Why I Don’t Sweat Preschool

 

Last week President Obama made a push for universal preschool for 4 year-olds, which has much of the homeschooling community concerned.  And with good reason!  Any change to the nation’s education policy has the potential to impact our homeschooling freedoms.  Unfortunately, most Americans naively entertain warm and fuzzy feelings about any plan intended to aid in the education of our children, never realizing that policy sets precedent, in this case possibly declaring that the home, under the care of parents, is not the best place for 4 year-olds.  If that’s the case, what’s to keep them from deciding the same about 2 and 3 year-olds or even infants?  It sounds ridiculous, but it ought to make every homeschooler, (and every parent!) at least a little nervous.

For very young children learning can, (and should,) happen naturally.  So why push the issue?

 

Honestly, my little guy has picked up much of what preschool would teach him entirely on his own.  He knows his colors and his shapes and most of his letters.  I really can’t conceive pushing him to learn more when right now it is absolutely unnecessary.  My son doesn’t need to know his addition facts at 4 years old.  He doesn’t need to know how to read at this point.  If he picks these things up on his own, wonderful, but needlessly pushing him to attain knowledge before he actually needs it or has any real use for it probably indicates I’m either, A) giving into ridiculous societal pressures that have convinced me a good mom expects their child to act and think 6 years older than they actually are, B)  way, way too uptight about future academic success or social adjustment when right now my biggest concern should be ensuring my child isn’t causing property damage or bodily injury to themselves or anyone else, or C) wanting them to excel for my own personal, prideful reasons.  None of these things are justifiable reasons to push my child!

Too much pressure too early can do more harm than good.

 

Sadly, this is one thing I learned from experience.  My very first attempts at homeschooling were preschool and kindergarten for my child with dyslexia.  Sensing she was behind, though not yet fully aware of all her challenges, I was determined to correct the problem and I made the horrid mistake of pushing and prodding with all my might in hopes of catching her up to other kids her age.  Instead, both of us often finished school in tears and I inadvertently turned learning into a high-pressure, high-stress situation that left her discouraged, withdrawn, and self-conscious.I realize now there were certain things my daughter simply wasn’t ready for, especially given some of her learning challenges.  We all claim to know that no two children are alike and yet if child #2 doesn’t learn like child #1 or our kid doesn’t progress at the same rate as the neighbor’s kid, we immediately go into a panic!  But pressuring children, particularly at very young ages, can have more of a negative impact than a positive one, in many cases resulting in a cripplingly negative attitude toward learning in general.  There are scores of articles online to support that claim, but here’s one from The Boston Globe I found particularly interesting:  Rush, Little Baby–October 28, 2007.

Now, a few years past that first attempt at homeschooling, my daughter is naturally beginning to advance in her learning in ways I tried to force her to do early on.  I truly believe my pushing slowed her progress more than it moved her forward and I will never make such a mistake again.

 

Learning early doesn’t mean learning better.

In 1975, Dr. Raymond Moore rocked the educational establishment and launched the modern homeschool movement with his book, “Better Late than Early,” which argued that a child’s early years should be spent focusing on teaching character, order, and responsibility, and that formal, structured education should be held off until age 8 to 10.

 

I know, I know.  Eight to ten?  But Dr. Moore made some very compelling arguments and cited research to prove that normal children age 8 to 10 without any formal schooling can be placed in a class of their peers and in a matter of months learn everything their classmates have taken years to learn.  And because of their maturity and better cognitive development, the learning of these children often surpasses the learning of their peers who have sat in classrooms for years!  If you get a chance, I encourage you to listen here to Dr. James Dobson’s 1982 interview with Dr. Moore on his Focus on the Family radio broadcast.  Dr. Dobson himself has credited this broadcast with a tremendous shift of thought among Christians toward homeschooling.

 

 

It’s important to remember that early education is a relatively modern phenomenon.  None of our founding fathers, for example, began any kind of formal schooling until at least 8 or 9 years old and some much later than that.  And among these men were some of the most accomplished and brilliant minds in history!  While early education has become the accepted norm in our country, no one can seriously make the claim that it has resulted in significant overall improvement in education.  And if its success is so questionable, why are we so devoted to it?

So am I saying I won’t do any sit-down schooling with my youngest before he’s 8?  No, though I can assure you whatever schooling I do with Peanut will certainly be more relaxed than what I have done with my others, especially considering he will be a very young kindergartener next year.