Children's Co-op PreSchool
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Tina teaches the Two-Day
Class at Children's Co-op Preschool. The co-op is a
great program that's coordinated by the local
community college. The program involves parents in
the classroom and is a lot of fun. We enrolled both
our older sons in this co-op when they were little
and were very involved in the program. So much so,
that Tina is now the teacher!
Her class meets on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and
is for 3 and 4 year olds. On the mornings Tina
teaches I arranged my work schedule so I could be
home with Kai. While it's great that we are able to
always have one of us home with Kai, it's gotten a
bit boring around the house for him; we don't have a
very big social network of 3 year olds in our
personal life these days.
One of the recommendations that came out of the early
childhood development evaluation we had done for Kai
was to get him into a preschool program. Rather than
a remedial program, it was suggested that we try to
find a program with "regular" kids. Hmmm... where
could we possibly find such a program? While the
answer seems obvious, it wasn't quite that easy. Even
without his developmental delays and language issues,
Kai isn't chronologically old enough to enroll in the
co-op program. Still we thought this would be a great
thing for him, so Tina discussed it with her
facilitator from the community college and the co-op
board parents. They agreed that this would be a good
thing for him, so we decided to bring him to the
class and have me there with him full time. I am not
one of the regular working parents, I focus pretty
much exclusively on Kai. I make sure he stays on task
and doesn't disrupt the program for other parents.
Also, as he isn't potty-trained I cover that area as
necessary. We have been bringing him to co-op
preschool now, since Thanksgiving and it's been
wonderful! Kai loves being around other kids, and it
gives him an opportunity to experience a wide variety
of activities. I have been able to pretty much just
be there to "spot" for him. initially he was pretty
reserved, and kept to just the "sand" table and water
table. But as of last week he has really started to
break out and try some different things. He doesn't
like to do the art projects as they are usually
messy, and he is very apprehensive about anything
that's sticky or gets your hands dirty. But he's
playing in the kitchen and even with the playdough a
bit!
So far we have been having him there just for the
open activity portion of the day. We've tried the
"circle" a few times, but he has a hard time focusing
for that. Lunch is also difficult for him, so I have
just taken him home for lunch, which means he also
misses the "Big Room" (large motor play) and
story/closing circle.
Tuesday was the last day of preschool before
Christmas break and it was also Kai's birthday, so we
decided to try having him stay for the whole day.
This went VERY well! He enjoyed celebrating his
birthday at circle - getting to wear the crown and
sit in the special chair, etc. He didn't eat too much
at lunch, but enough, and he got to stay for the Big
Room.
I have to do less and less for him as he finds his
comfort zone. Some of the things you would expect to
be difficult for him are second nature; things like
lining up to wash hands, sharing toys... yet these
are the things he must have obviously dealt with
daily at his home in China.
It's funny being in a preschool with Tina again. This
has been a part of our life together since high
school when we took an early childhood development
class together. In college we worked together in a
daycare, and as young parents we taught Sunday School
together. For the last few years this has been Tina's
exclusive domain, but now that we have Kai, we are
both in it together again.