage more parental participation than public schools. Furthermore, you will have the opportunity to engage in a variety of activities that show your child how committed you are to their education.
Fun and Educational Activities
When children attend a good program that offers a variety of activities, they discover that learning is fun. Just imagine the different skills your child will learn with these activities:
- Singing and dancing
- Arts and crafts
- Storytelling time
- Free-play time
- Indoor and outdoor games
What Your Child Will Learn About
A major aspect of early education and development is preparing your child for kindergarten and beyond. In addition to learning the names for things in their day-to-day environment, such as colors and shapes, they will also learn the names for basic body parts–like head, shoulders, knees, and toes!
Your preschooler will also learn how to recognize–and name–uppercase and some lower-case letters. Since many of the lower-case letters are difficult to recognize, they will tend to focus on that a bit later. Some children even begin to learn how to write–or spell–their names.
Learning numbers is another activity your preschooler will experience. Not only will they be able to recognize and name zero-to-nine, they will also have the opportunity to use their new math skills throughout the day. Your child will learn how to count all sorts of items such as milk cartons or water bottles for lunch time or how many children are sitting in a circle with them during story time.
When it’s time to create art, your child will explore and learn how to draw a variety of shapes. This learning is reinforced at the block center where they can manipulate and build things with squares, rectangles, and triangles.
Your child will also engage in physical activities to develop their motor skills, strength, and balance. These fun activities might include standing on one foot, jumping up-and-down in place, skipping, running, and kicking–or rolling–a ball.
Investing in Your Child’s Future
If you’re still undecided as to whether you want your child to attend a public or private preschool, consider the fact that private preschool tuition is an investment in your child’s scholastic success–and future. It has been shown that high school ad college acceptance rates are higher for students that attended private school.
When you consider all the benefits your child will receive at a private school, the cost of private preschool tuition will be well-worth it.