Preschool Quandary

I never expected to send my daughter to preschool. In fact, when we moved half-way across the country we initially looked into various daycare situations only to find that they were all really academically oriented preschools in disguise, which served to strengthen our resolve to homeschool.

Life happens.

I now work full-time while dh is the stay-at-home-dad who — while he supports the whole homeschooling “thing” — isn’t the least bit interested in being the primary homeschooling parent. He’s also finally decided that he needs to rejoin the ranks of the employed, but we can’t do without my income while he’s settling into a new career.

We checked into a private school that is literally a block from our home, and while they’ve never heard of Charlotte Mason, they seem to do a good job of emulating her! Their 4K program is exactly what I was looking for in a daycare — get the kids outside to play, don’t push academics, and let them learn whatever they can at their own pace and in their own way. The primary focus of the teaching in 4K is “socialization,” and in talking to the teacher, this is basically instilling good habits: sharing, kindness, good manners, respect, etc.

5K is essentially an extension of 4K with a slightly more academic focus: they get “homework” once or twice each week, which I gather is primarily the parents reading to the child for a few minutes.

Overall, the school seems like a dream come true, given our situation. It’s very small — maybe 30 students total in grades 4K-8. They do a lot of multi-age interaction, they spend as much time outside as they can, they individualize instruction for each child, they don’t use grades in evaluating student progress, they’re within walking distance of home, and they play in the park that is essentially our own backyard.

So why do I still feel like I’m doing my child a disservice by putting her in school at 4 years old? I started regular kindergarten at age 4, only a month older than my daughter, and I loved it.

And by enrolling her in such a wonderful place — which, by the way, she has already claimed as “her” school — I feel like I would need a super-good reason to pull her out for homeschooling should our situation change for the better.

Am I just whining because I don’t get to keep my daughter’s education all to myself? I nearly cried as I flat-out told the teachers that I was jealous to be handing her education over to them. I know she’ll love it there, and it’s a much better situation than we ever expected to find; we are very fortunate to have them so close by. I just feel so conflicted.

Any thoughts?

Regards,

Sarah